Dave Hemingway (born David Robert Hemingway, 20 September 1960) is an English musician and songwriter, best known as a

vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

for the Hull-based band

The Beautiful South The Beautiful South were an English pop rock group formed in 1988 by Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway, two former members of the Hull group The Housemartins, both of whom performed lead and backing vocals. Other members throughout the band's exi ...

until they disbanded in 2007. Previously he had been a member of

The Housemartins The Housemartins were an English indie rock group formed in Hull who were active in the 1980s and charted three top-ten albums and six top-twenty singles in the UK. Many of their lyrics conveyed a mixture of socialist politics and Christianit ...

. Hemingway was born in Hull,

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire t ...

, to Harry Hemingway, a lorry driver and local comedian on the club circuit, and Flo Hemingway, who was one of Hull's best-known barmaids. In Hull's Henry Cooper School, Hemingway was in the same class as

' future

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western bands that play rock, pop, jazz, or R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeeping and embellishing the musical timbre. The drummer' ...

, Hugh Whitaker. The two shared an interest in drumming, and one day, when the class were asked who would like to learn drums, they put their hands up first. Hemingway followed Whitaker into bands, first the Newpolitans with

Dave Rotheray David Rotheray (born 9 February 1963, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England) is an English rock and pop musician, best known for being the lead guitarist for The Beautiful South. Rotheray was born the last of five children. His parents were ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gu ...

, and then the Velvetones. Whilst at university in London, Hemingway was the drummer and a founding member of The Shoppers. It became a well regarded post-punk band (Steve Brain guitar/ lead vocals, Maxine Tarte keyboards/ vocals, Gavin Hearne lead guitar/vocals, Christos Yanni bass/ vocals). His break came when he got a call from Rotheray telling him Whitaker had left The Housemartins. Rotheray recommended him to Housemartins guitarist Stan Cullimore, who phoned him. He was working as a

purchase ledger A bought ledger is a system in accounting by which a business records and monitors its creditors. The purchase ledger contains the individual accounts of suppliers from whom the business has made purchases on credit. Information on invoices and ...

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service ...

at the time for the Crystal Motor Group. Hemingway quit his job on 6 March 1987, and soon found himself in the

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design, ...

, recording the band's second

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, '' The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death''. After the Housemartins disbanded, he and Housemartins founder

Paul Heaton Paul David Heaton (born 9 May 1962) is an English singer-songwriter. He was the frontman of the Housemartins, who had success with the singles " Happy Hour" and the UK number one "Caravan of Love" in 1986 before disbanding in 1988. He then forme ...

put together The Beautiful South from its ashes, featuring roadie and bassist

Sean Welch Sean Welch (born 12 April 1965, Enfield, England) was the bassist for The Beautiful South and previously roadie for The Housemartins The Housemartins were an English indie rock group formed in Hull who were active in the 1980s and chart ...

. Hemingway's first

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Comics * ''Solo'' (DC Comics), a DC comics series * Solo, a 1996 mini-series from Dark Horse Comics Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ' ...

album, ''Hello Cruel World'', was released as a

download In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar system. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a remo ...

only on iTunes. The album's title was inspired by Hemingway's experience recording in the capital. After forming "The South" in 2008, Hemingway along with Alison Wheeler from the Beautiful South line-up, released their first album since 2006 entitled ''Sweet Refrains''. The album, featuring songs written by keyboardist Damon Butcher and guitarist Phil Barton, was recorded and released in 2012.

Sunbirds

After leaving The South in 2017, Hemingway formed a new band called Sunbirds with former bandmate Phil Barton, drummer Marc Parnell and vocalist Laura Wilcockson. In 2020, Nectar Records released the first single by Sunbirds. Titled "Meet You on the Northside", the song is from the band's debut album, ''Cool to Be Kind''.

References

Bibliography

*Pattenden, Michael (1999) ''Last Orders at the Liars Bar''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hemingway, Dave 1960 births Living people English male singers English rock singers English songwriters English pop rock singers Musicians from Kingston upon Hull The Housemartins members English rock drummers British male songwriters