Verve, the original name of The Verve, were an English rock band formed in Wigan, Greater Manchester in 1990, having met at Winstanley Sixth Form College. The band's initial line-up comprised vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bassist Simon Jones, and drummer Peter Salisbury, whilst Simon Tong later became a member as a second guitarist and keyboard player.

Beginning with a psychedelic sound indebted to shoegazing and space rock, by the mid-1990s they had released several EPs and two acclaimed records. They endured both name and line-up changes, break-ups, health problems, drug abuse and various lawsuits, and have been referred to as "one of the tightest knit, yet ultimately volatile bands in history".

The band's commercial breakthrough came with the 1997 album Urban Hymns and its lead single "Bitter Sweet Symphony", which became a massive worldwide hit. Soon after this commercial peak, the band broke up in April 1999, citing internal conflicts. By then, The Verve had become one of the most influential English alternative rock acts in years.

The band's original four members reunited in June 2007. They embarked on a tour later that year, and released the album Forth in August 2008. A year later, it was announced that the band had split up for the third time in their career.
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