The orchestral-pop project of Derry-born Neil Hannon, The Divine Comedy combine meticulously written songs with sardonic, allusion-heavy observations on the world’s absurdities. Hannon founded The Divine Comedy in 1989, releasing the mini-album Fanfare for the Comic Muse the following year. After releasing a few EPs in the early ’90s, The Divine Comedy released Liberation in 1993; it drew inspiration from Fitzgerald and Chekhov while showcasing Hannon’s rich vocals. The concept album Promenade, a seaside love story, arrived a year later. But as Britpop peaked, Hannon got swept up in the tide and enjoyed a breakthrough hit in 1996 with the revenge tale “Something for the Weekend,” the lead single off the album Casanova; another cut from that record, the breezy “Songs of Love,” became the theme for the beloved Irish sitcom Father Ted. A Short Album About Love followed in 1997; the next year The Divine Comedy released Fin De Siècle, which spawned the tabloid-TV-skewing “Generation Sex” and the transit portrait “National Express.” In the 21st century, Hannon released more music under the name The Divine Comedy, including 2004’s Nigel Godrich-produced Absent Friends and 2019’s cubicle-life concept album Office Politics, while contributing music to movies and TV shows like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Doctor Who.
Hometown
Enniskillen, Northern Ireland
Genre
Pop
Members of The Divine Comedy
The Divine Comedy was formed in 1991. Members of The Divine Comedy include, or have included, the following 9 members.