After he had been having a period of working as a solo artist following the demise of the Beautiful South, Paul Heaton decided to invite Jacqui Abbott, one of The Beautiful South's female vocalists, to record some songs together after she had taken an extended break from the music business to raise her son. The collaboration has worked well and they have now released several albums, as well as going out on tour together playing live covering a mixture of new material, with added songs from both The Beautiful South and The Housemartins' back catalogue. In 2020, the duo's fourth album, Manchester Calling, reached No.1 in the UK album chart.