The Divine Comedy

Steeped in humour, romance and an unwavering love of 1960s pop, Neil Hannon's crooning, jaunty tales caught the mood of Brit-pop and charmed their way to a cult following and occasional hits. The son of a bishop, Hannon's first incarnation of The Divine Comedy drew on the jangling indie of R.E.M. to release debut album Fanfare For The Comic Muse (1990) and the Edwyn Collins-produced EP Europop. But after little success the original line-up split. Back in Londonderry on his own, Hannon used a number of literary references on the critically acclaimed Liberation (1993) and Promenade (1994), before Casanova (1996) from which the single Something For The Weekend proved a major hit and breakthrough. Heavily endorsed by Radio 1 DJ Chris Evans and with the British music scene exploding in a euphoric resurgence, A Short Album About Love (1997) and Fin de Siecle (1998) produced the string of catchy singles Everybody Knows, Generation Sex and National Express making Hannon an unlikely star, and often compared to Jarvis Cocker. With his dry wit and love of melody, Hannon continues to be one of Northern Ireland's most popular singer-songwriters and is still well-known for penning the theme tune to hit sit-com Father Ted.

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