The Divine Comedy is a pop band fronted by Neil Hannon.

The band was originally founded in 1991, although their first album was not successful and the band split up for some time. Returning after 18 months of writing songs, the albums Liberation and Promenade were a complete reinvention of the band and received critical acclaim but little in the way of sales.

During this period, The Divine Comedy wrote and performed the theme music for the TV sitcom Father Ted, and later wrote the deliberately bad mock-Eurovision song My Lovely Horse for one episode. Hannon resisted widespread requests from fans to release the track as a single for the Christmas market, but it was eventually released in 1999 as the third track on the CD-single Gin Soaked Boy. The same year also saw a cooperation of the band with singer Tom Jones for a track on his album Reload.

The album Casanova, and in particular the single Something for the Weekend led to the band's first major successes, with Neil Hannon becoming a distinctive, albeit unlikely, popstar in an immaculate suit, and always appearing the elegant dandy. The foppish image, but not the suit, was ditched for the more sombre album Fin De Siecle in 1998. The 2001 album Regeneration attempted to remove the band still further from its association with comedy. It too was a success, but soon after its release it was announced that The Divine Comedy were splitting up.

In 2004, Hannon returned, again using the name The Divine Comedy but as the only member of the band, with the album Absent Friends.

The lineup of the band has at times consisted only of Neil Hannon, but has also included

• Bryan Mills
• Ivor Talbot
• Joby Talbot
• Rob Farrer
• Stuart 'Pinkie' Bates
• Miggy Barradas

Discography

• Fanfare for the Comic Muse (1991)
• Liberation
• Promenade
• Casanova 1996
• A Short Album About Love
• Fin De Siecle 1998
• A Secret History - the Best Of 1999
• Regeneration 2001
• Absent Friends 2004

Singles include

• Something for the Weekend
• Becoming More Like Alfie
• Frog Princess
• Everybody Knows (Except You)
• National Express

External links

• http://www.thedivinecomedy.com/home.htm