Delirious?

began to focus on humanitarian issues in their music, and Martin Smith and Stu G started charities.

The group's function was to be a Christian worship band for a youth outreach event called "Cutting Edge", instigated by the Arun Community Church in Littlehampton, West Sussex.

Originally, Jupp fronted the band, which also contained youth worker and drummer Stew Smith.

A similar composite edition of Cutting Edge was released to retail and achieved 'Gold' status in Canada.

The turning point came in 1995 when Martin, his wife Anna and Jon Thatcher, were involved in a serious road accident.

Songs such as "Deeper" gained anthemic status and still surface regularly at Christian youth events.

'Deeper' and 'Promise' both reached number twenty with very little radio airplay;[1] For the majority of their career, "Deeper" was the band's best-selling single with over thirty thousand copies sold.

The song was played regularly at gigs throughout the rest of the band's existence, and was eventually released as a successful UK single in 2010.

During this time, the band found resistance in the mainstream due to their "Christian" label, despite widespread critical acclaim in the music press.

However, the work was aimed at a "secular" audience, causing many former fans to shun the album and claiming that Delirious?

For example, the first single, "See The Star", peaked at number sixteen on the charts (a career high for the band), following an appearance on television show The Big Breakfast.

Several songs from the album, while not being released as actual singles, gained immense popularity in the Christian-music world, most notably the guitar-driven "My Glorious" and the more introspective "Jesus' Blood".

The first single "Waiting For The Summer" reached number twenty-six on the charts, hindered by limited radio airplay.

It was a double album, consisting of many remastered classic songs from the band, in addition to tracks taken from previous work such as Glo and King of Fools.

A two-disc set, it featured many tracks which had previously been seen on their studio albums King of Fools, Mezzamorphis, Glo, Audio Lessonover?

In 2005, long-term manager Tony Patoto parted company with the band, stating that he wanted a fresh challenge.

The album received very positive reviews, with Christianity Today,[16] Jesus Freak Hideout,[17] and Cross Rhythms[18] all praising The Mission Bell for "Effectively stretching the boundaries of music".

[19] "Paint The Town Red" was released as a CD and iTunes single in the UK, entering the charts at number fifty-six.

Prior to the release of Kingdom of Comfort, long-time drummer Stew Smith announced that he would be leaving the band in April 2008.

He made his final appearance on a recording during the production of a live album and DVD while on tour in Brazil.

They played their final show in front of a sell-out crowd at London's Hammersmith Apollo on 29 November 2009, including a cameo performance from Stew Smith alongside Paul Evans.

[26] In February 2010, a campaign to get History Maker into the UK charts for Easter began on social networking site Facebook.

Lead singer Martin Smith intends pursuing the Compassionart project, the decision that triggered the split.

[34] Smith has written an autobiography titled 'Delirious', providing a detailed account of his life and time with the band.

It was released in February 2011, alongside a similar autobiography from his wife Anna, which provides an alternative perspective on the band's history.

Guitarist Stu G and bassist Jon Thatcher formed a new band with Jason Ingram as lead singer and Paul Mabury as drummer early in 2009.

[40] The services of the organisation have been since used by several notable clients including David Byrne, in addition to Delirious?, One Sonic Society and producer Sam Gibson.

[1] According to drummer/bandmember Stewart Smith, this occurred because the keyboard he was using at the time did not have the letter "s" and he improvised with the number 5 on the keypad—a convenient reflection of the band name.

During the History Makers tour in 2009, they supported themselves by playing a short set as 'The Cutting Edge Band' before returning to the stage to perform as 'Delirious?'.

During the 'Cutting Edge' era, several other musicians played and recorded as part of the band before Stu Garrard and Jon Thatcher joined, including: Further reading

Frontman Martin Smith performing in 2006