The Verve The Verve The Verve were an English rock band formed in Wigan in 1990 by lead vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bass guitarist Simon Jones and drummer Peter Salisbury. Guitarist and keyboard player Simon Tong later became a member. Beginning with a psychedelic sound with their debut LP "A Storm in Heaven", by the mid-1990s the band had released several EPs and three albums. It also endured name and line-up changes, break-ups, health problems, drug abuse and various lawsuits. The band's commercial breakthrough was the 1997 album "Urban Hymns", one of the best-selling albums in UK Chart history. The
Richard Ray Farrell singing. In 1978, he briefly fronted a Spanish blues-rock band in Spain, and lived with a gypsy family for six months. After becoming a father in 1985, he relocated to Stuttgart, Germany, and played with a local blues band. In 1987, Richard opened for Joe Cocker at the Backnang Open Air Festival. Two years later he led his own Richard Ray Farrell Band, and started touring across Europe. Through connections he toured with Lazy Lester, Big Jack Johnson, Big Boy Henry, Louisiana Red, Frank Frost and R. L. Burnside between 1990 and 1993, during which time Farrell released his debut