Richard Ashcroft

Born in Wigan, England, in 1971, Richard Ashcroft emerged in the early 1990s as the singer and principal songwriter of The Verve, a band associated with the British rock scene and the britpop movement, blending psychedelic rock, orchestral pop and darker tones. With The Verve he contributed to three studio albums, from A Storm in Heaven (1993) to Urban Hymns (1997); during this period his introspective lyrics and long, drawn-out vocal lines became a hallmark of the band. After The Verve split in the late 1990s, Ashcroft developed a solo career rooted in melodic alternative rock, launched by Alone with Everybody (2000) and followed by Human Conditions (2002), Keys to the World (2006), These People (2016), Natural Rebel (2018) and Acoustic Hymns Vol. 1 (2021), the latter revisiting parts of his catalogue. He has also appeared intermittently on the British electronic and trip-hop scene, notably collaborating with UNKLE and The Chemical Brothers, and maintains a steady performing schedule, alternating club and theatre concerts, full-band tours and solo acoustic shows.