White Rock Theatre

Next year The South – featuring former members of The Beautiful South – will have been going longer than The Beautiful South ever did.

And they are loving it still. As Ali Wheeler says, they are blessed with fantastically loyal audiences who are reaching the stage where they are either retired or have left their mortgages behind and are just there simply to have fun.

“They are just at that sweet spot for gay abandon and just want to celebrate, and we love it!”

Gigs coming up for The South include November 1 at Hastings’ White Rock Theatre - also The Brook in Southampton on Friday, October 30 and The Venue in Worthing on Saturday, October 31.

Ali officially became a member of The Beautiful South in 2003 and was with them until they split in 2007

“I met the band in Hull in 2002. I had been introduced by Dave Hemingway. It was a series of fortunate events, and I have been so lucky but at the same time you do have to put yourself in luck's way! I was temping at record agencies which was brilliant because I got to see the other side of the coin. One of the many companies I worked for, I was in a canteen with a girl who said to me that she was in a gospel choir and would I be interested in joining. I said not really at first but she said ‘We're taking it out of the church. We are taking the music out to the masses.’ I joined and it was great fun. I did a couple of years with them, and then three of us got asked to do a vocal session at one point for a Dave Hemingway solo album. And Dave ended up saying to me that my voice would really suit The Beautiful South.

“I got asked, but nothing really happened for a few months. I thought the whole thing was dead in the water. I'd given myself four years to be a singer and it was seven years now and I was still trying. I'd been on holiday with my husband and some friends, it was my 30th, and I just thought it was time to give up and get a proper job but then I got a handwritten note from

Paul (Heaton from The Beautiful South) saying he valued Dave's opinion. He said come and meet the band and let's take it from there. I went to Hull to see them, and I think working with the record companies was a blessing. It removed the mystery of meeting famous people. I’d met lots of people and realised that they're just human. So I wasn't overwhelmed when I met these household names. I went to see them, and they were lovely.”

But it was quite a clash of cultures. Ali had been working 50-60 hours a week to pay the rent, living life at speed. The band however were much more relaxed and laid back: “They had had a couple of decades of burning the candle at both ends, and they now had a much more leisurely attitude. It took me a while to realise that I could now just enjoy what was happening, enjoy what I had been fortunate enough to land and just really enjoy the fruits of my labours.”

When the end came from the band, there was shock for Ali: “But they had been doing it since 1989 and they had refined the workload. They didn't want to do incredibly long tours any more or do a lot of PR. But for me they could not throw enough at me as far as I was concerned. I was happy to do all the press and I just loved going on tour. So what I had really was a gentle introduction to their world.”

Then it came to an end: “It was slightly weird. You read about the animosity and the friction within bands.”

But there was none of that with The Beautiful South: “It was just amazing to watch this great band deflate in front of you. Paul wanted to do something else, and he didn't want to keep us waiting. So we just shook hands and there were some hugs and then I got back on the train thinking what now. It was a very, very weird day.”

The answer to the question “What now?” was The South: “I had a call from Dave the drummer. They'd been together since 1989 and he felt a bit at sea. He just said that he would love to continue in some form and that he was going to approach all the members to see if they wanted to continue. It was really important for him that Paul approved, and he did.”

And so The South was born, its members receiving a generous text from Paul on the night of their first gig: “We started in 2009 and next year will be 18 years. It's just flown by. I can't believe how quickly it has gone but it's just such a blessing and such a joy to sing these songs.”