The Verve (originally Verve) are an English alternative rock band formed in Wigan, Greater Manchester in 1989 at Winstanley Sixth Form College, Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, by vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bassist Simon Jones, and drummer Peter Salisbury.

Simon Tong later became a member. The band split in April 1999 due to inner conflicts which led to McCabe's departure. They reunited in June 2007. The band has announced an album due at the end of the northern-hemisphere summer and a tour scheduled for November 2007.

Beginning with a psychedelic sound indebted to space rock and shoegazer music, by the mid-1990s the band had released several EPs and two acclaimed records. They also endured name and lineup changes, breakups, health problems, drug abuse and various lawsuits.

The band's commercial breakthrough was the album Urban Hymns and its single "Bitter Sweet Symphony", which became a massive worldwide hit. Soon after this commercial peak, the band broke up citing creative struggles between band members. By then The Verve had become one of the most influential British alternative rock acts of the decade.