The Housemartins

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The Housemartins
From left: Dave Hemingway, Paul Heaton, Norman Cook, Stan Cullimore
Background information
Also known as	The Fish City Five
Origin	Hull, England
Genres	Indie pop[1] indie rock jangle pop
Years active	1983–1988
Labels	Go! Discs, Elektra
Past members	Paul Heaton Stan Cullimore Dave Hemingway Norman Cook Ted Key Hugh Whitaker

The Housemartins were an English indie rock group formed in Hull who were active in the 1980s^[2] and charted three top-ten albums and six top-twenty singles in the UK.^[3] Many of their lyrics conveyed a mixture of socialist politics and Christianity, reflecting the beliefs of the band^[4] (the back cover of their debut album, London 0 Hull 4, contained the message, "Take Jesus – Take Marx – Take Hope"). The group's a cappella cover version of "Caravan of Love" (originally by Isley-Jasper-Isley) was a UK number one single in December 1986.

After breaking up in 1988, Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway formed the Beautiful South, while bassist Norman Cook became an electronic dance music DJ and producer, founding the groups Beats International, Pizzaman, and Freak Power, before rebranding himself as Fatboy Slim.