The Verve

Alternative-Rock Pop-Rock band known as The Verve was formed in 1989 in the city of Wigan, Lancashire England, by lead singer Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bassist Simon Jones and drummer Peter Salisbury. Releasing three independent singles, "All In The Mind" in March of 1992 and followed by "She's A Superstar" and "Gravity Grave"; they went on to support The Black Crowes, played their first dates in the U.S. and in May of 1993 issued another single, "Blue". They saw their debut full-length album "A Storm in Heaven"; despite the records' overwhelmingly positive reviews they enjoyed modest success in U.K. charts.
Two years later, The Verve, put forth a second effort, "A Northern Soul" from which they released three singles: "This Is Music", "On Your Own" and "History"; the album peaked at #13 on the Official U.K. Pop chart, in the meantime Ashcroft quit, effectively breaking up the band in August that same year. A few weeks later, the front man assembled the group; Ashcroft, Jones and Salisbury decided to continue working together, with new addition, guitarist keyboardist Simon Tong. In 1997 Nick McCabe returned to the fold and the band released their masterpiece, "Urban Hymns"; the single "Bitter Sweet Symphony" crashed into the top 3 of the U.K. chart stayed around for three months, followed by "The Drugs Don't Work" which rose to the #1 spot in the same chart; "Bitter Sweet Symphony" stormed the U.S. charts reaching #12 on The Billboard Hot 100 and #4 on Modern Rock chart, "Lucky Man" was another Modern Rock top 20 hit; "Urban Hymns" entered the U.K. Albums chart at #1, hit #23 on The Billboard Top 200 chart and became their greatest international success to date. The following year was the beginning of the end for The Verve, McCabe was pulled out of the group, and finally the members announced the group's break-up in April 1999.

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