Hurts are an English musical duo formed in Manchester in 2009, consisting of singer Theo Hutchcraft and multi-instrumentalist Adam Anderson.

They performed their first gig as a quintet in May at The Music Box in Manchester, and were shortly afterwards signed to independent record label High Voltage Sounds.

They signed to Label Fandango and in October released another double A-side single, "Money"/"Magazine", which, despite failing to chart, was nominated for the Popjustice £20 Music Prize.

[7] Throughout 2008, Daggers continued to build a following and began working with producers Biff Stannard and Richard X, but after a disastrous A&R showcase in London in September, Theo and Adam returned to Manchester to reflect on the band's future.

After informing the rest of the band that it was finished, they went on a short break to Verona in Italy, where they claim they discovered a musical genre called "Disco Lento".

In his book 'Albion's Secret History: Snapshots of England's Pop Rebels and Outsiders' Guy Mankowski wrote that a chapter on Hurts, claiming they 'deftly created a European mythology of their own with their debut video for the single 'Wonderful Life'.

[12][13][14] Although Hutchcraft and Anderson had decided to not do any gigs until they had enough songs, they began uploading demos to their Myspace page, and on 27 July 2009, they were named Band of the Day by The Guardian.

[18] On 7 January, Zane Lowe premiered the song "Blood, Tears & Gold" as his "Hottest Record in the World",[19] and another self-made music video debuted online three days later.

In March, "Wonderful Life" was released to radio in various European territories; as manager Matt Vines explained to Music Week, the aim was to launch the band simultaneously across Europe and Asia.

Following success on Greek radio, Hurts were invited to perform at the MAD Video Music Awards ceremony in Athens in front of 11,000 people on 15 June.

Hurts recorded a performance of Kylie's 1994 hit "Confide in Me" for newspaper The Sun's website, and has since been a regular inclusion on their gig setlists.

The album Happiness, which had been recorded at Sunshine Dance Studios in Manchester and Pellerin in Gothenburg with producer Jonas Quant, was released on 6 September.

[22] In October, Hurts embarked on their first full headline UK tour, performing in Brighton, Leeds, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, and London.

On 26 June, Theo and Adam performed on the John Peel stage at the Glastonbury Festival, and their full set was broadcast on a loop on the BBC Red Button channel.

Hurts embarked on their first full European tour in October 2011, performing in Ukraine, Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Russia, Belarus, Serbia, Croatia, Italy, Greece, Austria, Switzerland, North Macedonia, and the UK.

[25] On 4 November 2011, Hurts played their last show of their 'Happiness Tour' at Brixton Academy where Kylie Minogue joined them on stage to perform "Devotion" and "Confide in Me".

"Beautiful Ones", the first single from Desire, was released on 21 April 2017, the one-year anniversary of the death of American musician Prince, whom Hurts have cited as an inspiration.

The video, which plays in reverse, features Hutchcraft as a drag queen who is chased and beaten by a group of men after he rejects one of their advances in a nightclub.

[36][37] In January 2024, a rap version of "Wonderful Life", credited to 6PM RECORDS x Luciano x Hurts x SIRA, debuted at number one on the German Singles Chart.