The Beautiful South

When gritty Yorkshire band The Housemartins split towards the end of the 1980s, their front man Paul Heaton decided to form a new band and songwriting partnership with Housemartins' drummer Dave Hemingway as co-lead singer. The band, The Beautiful South went on to become something of a British institution as the bright, poppy veneer of their songs shrouded a subtly sharp political edge to their lyrics. With Briana Corrigan offering gorgeous counterpoint singing in a three-person lead vocal line-up, they had their first hits with Song For Whoever and You Keep It All In, from their debut album Welcome To The Beautiful South in 1989. This was followed by the Number 1 hit A Little Time from the Choke album in 1990. Corrigan quit in 1992 to launch her solo career and was replaced by Jacqui Abbott, but the hits continued in 1996 with Rotterdam and Don't Marry Her from the million-selling Blue Is The Colour. When Abbott left in 2000 she was replaced by Alison Wheeler, but after the release of their Superbi album in 2006 the band decided to split, citing "musical similarities".

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