FORMER Beautiful South duo Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott will be performing in an aspiring City of Culture just days before celebrating Hull being awarded the status for 2017.

Heaton and Abbott, who have released two albums together, will play a warm-up show at the Parr Hall on June 1 before their huge gig with The Divine Comedy and Billy Bragg at Hull’s KC Lightstream Stadium on June 3.

Hull is currently City of Culture 2017 while Warrington submitted a bid on Friday to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to become City of Culture 2021.

Paul Heaton first came to public attention in the early 80s as frontman of Hull-based indie pop band The Housemartins.

Norman ‘Fatboy Slim’ Cook was also in the line-up.

They released two albums and were best known for their third single, Happy Hour, and their number one acapella Isley Bros cover Caravan Of Love.

In 1988 Heaton then formed The Beautiful South, who released 10 hugely successful albums and shifted 15 million records including a number one single with A Little Time.

After The Beautiful South called it a day in 2007 Heaton went on to release two further solo albums, The Cross-Eyed Rambler, and Acid Country.

Jacqui Abbott was lead vocalist in The Beautiful South from 1994 to 2000 and sang many of the band’s signature hits including Rotterdam, Perfect 10, Don’t Marry Her and Dream A Little Dream.

Her vocal sparring with Heaton was widely regarded as one of the main ingredients during the Beautiful South’s most successful period.

Heaton teamed up with Abbott again in 2011 when he wrote a musical called The 8th – based on the Seven Deadly Sins – and asked her to sing one of the parts.

He described her as one of the best vocalists he had worked with in his music career spanning more than 30 years.

They have since released two acclaimed albums as a duo including What Have We Become, and Wisdom, Laughter and Lines, which both peaked in the top five in the charts.

  • Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott will perform at the Parr Hall on Thursday, June 1. Tickets go on sale on Friday at 9.30am. Visit gigsandtours.com or ticketmaster.co.uk