Jacqui Abbott left the band in 2000, [12] [13] because of the pressure of touring, to concentrate on looking after her son, who had just been diagnosed with autism. [14] I Started A Joke" ( Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb) (this is a longer version of 4:33 later edited to 3:57, using an earlier fade-out for the limited edition bonus disc of Carry on up the Charts) Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (9 October 1995). "Carry on Up the Charts: The Best of the Beautiful South - The Beautiful South". AllMusic . Retrieved 28 February 2014.

The group were known for their wry and socially observant lyrics. They broke up in January 2007, claiming the split was due to "musical similarities", [2] having sold around 15 million records worldwide. Although Heaton has led bands for decades, he’s released only one album as a solo artist, Fat Chance, under the name Biscuit Boy. [ Glenn Kenny / Scott Schinder / Michael Zwirn]The 1996 album Blue Is the Colour sold over a million copies, and featured hit singles " Rotterdam" and " Don't Marry Her". The album demonstrated the band's gradual shift towards a country music sound, and was well received by the public and on BBC and commercial radio. [ citation needed] In 1997, the Beautiful South headlined stadium concerts for the first and last time, in Huddersfield and at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in London. Support for the Huddersfield concert was provided by Cast and the Lightning Seeds. [13] Quench [ edit ] Quench falters, despite the funky Heaton-Abbott duet “Perfect 10,” which salutes plus-size romance and begs to be covered by an American R&B or hip-hop group. Abbott’s “How Long’s a Tear Take to Dry?” reconciles fueding lovers, and the album closer, “Your Father and I,” is one of Heaton’s most finely wrought duets of male/female relations, with alternating verses by Abbott and Heaton deflating one another’s pretensions. The rest of the album, however, is less catchy or profound than simply tedious. Alcohol is the dominant lyrical obsession —“Look What I Found in My Beer” tellingly offers a drinking problem history of Heaton (or someone very like him). The album campaign saw the pair make publicity appearances on a variety of TV and radio programmes, including The One Show, Live at Edinburgh Castle, Sunday Night Live at the Palladium, and Aled Jones' ITV show Weekend, BBC Two at Glastonbury Festival performing acoustic versions of second single "Moulding Of A Fool" and a cover version of Dolly Parton's "Islands in the Stream", Channel 4's Sunday Brunch and Pointless Celebrities. David Rotheray

European platinum certificates: 1996". ifpi.org. Archived from the original on 22 February 2012 . Retrieved 1 March 2010. Abbott toured the UK and Ireland with Heaton in May/June 2014 performing at sold shows including London Shepherd's Bush Empire, Salford Lowry and Hull City Hall. The tour was accompanied by publicity appearances on a variety of TV and radio programmes, including The One Show, Live at Edinburgh Castle, Sunday Night Live at the Palladium, and Aled Jones' ITV show Weekend. The third initial bandmember was Dave Rotheray, a songwriting guitarist who'd previously played with Hemingway in two other Hull bands, the Newpolitans and the Velvetones. At the time, Rotheray was studying for a PhD at the University of Hull and living on Grafton Street, where Heaton also lived. Rotheray and Heaton became the songwriting team for the Beautiful South, which was conceived as a quintet with Heaton and Hemingway (who was no longer drumming) as the two lead singers. The core band was completed by Dave Stead (ex-Luddites/Vicious Circle) on drums, and former Housemartins roadie Sean Welch on bass guitar. Also important to the band's sound was studio keyboard player Damon Butcher — though never an official member of the group, he would end up playing virtually all the piano and keyboard parts on the band's albums. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "The Beautiful South – Artist Biography". AllMusic. All Media Network . Retrieved 27 April 2016.The album Quench (1998) was released with similar commercial success, again reaching number one in the UK album charts. " Perfect 10", the first single to be released from the album, also provided the band with further singles chart success. The album is also notable for being more uptempo, and being the first on which Heaton and Hemingway's former Housemartins colleague Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim) was used in a consultancy role. [14] Painting It Red release and Abbott's departure [ edit ] Bigger Is Better in Bed: The other half of "Perfect 10", although the singer notes that there's a range of size that she can tolerate and too large might cause some problems. "Well if he's XXL, well what the hell/Every penny don't fit the slot." The group broke up in January 2007, claiming the split was due to "musical similarities", [3] and having sold around 15 million records worldwide. Bell Bottomed Tear (liner). The Beautiful South. Go! Discs. 1992. {{ cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) ( link) In 1990, the Beautiful South released their second album, Choke. Two singles—"My Book" and "Let Love Speak Up Itself"—charted outside the Top 40, but the album also provided the band's only Number 1 hit, a Hemingway/Corrigan duet called " A Little Time". The video, featuring the aftermath of a domestic fight, won the 1991 BRIT Award for Best Video. [3] Third album and Corrigan's departure [ edit ]

