The Beautiful South

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The Beautiful South in concert.

The Beautiful South is an English pop group formed at the end of the 1980s with remaining members of the Hull group The Housemartins. The band was put together by lead singer, Paul Heaton, and drummer, Dave Hemingway. They were joined by Sean Welch (Bass), Dave Stead (Drums) and Dave Rotheray (Guitar). Rotheray also co-writes the songs with Heaton.

1 Biography
2 Discography
- 2.1 Albums
- 2.2 Singles
3 Side projects and solo releases
4 External links

[edit] Biography

In The Beautiful South, Heaton remained lead singer but was joined by Hemingway and female singer Briana Corrigan to create a trio of lead vocalists. This set-up helped to characterize the bittersweet kitchen sink dramas played out in Heaton's often barbed songs.

The band's music might sound like bubbly, catchy, lightweight pop but Heaton's sour, savage and amusing worldview on everything and anything (alcoholism, religion, sex, politics and, mostly, the down side of relationships) is always lurking beneath the surface of the quirky melodies. The tastes and smells of the local pub are never far away either, with the band gaining a reputation for boozing.

The band's first album was Welcome to the Beautiful South (1989) and spawned the hits "Song For Whoever" and "You Keep It All In." The release of 1990's Choke album saw the band claim its only Number 1 hit to date, "A Little Time". 0898 followed in 1992, with hits including "Old Red Eyes Is Back".

In 1994, after Corrigan quit the band when she saw Paul's lyrics for the forthcoming album "Miaow", St Helens supermarket shelf-stacker Jacqui Abbott was brought on board to fill in. Heaton had heard her sing at an after show party in St Helens and remembered her vocal talents.

Jacqui'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 Talking," previously popularized by Harry Nilsson. The end 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 massively successful and it is said that 1 in 7 homes in the UK owns a copy.

Blue Is the Colour (1996), Quench (1998) and Painting It Red (2000) followed with varying success. Jacqui also quit the band in 2000. After a second Greatest Hits album Solid Bronze in 2001, they recorded Gaze in 2003 with yet another female vocalist, Alison 'Lady' Wheeler. Wheeler was still in place for 2004's Golddiggas, Headnodders and Pholk Songs (An album of unusually arranged cover versions including "Livin' Thing", "You're The One That I Want", "Don't Fear The Reaper" and "I'm Stone In Love With You").

The latest album Superbi was released on May 15, 2006. Superbi was recorded at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios, a farm in Bakewell and at producer Ian Stanley’s place in Enniskerry, County Wicklow. It was mixed by Bill Price (Sex Pistols, Clash, Gun 'n' Roses). Paul Heaton’s hand is recognisable in quirky song titles such as 'The Rose of My Cologne', 'The Cat Loves The Mouse' and 'Never Lost A Chicken To A Fox'. First single 'Manchester' started off as a poem - "If rain makes Britain great, then Manchester is greater" – 'a sodden tribute' to the city in which he now lives, says Heaton. The tracks cover love and loss and all that happens in-between …"So many pop songs are written about 15-20 year olds. We've never really targeted them, or newly weds. We write about people who've lived together most of their lives."

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Welcome to the Beautiful South (1989) UK No.2
Choke (1990) UK No.2
0898 (1992) UK No.4
Miaow (1994) UK No.6
Carry on up the Charts (1994) UK No.1
Blue Is the Colour (1996) UK No.1
Quench (1998) UK No.1
Painting It Red (2000) UK No.2
Solid Bronze (2001) UK No.10
Gaze (2003) UK No.14
Golddiggas, Headnodders and Pholk Songs (2004) UK No. 11
Gold (2006)
Superbi (2006) UK No. 6

[edit] Singles

Year	Title	Chart positions				Album
Year	Title	US Hot 100	US Modern Rock	US Mainstream Rock	UK	Album
1989	"Song For Whoever"	-	-	-	#2	Welcome to the Beautiful South
1989	"You Keep It All In"	-	#19	-	#8	Welcome to the Beautiful South
1989	"I'll Sail This Ship Alone"	-	-	-	#31	Welcome to the Beautiful South
1990	"A Little Time"	-	-	-	#1	Choke
1990	"My Book"	-	-	-	#43	Choke
1991	"Let Love Speak Up Itself"	-	-	-	#51	Choke
1992	"Old Red Eyes Is Back"	-	-	-	#22	0898
1992	"We Are Each Other"	-	#10	-	#30	0898
1992	"Bell Bottomed Tear"	-	-	-	#16	0898
1992	"36D"	-	-	-	#46	0898
1994	"Good As Gold (Stupid As Mud)"	-	-	-	#23	Miaow
1994	"Everybody's Talkin'"	-	-	-	#12	Miaow
1994	"Prettiest Eyes"	-	-	-	#37	Miaow
1994	"One Last Love Song"	-	-	-	#14	Carry on up the Charts
1995	"Pretenders To The Throne"	-	-	-	#18	(released later on Solid Bronze)
1996	"Rotterdam"	-	-	-	#5	Blue Is the Colour
1996	"Don't Marry Her"	-	-	-	#8	Blue Is the Colour
1997	"Blackbird On The Wire"	-	-	-	#23	Blue Is the Colour
1997	"Liars' Bar"	-	-	-	#43	Blue Is the Colour
1998	"Perfect 10"	-	-	-	#2	Quench
1998	"Dumb"	-	-	-	#16	Quench
1999	"How Long's A Tear Take To Dry?"	-	-	-	#12	Quench
1999	"The Table"	-	-	-	#47	Quench
2000	"Closer than Most"	-	-	-	#47	Painting It Red
2000	"The River/Just Checkin'"	-	-	-	#59	Painting It Red
2001	"The Root Of All Evil"	-	-	-	#50	Solid Bronze
2003	"Just A Few Things That I Ain't"	-	-	-	#30	Gaze
2003	"Let Go With The Flow"	-	-	-	#47	Gaze
2004	"Livin' Thing"	-	-	-	#24	Golddiggas, Headnodders and Pholk Songs
2004	"This Old Skin"	-	-	-	#43	Golddiggas, Headnodders and Pholk Songs
2005	"This Will Be Our Year"	-	-	-	#36	Golddiggas, Headnodders and Pholk Songs
2006	"Manchester"	-	-	-	#41	Superbi
2006	"The Rose Of My Cologne"	-	-	-	#99	Superbi

[edit] Side projects and solo releases

Paul Heaton has released an album called Fat Chance under the name Biscuit Boy (aka Crackerman) whilst Dave Rotheray has released two albums with Homespun.