Richard Paul Ashcroft
(born 11 September 1971 in Billinge, Wigan, England [1] is an English singer-songwriter. He was the lead singer,primary songwriter and occasional guitarist of rock band The Verve from their formation in 1990 until their split in 1999. After this, he became a solo artist in his own right before reforming The Verve in 2007. He is still scheduled to continue his solo career at some point in the future.
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RICHARD ASHCROFT TICKETS
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Early life
Ashcroft was the only son of office worker Frank and hairdresser Margaret; he also has two younger sisters.
[2] When Ashcroft was 11, his father died suddenly of a
brain haemorrhage.
[2] Ashcroft soon "fell under the influence of his stepfather", who belonged to the
Rosicrucians.
Ashcroft attended
Up Holland High School, along with future bandmates
Simon Jones,
Peter Salisbury and
Simon Tong,
[4] and then attended
Winstanley College, where he met
Nick McCabe.
[2] His teachers referred to him as "the cancer of the class",
[6] though one member of staff recalled him being "incredibly intelligent".
[7] Ashcroft was an avid
football player, playing for
Wigan Athletic.
For some time Ashcroft wanted to be a professional football player, idolising
George Best, but as he grew older he lost interest in this, turning to music instead.
[8]
The Verve
Ashcroft formed The Verve (originally just Verve) in 1990 with McCabe, Jones and Salisbury. The band signed to Hut Records and became well-known for their appetite for both psychedelic music and drugs. They also became a part of the Britpop movement. The band split in 1995, and around this time Ashcroft wrote a collection of songs he intended to release as his first solo album.
[9] However, by 1997 he had changed his mind and asked McCabe to return (alongside new member Tong), reforming The Verve and releasing the very successful album
Urban Hymns
. Ashcroft was at the forefront of the band's popularity, receiving an
Ivor Novello Award for his songwriting
[10] and being referred to by the press as "the unmistakable face of the Number One rock band in England".
[11] However, the pressures of touring and the tensions within the band led to McCabe's departure in mid-1998 and the announcement of the band's break-up in April 1999.
In early 2007, Ashcroft made peace with McCabe and Jones and The Verve's reunion was announced in June. The band played gigs later that year and continued touring in 2008, headlining at several festivals around the world. A new album,
Forth
, was released in August.
Solo career
2000-2001
Ashcroft's first solo single, "
A Song for the Lovers", peaked at #3 in the UK charts in April.
It was followed by the single "
Money To Burn" which reached the UK Top 20 at #17.
The album,
Alone with Everybody
, was released in June, reaching number 1 and receiving platinum status in the UK. Album reviews were generally positive.
[12] In September, a third single was released – "
C'mon People (We're Making It Now)" – entering the charts at #21.
2002-2004
Ashcroft began work on his second album
Human Conditions
in 2002. The lead single, "
Check the Meaning", was released in early October, and peaked at #11 on the UK Singles Chart.
[13] The album was released later that month and reached #3 in the UK Album Chart.
Reception to the album was largely negative.
[14] Despite the general panning,
Coldplay's
Chris Martin—a fan of both Ashcroft and The Verve—defended the album's merits which "made an impression" on Ashcroft.
The appreciation shown would later result in a support slot for Ashcroft, serving as the opening act for Coldplay during a European tour.
[15] The album's second single, "
Science of Silence", was released the following January and charted at #14 in the UK.
On March 26, Ashcroft made his first live appearance of 2003 at London's
Royal Albert Hall as part of the third annual
Teenage Cancer Trust charity fundraising event,
[16] before "
Buy It in Bottles", the third and final single to be taken from the album, was released on April 7, charting at #26.
Besides a limited number of appearances in 2003, Ashcroft was absent from the music business for the next few years. He later explained this in 2006, stating that "[e]veryone got it into their heads over the last few years that I was in my ivory tower like
Lennon, baking bread all day. The fact of the matter was that I was bringing up kids".
[17]
2005-2006
Live 8
Ashcroft began playing gigs again in mid-2005, and, on July 2 at the
Live 8 concert in
Hyde Park,
Coldplay invited him to perform with them during their set. They performed The Verve's hit "
Bitter Sweet Symphony", after having previously rehearsed the song in Crystal Palace. Ashcroft's performance of the song was introduced by
Chris Martin as "the best song ever written, sung by the best singer in the world",
helping to create renewed interest in Ashcroft. At Christmas 2005, a documentary entitled
Live 8: A Bitter Sweet Symphony
was aired on the
BBC reliving moments of the day featuring a portion of Ashcroft's performance as the show's opening soundtrack.
