FORMED: 1989, Hull, England
To tell the story of The Beautiful South, or for the sake of shortness TBS, one should travel even farer back and say some words about The Housemartins. First of all, The Housemartins are my second favourite band after TBS, but that's not the issue here. The Houisemartins exist from 1984 to 1987. Some of their better known songs are "Caravan of Love", "Happy Hour", "Think for a Minute" and "Five get over Excited". After three years the band splitted (what was planned this way from the beginning). The lead vocalist Paul D. heaton and drummer/co-vocalist Dave Hemmingway soon founded The Beautiful South.
With them there were: Briana Corrigan-Vocalist, Sean Welch-Bass, David Stead-Drums and David Rotheray-Guitar. The songs are written by Paul Heaton, who was also one of the creative heads of the Housemartins, and David Rotheray. For writing, they usually fly to Gran Canaria for several weeks, after that the band goes to the studio and records the songs. Beside the six official band members there are always a keyboardist, a percussinist and three brassists involved, both in the studio and on the stage. And especially the brass section delivers the ultimate kick for the live performances!
In 1989 TBS' debut album "Welcome To The Beautiful South" was published. The first Single "Song for Whoever" was already quite a hit. In 1990 and 1992 "Choke" and "0898" followed. After that Briana Corrigan left the band. It is said, that she was affronted by the way that women were often shown as victims in the songs. Briana Corrigan has started a solo career by now; her first and so far only Album "When My Arms Wrap You Round" came out 1996. By now,she has turned towards acting in Theatre. Jacqueline Abbott replaced Briana, she gave her debut on "Miaow" in 1994. The next year, their Best Of Album was released, "Carry On Up The Charts". It became the third fastest selling Album in the UK ever. 1996 followed "Blue Is The Colour", 1998 "Quench". In this Album an old friend from Housemartins days was involved: Norman Cook, by now better known as Fatboy Slim, worked as "Rhythm Consultan". The "Quench" singles "Perfect 10", "Dumb" and "How long's a tear take to dry" could be heard in radio these days.Year 2000 brought "Painting It Red", yet another jewel in the world of music. In the middle of the US-leg of the Painting It Red-tour, Jacqui decided to leave the band; completely by surprise for most fans. Her reasons are still somewhat unclear. At first it was told that she left in order to have more time for her family. Later it was said, that she couldn't stand "the autocritic system" within the band anymore. However, sadly also Jacqui has left TBS for good. Btw, TBS finished the complete tour without her. And even so she was clearly missing in some parts, the boys put on absolutely amazing, fabulous concerts - both music and atmosphere-wise (Perfect 10 as an duett between Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway is something special!).
If you want to try TBS and buy an album, I can't give you a hint with which you should start. Every single one is TO good to rate them. But it will be unimportant with which you will start. Buy one, get hooked, buy the other Albums during the next two months: that's the usual way!
