The Beautiful South was an English pop/rock group formed in 1988 by Paul Heaton and David Hemingway from defunct band The Housemartins.
To complete the lineup, the pair hired former Anthill Runaways vocalist Briana Corrigan, bassist Sean Welch, drummer David Stead and guitarist David Rotheray.
The band’s first album “Welcome to the Beautiful South” was released in 1989. It was a success thanks to number 2 U.K single “Song for whoever”.
“A Little Time” the first single from the group’s second album “Choke”, became the group’s first number one single in the fall of 1990.
During the ’90s, the band released four albums: “0898”, “Miaow”, “Blue is the colour” and “Quench”.
Their follow-up recording “Painting it red” suffered promotion and touring difficulties.
In 2003, The Beautiful South recruit Alison Wheeler as female vocalist. This lineup recorded “Gaze” with modest sucess.
In 2007, after releasing the album “Superbi”, the band decided to split citing “musical similarities”.
With the dissolution of The Beautiful South, Dave Hemingway was the first to release new material. His first solo album “Hello cruel world”, was released as a download only on iTunes.
Paul Heaton also shifted his focus to his solo career. Although Paul′s first solo release was back in 2001 [under the pseudonym Biscuit Boy], it wasn′t until 2008, with the release of “The cross eyed rambler”, that Heaton started putting out records under his own name.
More recent years see Dave Hemingway, Dave Stead and Alison Wheeler reunited as The New Beautiful South, a nine-piece band also featuring longtime band associates. In 2010, the band changed its name to The South. The debut South album “Sweet Refrains” was released in 2012.