Keys To The World
After the disintegration of
Hut Records in 2004, Ashcroft signed to
Parlophone [18] where he released his third solo album,
Keys to the World
, on January 23, 2006. The first single from the album, "
Break the Night with Colour", was released on 9 January 2006, and entered the
UK Singles Chart at number 3.
Following his performance at Live 8, Ashcroft was booked as a support act for Coldplay's
Twisted Logic Tour throughout
North America and the
UK, which started on March 14 in
Ottawa,
Canada. Ashcroft saw the support slot as "a good chance to play to a significant amount of people and say, ‘I’m back. And this is what I do’".
The album's second single, "
Music Is Power", charted at number 20.
On April 18 2006, he recorded the
Live from London EP
, the ninth in a series of EPs released exclusively as digital downloads from Apple's iTunes Store. The EP was released just 6 days later on April 24. With the release of
Keys To The World
, the general consensus was that Ashcroft was "back at the top of his musical game",
as he announced his largest UK tour for years for May 2006, culminating in three nights at London's
Brixton Academy. Following the tour, Ashcroft had hoped to perform two "Homecoming" shows at
Wigan Athletic's 25,000 seater
JJB Stadium in June 2006, but was unable to do so as the proposed venue lacked the "appropriate licence".
[19] As a consequence, he chose to play at
Lancashire County Cricket Club in
Manchester, in what was to be his biggest solo show to date. He was supported at the gig by acts such as
Razorlight and
The Feeling, whilst
DJ Shadow joined Richard on stage during his set to perform "Lonely Soul", their
UNKLE collaboration from 1998's
Psyence Fiction
LP.
[20] Another UK tour followed five months later, culminating in a show at Manchester's M.E.N. Arena on November 30.
[21]
Richard hinted at the possible release of a new version of his previous single "C'mon People (We're Making It Now)" for the
Bobby Moore Cancer Fund,
[22] which would coincide with
England's participation in the
2006 Football World Cup, but the single never materialised. Instead, his next release was "
Words Just Get in the Way", which charted lower than his previous single, peaking at #40 in the UK Singles Chart.
On December 4, the
double a-side "Why Not Nothing" / "Sweet Brother Malcolm" was released on limited edition 7" vinyl.
[23]
On December 11 2006, Ashcroft recorded a live performance for
Live From Abbey Road
. The programme was broadcast in the UK on
Channel 4 in March 2007, and in the USA on the
Sundance Channel in June 2007.
Future directions and Verve breakup
Despite the reformation, Ashcroft is contractually obligated to record another album for Parlophone.
[24] In an interview with
Zane Lowe he stated that his solo career and the band can be done together. Ashcroft played a solo gig on August 25 as part of the Last Days of Summer Festival in
Buckingham, co-headlining the event with
Supergrass and
Athlete.
[25] In December 2008, Ashcroft's solo website was re-launched. Using
Google Maps technique the site includes music, videos, images and other features.
In August 2009 it was announced by
The Guardian that The Verve had broken up for the third time, due to the belief of guitarist Nick McCabe and bassist Simon Jones' belief that Ashcroft was using the reformation as a vehicle for his own solo career.
Personal life
Ashcroft is married to
Kate Radley, the former keyboard player for British
shoegaze band
Spiritualized. They married in 1995 and it was years before it was publicly revealed that the pair had married. Together, they have two sons: Sonny, born in 2000, and Cassius, born in 2004. Cassius suffered from minor breathing difficulties after his birth. The family live in
Gloucester near Radley's parents. Ashcroft is a proclaimed
Manchester United fan.
He is good friends with
Oasis'
Noel Gallagher,
Liam Gallagher and
Coldplay's
Chris Martin (whom Ashcroft once thanked for "
letting me be myself again"). The Gallagher brothers for a long time have expressed the greatest of respect to Ashcroft, with Noel fondly nicknaming Ashcroft as 'Captain Rock'. The Oasis track "
Cast No Shadow", included in the successful album 1995
(What's the Story) Morning Glory?
is dedicated to him, and it is believed that Ashcroft dedicated the title track of
A Northern Soul
to Gallagher as a response. Ashcroft also provided backing vocals on the Oasis song "
All Around the World" in 1997, for Oasis'
Be Here Now
.
