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- Alison Wheeler is a British singer, best known as the female vocalist for The Beautiful South from 2003 until they disbanded in 2007. She was dubbed Alison 'Lady' Wheeler jokingly by her band mates in The Beautiful South who felt that her demeanour and education at Trinity College, Cambridge was in contrast to the band's trademark working-class northern image. Her introduction to the Beautiful South was the culmination of ten years of effort in the music industry, gaining experience with Universal, EMI and BMG, while working hard on a succession of as many as 25 musical projects, including a near miss on appearing on the BBC's Fame Academy. Wheeler's career in music began at university in a cover band called Melt City, alongside Hal Ritson, now of The Young Punx, Kev Dowd, now of Lowbrow, James Woods, now of Jam Sandwich and Dom Wilhelm, (of 90s UK pop punk act Satellite Beach). On arriving in London she joined indie band Junk, subsequently renamed Treehouse, well known on the Camden & Islington gig circuit (The Dublin Castle, Bull & Gate, the Laurel Tree, the Hope & Anchor, Islington). In 1998 Wheeler responded to an audition for a "girl band". Virginia, masterminded by Ian Shaw and then consisting of Louise Miller and Lee Winnick, the latter shortly afterwards replaced by Laura Matthews. Virginia featured repeatedly as guests on BBC Radio, particularly Janice Long, Jonathan Ross, Gyles Brandreth, Nicky Campbell and Ned Sherrin, as well as TV appearances in Northern Ireland on the Kelly Show. With chart success in the US Billboard charts, tracks from Virginia's first album "Firstbite" were well received, and another album remains in production. In 2002 Her work with London gospel band Citizen K led to an introduction to Dave Hemingway of the Beautiful South. After working on Hemingway's as yet unreleased solo album, Hemingway promised a recommendation to the Beautiful South's driving force, Paul Heaton, since a new album was in the making, despite the unexpected departure of former band member Jacqui Abbott. By 2003, with the release of "Gaze", Alison was a member of the band, appearing live first at a Carling Homecoming at the Welly Club in Hull on 18 September 2003. Gaze was followed by albums "Goldiggas Headnodders and Pholk Songs" and "Superbi". Unhindered by her pregnancy, she remained busy in 2005 touring the UK, headlining the acoustic stage at Glastonbury,T in the Park and Oxygene. This was followed by nearly 50 gigs in 2006 including 2 UK tours, the V festival, an Irish tour and an American tour. Despite ongoing success, the band split in January 2007 due to "musical similarities". She spent some time enjoying motherhood and is now back recording a variety of tracks and styles to lay the foundations for a solo project.
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