Formed in the late eighties out of the ashes of the Housemartins, the Beautiful South was one of the best selling and most popular British bands of the last 20 years. The Hull based outfit sold millions of records since releasing their first album in 1989. The songs, written by Paul Heaton and Dave Rotheray, were dark yet witty tales of everyday English life. A regular fixture in both album and singles chart their 1994 best of compilation, Carry on up the Charts, sold over 1.8 million copies in the UK. In a statement the band said the split was down to “musical similarities”. Over the last couple of years band members had pursued solo projects. Paul Heaton recording under the pseudonym Biscuit Boy and Dave Rotheray running a side band called Homespun. | 