In a 2006 interview, Ashcroft mentioned taking
Prozac to help him with
clinical depression, but said that they didn't help, referring to the pills as "very, very synthetic." Ashcroft has said that he's always been "a depressive, someone who suffers from depression", and that music and creativity help him cope with his illness.
[26]
Controversy
Controversy exists over The Verve's biggest hit, "Bitter Sweet Symphony", on which Ashcroft is the sole band member to share a co-writing credit.
[27] The song uses a sample of
Andrew Oldham Orchestra's recording of
The Rolling Stones' 1965 song "
The Last Time". The Verve handed The Rolling Stones'
record company 100 percent of the
royalties from "Bitter Sweet Symphony", and
Mick Jagger and
Keith Richards were given songwriting credits along with Ashcroft.
In 2006, he was arrested in
Wiltshire after coming into a youth centre and asking to work with the teenagers present at the club. He refused to leave and employees called the police, resulting in Ashcroft being arrested and fined £80 for
disorderly conduct.
[28]
Discography
Studio albums
- Alone with Everybody
(26 June 2000) (Hut Records) (#1 (UK) (Platinum)
- Human Conditions
(21 October 2002) (Hut Records) (#3 (UK) (Gold)
- Keys to the World
(23 January 2006) (Parlophone) (#2 (UK) (Platinum)
Singles
- "A Song for the Lovers" (3 April 2000) (#3 UK)
- "Money to Burn" (12 June 2000) (#17 UK)
- "C'mon People (We're Making It Now)" (11 September 2000) (#21 UK)
- "Check the Meaning" (7 October 2002) (#11 UK, #25 Europe)
- "Science of Silence" (6 January 2003) (#14 UK)
- "Buy It in Bottles" (7 April 2003) (#26 UK)
- "Break the Night With Colour" (9 January 2006) (#3 UK, #3 ITA, #12 Europe)
- "Music Is Power" (17 April 2006) (#20 UK)
- "Words Just Get in the Way" (10 July 2006) (#40 UK)
- "Why Not Nothing?" / "Sweet Brother Malcolm" (4 December 2006) (limited)
EPs
- Live from London
(24 April 2006) (digital download format only)
Cameos
- "Lonely Soul" ~ UNKLE, on the album Psyence Fiction
.
- "The Test" ~ The Chemical Brothers, on the album Come With Us
.
References
- http://www.last.fm/music/Richard+Ashcroft
- http://www.musicsaves.org/verve/interviews/36.shtml
- http://www.musicsaves.org/verve/interviews/36.shtml
- Feature: ''Richard Ashcroft Biography''
- http://www.musicsaves.org/verve/interviews/36.shtml
- http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Richard-Ashcroft-Biography/7E2C04ECE70800C74825697C00173691
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2002/jun/25/furthereducation.uk3
- http://www.musicsaves.org/verve/interviews/22.shtml
- http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/richard-ashcroft-grand-designs-593258
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/102024.stm
- http://www.musicsaves.org/verve/interviews/37.shtml
- http://www.nme.com/reviews/richard-ashcroft/2437
- ''Richard Ashcroft at chartstats.com''
- http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/richard-ashcroft/human-conditions.htm
- ''Ashcroft talks Verve and Philosophy''
- News: ''Ashcroft reveals single details''
- http://www.richardashcroftonline.com/images/press/ra/nme07-01-06/nme07-01-06d.jpg
- News: ''Ashcroft is the man with the power''
- News: ''No go for Richard at JJB''
- BBC Manchester Review
- News: ''Ashcroft's Arena ending''
- News: ''RICHARD ASHCROFT - ASHCROFT'S SOCCER ANTHEM''
- Why Not Nothing? / Sweet Brother Malcolm AA side 7 inch single
- Graff, Gary.."The Verve to Continue on After Reunion Album. billboard.com. Aug 20, 2008.
- News: ''Last Days of Summer picture gallery''
- Title Unavailable
- ''Urban Hymns'' sleevenotes
- Richard Ashcroft in shock arrest | News | NME.COM