The Verve (originally Verve) were an English rock band formed in Wigan, Greater Manchester in 1990, by vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bassist Simon Jones, and drummer Peter Salisbury. The members had met at Winstanley Sixth Form College. Simon Tong later became a member. Beginning with a psychedelic sound indebted to shoegazing and space rock, by the mid-1990s the band had released several EPs and two acclaimed records. They also endured name and lineup changes, breakups, health problems, drug abuse and various lawsuits. Filter referred to them as "one of the tightest knit, yet ultimately volatile bands in history". The band's commercial breakthrough was the 1997 album Urban Hymns and its single "Bitter Sweet Symphony", which became a massive worldwide hit. Soon after this commercial peak, the band broke up in April 1999, citing internal conflicts. By then, The Verve had become one of the most influential English alternative rock acts in years. The band's original line-up reunited in June 2007. The band embarked on a tour later that year and released the album Forth in August 2008. A year later it was announced that the band had split up for the third time in their career.