Wigan, Lancashire, the Northwest of England. The Year - 1990. Richard Ashcroft (vocals, guitar), Nick McCabe (guitar), Simon Jones (bassist) and Peter Salisbury (drums) form a band and call themselves Verve.
September 1991 - Verve sign a record deal with Hut Recordings.
1992 - The band release their first three singles: "All In The Mind," "She's a Superstar" and "Gravity Grave." Each topped the UK's independent chart.
The band's stylish debut album, A Storm In Heaven, was released in June 1993. It was a truly ambitious album, perhaps even a Nineties' psychedelic classic that fulfilled the claims that both the band and the media had been making. For all Verve's charisma, however, they proved too elusive and, quite rightly, engrossed in their own ideals to be caught up with stereotypical fame techniques. As Richard said at the time: "I don't think we're ever going to achieve what we want to achieve. It would be impossible, but that's the point, I aim to further."
America was next. Following the success of "Slide Away," a single from the first album, Verve took on a gruelling round of appearances on 1994's Lollapalooza spectacle, before returning to Europe for more festival hi-jinx. During this year, the band were also forced to change their name after the threat of a lawsuit from the US label of the same name. They became The Verve.
1995 - The band released their second album, the essential A Northern Soul. The album powerfully demonstrated the accomplished nature of The Verve, something that has become even more evident as time has passed. A Northern Soul has enduring qualities - at once robust and fragile, dense, juicy, melodic, abrasive and reform - which make it certain to be remembered as one of the defining moments of Nineties' music. Richard described the album as "one character going through twelve different experiences of pain, elation, sex, loss, romance... all the emotions piled into one album. This is to the point, to the heart and to the soul."
Three singles were taken from the album: "This Is Music," "On Your Own" and, in September 1995, the classic "History." They were to be the last releases from The Verve for almost two years.
"On Your Own" and "History" were the clearest examples so far of the burgeoning songwriting talents of the band's vocalist Richard Ashcroft. Written solely by the frontman, it was the quality of these two songs that began to convince people that the band could reach a far wider audience than their erstwhile fervent cult following.
For a time however, it seemed that the band was over. But Ashcroft, armed with a number of new self-penned songs, began to work with Jones, Salisbury and an old friend form Wigan, Simon Tong, again under the banner of The Verve. These songs formed the basis of the band's 1997 breakthrough album Urban Hymns. As recording reached the home straight, Ashcroft decided that a band calling themselves The Verve had to include Nick McCabe. The guitarist returned to the fold.
The first single from Urban Hymns (released on June 16, 1997) was the string laden epic "Bitter Sweet Symphony," which became the defining song of summer 1997. It entered the UK charts at number two and stayed around for three months. A sell out show to coincide with the release was postponed due to illness and rescheduled for August. The shows were unforgettable - a true release of energy and passion which ended in a triumphant headlining appearance at the Reading Festival.
The Verve's first number one single "The Drugs Don't Work" was released on September 1, 1997. It was an instant classic, which paved the way for the release of Urban Hymns on September 29th. Urban Hymns was a phenomenon in both critical and sales terms. Lauded across the media, it has now sold over seven million copies worldwide.
