Richard Ashcroft 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. 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 and being referred to by the press as "the unmistakable face of the Number One rock band in
Michael Ashcroft a period in Belize after completing his education, Ashcroft returned to hitch hike around Europe, and then for a short period of time became the manager of a rock and roll band. In 1967, Ashcroft joined Carreras Tobacco as a management trainee. He left in 1969, joining Pritchard Group Services, after several months unemployed. Pritchard Group was a cleaning and business services company and Ashcroft worked his way up quickly to become an assistant in the company's head office accounting department, part of a large acquisitions team. In 1972, at the age of 26, he started his own business, Michael