[16] In his childhood, Ashcroft was known to be very shy, getting to the point that he had to be replaced in a school nativity play because of on-stage fright;[17] however, he was also known for wanting to make his classmates laugh.

[1] The first record Ashcroft bought was "Just Like Starting Over", and following the event of John Lennon's death in 1980, he played the song "Imagine" on a loop.

To deal with the tragedy, he used music as a refuge;[1] he recalls "questioning" the nature of life while other children occupied themselves with age-appropriate activities,[18] thinking at the time "You're not supposed to feel this bad as a kid".

[20] He then enrolled in Theatre Studies, English Literature, and Philosophy and Religion at Winstanley College, his teacher remembers him as "incredibly intelligent" but being too dedicated to music to care about his grades.

[22] For some time, Ashcroft wanted to be a professional football player, idolising George Best, but as he grew older he lost interest in this, turning to music instead.

Their recording of the first album, A Storm in Heaven consisted mainly of jam sessions with improvised lyrics, upon which Ashcroft then took and edited the usable parts and structured them into songs.

[25] However, by 1997 he had changed his mind and asked McCabe to return (alongside new member Tong), reforming the Verve and releasing the very successful album Urban Hymns.

[31] The appreciation shown would later result in a support slot for Ashcroft, serving as the opening act for Coldplay during a European tour.

[29] On 26 March, Ashcroft made his first live appearance of 2003 at London's Royal Albert Hall as part of the third annual Teenage Cancer Trust charity fundraising event,[32] before "Buy It in Bottles", the third and final single to be taken from the album, was released on 7 April, charting at No.

[33] Ashcroft began playing gigs again in mid-2005, and, on 2 July at the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park, Coldplay invited him to perform with them during their set.

They performed the Verve's hit "Bitter Sweet Symphony", after having previously rehearsed the song in Crystal Palace.

At Christmas 2005, a documentary entitled Live 8: A Bitter Sweet Symphony was aired on the BBC reliving moments of the day featuring a portion of Ashcroft's performance as the show's opening soundtrack.

After the disintegration of Hut Records in 2004, Ashcroft signed to Parlophone[22] where he released his third solo album, Keys to the World, on 23 January 2006.

[29] Following his performance at Live 8, Ashcroft was booked as a support act for Coldplay's Twisted Logic Tour throughout North America and the UK, which started on 14 March in Ottawa, Canada.

With the release of Keys to the World, the general consensus was that Ashcroft was "back at the top of his musical game",[31] as he announced his largest UK tour for years for May 2006, culminating in three nights at London's Brixton Academy.

Following the tour, Ashcroft had hoped to perform two "Homecoming" shows at Wigan Athletic's 25,000 seater JJB Stadium in June 2006, but was unable to do so as the proposed venue lacked the "appropriate licence".

[34] As a consequence, he chose to play at Lancashire County Cricket Club in Old Trafford, in what was to be his biggest solo show to date.

He was supported at the gig by acts such as Razorlight and the Feeling, while DJ Shadow joined Richard on stage during his set to perform "Lonely Soul", their UNKLE collaboration from 1998's Psyence Fiction LP.

[43] In 2010, Ashcroft formed a new band called RPA & The United Nations of Sound, who released a promo single, "Are You Ready?

Strings, beats, rock-guitar-riffs, voice-loops, ballads and heroic-choir-anthems are the core of the album's sound with Ashcroft's craft for pop tunes and unique melody-making.

[47][non-primary source needed] During the same month Ashcroft had signed with the record company Razor & Tie in the United States.

", Ashcroft and Big Life Management commissioned Giorgio Testi for the promo – created out of live footage from a show at Shepherd's Bush Empire.

In January 2018, it was confirmed that in June 2018, Ashcroft would be supporting Liam Gallagher at his two concerts in Malahide Castle and Gardens in Dublin and Belsonic at Ormeau Park in Belfast.

[53] On 11 June 2018, it was announced that Ashcroft would support Gallagher at his show at Lancashire County Cricket Club on 18 August 2018.

[54] In August 2018, Ashcroft announced his sixth solo album, Natural Rebel, which was released on 19 October, preceded by the single "Surprised By The Joy" in September and subsequent teasers "Born To Be Strangers" and "That's When I Feel It."

[65] In July 2021, Ashcroft pulled out of the headline slot at Sheffield's Tramlines Festival after it became part of the UK government's pilot events programme.

[66] Ashcroft has a sustained interest for the psychological and affectual influence music holds, stating, "A great pop song is as powerful as the best piece of poetry you have ever read and the melody can take you to another place.

[1] Ashcroft also holds a deep interest for Cinema, when he was thirteen years of age, he was shown the Jean-Luc Godard film "1+1", which showed the Rolling Stones creating a song.

The Verve was subsequently forced to give ABKCO 100 percent of the royalties[20] from "Bitter Sweet Symphony", and Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were given songwriting credits along with Ashcroft.

[70] On 23 May 2019, Ashcroft announced that Jagger and Richards had signed over the rights to him, giving him sole writing credit and all subsequent royalties.