The Beautiful South biography
The Beautiful South was an English alternative rock group formed at the end of the 1980s by two former members of Hull group The Housemartins, Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway. The duo were initially joined by Sean Welch (bass), Dave Stead (drums) and Dave Rotheray (guitar) , all of whom stayed with the group throughout their 19-year career. Later additions included female vocalist Briana Corrigan; she was replaced by Jacqui Abbott, who in turn was replaced by Alison Wheeler.
The group broke up in January 2007, claiming the split was due to "musical similarities", having sold around 6,500,000 records worldwide.
In January 2009, it was announced that the former members Dave Hemingway, Alison Wheeler, and Dave Stead would reform under the name "New Beautiful South" which was later changed to "The South".
History
The Beautiful South were originally conceived as a quintet with two lead vocalists, Heaton and Hemingway. Rotheray and Heaton, meanwhile, co-wrote the band's compositions.
On the band's first album, Briana Corrigan was featured as a background vocalist; she was promoted to full membership status in 1990, and thereafter featured as a lead vocalist on numerous Beautiful South tracks, which helped to characterise the bittersweet kitchen sink dramas played out in Heaton's often barbed songs. Also important to the band's sound was studio keyboard player Damon Butcher, who, though never an official member of the group, played virtually all the piano and keyboard parts on the band's albums.
The band's first album Welcome to the Beautiful South was released in 1989 and spawned the hits "Song For Whoever" and "You Keep It All In". The release of 1990s Choke album saw the band claim its only Number 1 hit, "A Little Time". 0898 Beautiful South followed in 1992, with hits including "Old Red Eyes Is Back". Both albums featured Pete Thoms and Gary Barnacle on brass and woodwind.
However, in 1992, Corrigan left the band to pursue a solo career, a decision that was prompted partly by a desire to record and promote her own material (which she felt was not getting enough exposure in The Beautiful South) and partly by ethical disagreements with some of Heaton's lyrics, particularly songs such as "36D", which criticised British glamour models and the industry that employed them. Hemingway later remarked, "We all agree that we should have targeted the media as sexist instead of blaming the girls for taking off their tops".
In 1994, St Helens supermarket shelf-stacker Jacqui Abbott was brought on board to fill in as the new third lead vocalist for the band. Heaton had heard her sing at an after-show party in St Helens and remembered her vocal talents. Heaton referred to her as "the lass from the glass" - a reference to the Pilkington factory in St Helens.
Abbott's first album with the band was Miaow in 1994. Hits included "Good as Gold (Stupid as Mud)" and a cover of Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talkin'", previously popularised by Harry Nilsson. November of that year saw the release of Carry on up the Charts, a "best of" compilation consisting of the singles to date plus new track "One Last Love Song". The album was a huge commercial success, securing the Christmas number one spot on the charts and becoming the second best selling album of the year.
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