The South are sorry to have to announce that at the end of December 2016, after many years of playing and performing with The Housemartins, The Beautiful South and The South, singer Dave Hemingway has decided the time has come for him to retire from the live performance stage for a while. We know that he will be missed as much by all of the people who followed and enjoyed his long career as he will by the rest of us in The South.
Sadly, also much missed, will be lifelong keyboard maestro with The Beautiful South and The South, Damon Butcher, who has also decided to step down from performing with The South.
Please join us in wishing them both all the best in whatever they do in the future.
Over the years The South have been together we have met lots of wonderful people who enjoy the music of The Beautiful South as much as we enjoy playing the songs. Many of you have become good personal friends as well as friends of The South. For these reasons, and the fact that we want to continue to perform together, we have decided to carry on. Regardless 😉
We are happy to say that original Beautiful South sax player, Gaz Birtles, has agreed to take on the mantle of the male singer in the band! Many people know Gaz always had a second life as a singer songwriter in his own bands in Leicester, so it was an obvious first choice to take on the role and for him to move sideways across the stage.
We would like to thank you all for your support over the years and, although Dave and Damon will be much missed figures on stage, we hope you will continue to celebrate the music of The Beautiful South, through The South. We look forward to seeing you at shows we have booked in 2017
Cheers
The South
