Beautiful South head their separate ways

The Beautiful South are splitting up after 19 years, they have announced.

The band - formed by ex-Housemartins singer Paul Heaton - released the news in a jokey statement. "The Beautiful South have split up due to musical similarities," it said. "The band would like to thank everyone for their 19 wonderful years in music."

Over the past two decades the Hull-based band have sold 15 million records and notched up a string of hits including Old Red Eyes Is Back, Rotterdam and Perfect 10.

Their first single, Song For Whoever, reached number two in the charts in 1989 and they scored a number one with A Little Time a year later.

The band finished their last tour in December. It is often said that one in seven people owns a Beautiful South record.

Their 1994 greatest hits collection Carry On Up The Charts has shifted 1.8 million copies and is among the top 75 best-selling albums of all time. They released their 12th album, Superbi, last summer.

Formed by Heaton and fellow Housemartin Dave Hemingway, the band also comprised bassist Sean Welch, guitarist Dave Rotheray and drummer Dave Stead.

Original female vocalist Briana Corrigan, who duetted with Hemingway on A Little Time, was replaced by Jacqui Abbot in 1993.

The group's third female lead, Alison Wheeler, joined in 2003.