Beth Ditto

At 43 years old, Beth Ditto has this physical status:

Mary Beth Patterson was born on February 19, 1981.

She is known by her stage name Beth Ditto and is an American singer-songwriter, most notable for her work with the indie rock band Gossip.

Her voice has been compared to Etta James, Janis Joplin and Tina Turner.

She disbanded Gossip to pursue a career in fashion, and has since started a solo career.

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Life and career

Ditto grew up in a poor family in Arkansas, with her mother, several stepfathers, and six siblings – two older brothers, two younger siblings, and a younger sister. She grew up Southern Baptist and Pentecostal, but she is now an atheist. She grew out of her mother's house and moved with her aunt at age 13. In 1999, she moved to Olympia, Washington, then on to Portland, Oregon, where she lives as of 2014. She discovered Nirvana, Pearl Jam, The Raincoats, and Siouxsie and the Banshees among other musicians at 18.

She fronted the band Gossip from its inception in 1999 until its dissolution in 2016. In addition, she has been active in other musical projects. She performed on "Consequences," a project involving various artists, in 2008. She appeared on Simian Mobile Disco's "Cruel Intentions" on their album of collaborations. Temporary Pleasure: In 2009, she performed on Temporary Pleasure. On the re-launched Deconstruction Records, she released her own 4-track Beth Ditto EP, produced by James Ford and Jas Shaw of Simian Mobile Disco. "A Rose by Any Name" from Blondie's 2013 album Ghosts of Download was performed. "Where the stripped-down three-piece Gossip party's inspiration is is hidden, Ditto's own stuff is melancholic, soulful dance music, influenced by the "Eighties disco soul jams" that she adores, as well as the up-tempo pop-R&B of I Wanna Dance With Somebody," Harrod Horatia wrote in The Telegraph.

Ditto, a feminist, gay, bisexual, and transgender activist, is well-known for her outspoken endorsement of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) and feminist causes. She has been active in favor of large women being body positive, and she has been shot regularly as an editorial model. She is best known for her stage performances and her unmistakeable and revealing image. "I think punks usually stink," she says, and thus she doesn't use deodorant nor shaves under her armpits. She has cited Cyndi Lauper and Boy George as overall influences, as well as Grace Jones and Peggy Moffitt as her beauty icons. "Artists I love, like Siouxsie Sioux and Patti Smith, have such different ways of expressing femininity, but they are also fantastic punk women," she said. Femininism's true center isn't about satisfying other people's concerns about your body or your gender. "Oh Bondage Up Yours" is her favorite song. X-Ray Spex is a Japanese anime X-Ray Spex.

In 2006, she appeared to have eaten squirrels as a child and courted a mild controversy.

'What will Beth Ditto do?' Ditto wrote a fortnightly advice column on body image to The Guardian newspaper in 2007. '

On the front page of the music magazine NME, she was featured posed nude in 2007. [1] Germaine Greer, a writer for The Guardian, said that the magazine had "enough confidence to bring the most interesting lady on the news" while not acknowledging its boundaries. Greer also praised Ditto for her reasons, saying that her "intention is to force recognition of her body type, 5 ft [1.5 m] tall, 15 stone [210 lb; 95 kg], and that through this action, she can challenge the common image of women." Ditto posed nude on the front cover of its debut issue in February 2009, a bi-annual British style magazine Love featuring prominent public relations. Emily Hill, a writer for The Guardian, was skeptical of Love magazine's motives, writing that "Beth Ditto on Love magazine is not proof of fashion's new recognition, but rather a diversion before emaciated normality returns."

On July 9, 2009, Ditto's first plus-size collection for women's clothing chain Evans, led by head of design Lisa Marie Peacock. Ditto created sketches and drew inspiration from her favorite vintage and charity shop clothes, as well as bands like Blondie, The Slits, and Grace Jones, as well as the Art Deco movement. Evans' second collection debuted in 2010 with just over 20 individual items. "Collection struck a nerve with its iconic pieces," Marianne Kirby, writing in The Guardian, said of it, and that it had been a "international success."

During Paris Fashion Week's spring 2011 fashion preview, she opened (modelled) and closed the Jean Paul Gaultier spring 2011 fashion show.

Ditto created a make up line in June 2012 when Ditto collaborated with MAC Cosmetics to create a make up line.

In 2012, Ditto co-wrote with Michelle Teal about Coal to Diamonds, which she co-wrote with Michelle Tea. In The Guardian and NME, it was positively reviewed.

Kristin Ogata, a stunning Hawaii woman, married Ditto's mother and best friend since she was 18, in July 2013. Both were dressed entirely in white for the occasion; Ditto wore a gown by Jean Paul Gaultier and went barefoot, while Ogata wore a jacket, a shirt, shorts, and sandals.

The couple legally married in Oregon in December 2014, seventeen months after the pair first walked down the aisle in a wedding, but they had to wait until same-sex marriage became legal there to make their marriage official.

In 2016, Ditto confirmed that the band Gossip would not pursue a career in fashion and a solo career.

In an interview in March 2018, Ditto revealed that she and her husband split and that she was dating singer Ted Kwo. She outlined earlier this month how her relationship with Kwo, a gender identity, has pushed her to consider the benefits of being viewed as a straight woman. She spoke out about the dramatic change in how she was handled when she was with Ogata: "I was always afraid, I was always really afraid, but I was always protective." Straight privilege is real."

Ditto made her film debut in Gus Van Sant's Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot in 2018. Kirsten Dunst appeared on Becoming a God in Central Florida this year, the following year.

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Awards and nominations

• 2006 – NME – Cool List – Won
• 2007 – Stonewall Awards – Hero of the Year – Nominated
• 2007 – NME Awards – Sexiest Woman of the Year – Nominated
• 2007 – Virgin Media Music Awards – Legend of the Year – Nominated
• 2007 – PLUG Awards – Female Artist of the Year – Nominated
• 2008 – Glamour Awards – International Artist of the Year – Won
• 2017 – Gay Music Chart Awards – Best Lyric Video for "In and Out" – Nominated