Sutherland, Ben (1 February 2007). "The South's bitter-sweet legacy". BBC News . Retrieved 28 February 2014. French album positions". infodisc.fr. Archived from the original on 20 August 2008 . Retrieved 1 March 2010.THE PUMPKIN (1992) Contains the band's first eight "music promos" and footage (*) from their March 1990 American tour. [23] The Beautiful South". Brit Awards. 19 February 2014. Archived from the original on 20 October 2013 . Retrieved 30 March 2014. We Are Each Other (liner). The Beautiful South. Go! Discs. 1992. {{ cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) ( link)

After disbanding England’s ironically poppy — and, at home, wildly popular — Housemartins in 1988, frontman Paul Heaton wasted little time in maintaining the Hull band’s chart momentum with the less jangly but similarly double-edged Beautiful South. (Another ex-member, Norman Cook, launched Beats International and subsequently became a massive star as Fatboy Slim.) Though the new combo replaced the Housemartins’ plangent guitars with a more mature, keyboard-driven MOR-pop sound, it maintained the pointed juxtaposition of attractively crafted tunes and Heaton’s barbed lyrical sentiments. In their mix of attractive arrangements and scabrous lyrics, the Beautiful South would bewilder and alienate its potential American audience while becoming enormous stars at home. Big Beautiful Woman: "Perfect 10": "She's a perfect ten/But she wears a twelve/Baby, keep a little two for me."INTERVIEW: Beautiful South – Rey Roldan". Archived from the original on 7 March 2016 . Retrieved 4 July 2016. Taylor, Stella (14 June 2007). "A poignant musical dissertation on student life and dreams". Gazette and Herald . Retrieved 1 November 2019. The first six songs are so damn good that it's downright heartbreaking that the other six suffer terribly in comparison (even though most of them are decent enough), and ultimately despite my sentimental attachments I have to give the record a B+ (though it's close). Apparently some Paul Heaton fans consider 0898 something of a disappointment, but I'm not sure why; the good songs here are just as sly and disarming as the ones on the debut, and they have a much fuller and more colorful sound to boot, courtesy of producer Jon Kelly (who worked with Kate Bush on Never for Ever). Catchy in-song shifts of tone and tempo abound, plus the singing doesn't have any of the cloying qualities that ruined big chunks of Blue Is the Colour. In 2008, 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 band continues to perform Beautiful South songs in concert and to write and release new material. [20] The debut South album, Sweet Refrains, was recorded at CowShed Studios in London during June and July 2012. Dave Hemingway's departure from The South was announced February 2, 2017. Discography Albums With two lead singers, the Beautiful South emphasized vocal harmonies, especially between male and female vocalists. The first of these female co-leads was Northern Irish singer Briana Corrigan, who left after their third album, 0898 Beautiful South. Jacqui Abbott sang on the next four albums, while Alison Wheeler was a member for the final three. With three-part vocal harmonies and smooth playing from the band, the Beautiful South exhibited a honeyed sound that could mask very barbed lyrics.