Singer Richard Ashcroft is happily married to the love of his life these days, but The Verve frontman suffered a few rounds of heartache before finding The One.
The Bitter Sweet Symphony hitmaker, who is one of the famous faces involved in this year's John Lewis Christmas ad campaign, tied the knot with Kate Radley, a former member of Spiritualized, in 1995 and the pair are parents to Sonny, born in 2000, and Cassius, born in 2004.
But in 1998, just three years after marrying in secret, Richard took a swipe at one of his exes as he played to 33,000 fans in his hometown of Wigan after - with ex-girlfriend Sarah Carpenter, then 26, in the crowd to hear the very personal jibe live and in person.
Sarah was the brooding singer's first love and it was the end of their love affair that inspired some of his most moving lyrics. Their split was far from amicable thanks to Sarah leaving the rock star for one of his closest friends! On stage in Wigan in 1998, Richard lashed out at his former sweetheart as he introduced the song, History, written about their break-up.
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Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)In front of thousands of fans, he blurted: "Despite what you think, this isn't about you. You know who you are, you snide f*****. This song's about love and peace." What Richard didn't know at the time was that Sarah, who remained a fan of The Verve, was in the crowd.
Speaking to the Mirror in 1998, Sarah revealed she never regretted leaving the star for the band's former roadie, Andy Burke. It was Andy who comforted her when she discovered she could not live with the singer's new-found celebrity. "I know people must think I am mad, but I was never cut out to be a rock star's girlfriend," Sarah said.
"I wanted to be Sarah in my own right, not 'Richard Ashcroft's girlfriend'. I could be living in a half a million pound house with a man who is an idol to millions. But I made the decision that I would rather be me first, rather than a pop star wife."
Sarah, who inspired many of the song's on The Verve's album Urban Hymns, first met Richard at Winstanley College where they were both studying for A-levels. "It was the Freshers' Ball. He was just this weird looking lad, dead striking. He was really thin with a huge Adam's apple, black slicked-back hair and a long beige mac, " she recalled. "I found him compelling, but I didn't fancy him though."
But Richard had other ideas. The gangly 17-year-old was too nervous to ask her for a date and got a female friend to pass on the message. "Even then I just laughed it off," Sarah recalled in 1998. But soon she fell for his charms - and they began a relationship that would last six years.
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PA)"He was completely out of the ordinary," she added. "He wasn't educationally intelligent and he didn't read loads of book or anything. He was more spiritual. Physically, he was unusual too. Someone once said to me Richard was either incredibly beautiful or incredibly ugly. To me, he was handsome. He looked arrogant, but really it was just confidence. He could be quite shy and other times really outgoing. And he had a wicked dry sense of humour."
As penniless students, they were often so hard-up that all they could afford to do was take long walks together. When they did have money, Richard would spend it on his record collection or on tickets for their favourite band, the Stone Roses. Richard's outlook was different from other lads his age, Sarah recalled when chatting to the Mirror.
"He believed anything was possible," she mused. "All the kids went to school, to university. It was all mapped out. But Richard said it didn't have to be that way because things can happen in other ways. I think we opened each other's eyes. We taught each other a lot." But although he is now famous for his moving lyrics in songs like Sonnet and Lucky Man, Sarah said Richard was never a romantic. "He wasn't a sweet-talker or a charmer," she said in 1998.
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