PAUL Heaton & Jacqui Abbott are the first act to be confirmed for next summer's Forest Live concert programme at Dalby Forest, near Pickering.

The former vocalists in Hull band The Beautiful South will play in the Forestry Commission woodland on June 27, when they will perform material from their Top Three album What Have We Become, as well as songs from Heaton's days in The Beautiful South and The Housemartins. Special guests will join them on the night.

Heaton first appeared at Dalby Forest with The Beautiful South, amid giant bouncing balloons, in a June 2005 concert released on DVD in November that year under the title of The Beautiful South, Live In The Forest. The band played another outdoor North Yorkshire concert at Castle Howard in August 2006 and disbanded in 2007, Heaton going on to pursue a solo career and his former colleagues regrouping in 2009 as The South, who played the Grand Opera House in York last month.

Heaton and Abbott reunited to record What Have We Become, whose May release poignantly marked the 20th anniversary of their first album together, The Beautiful South’s Miaow. Equally significantly, it reunited Heaton with John Williams, the producer of his very first album, The Housemartins’ London 0 Hull 4, and their first number one, 1986’s Caravan Of Love. The Heaton/Abbott vocal chemistry is embedded in such Beautiful South hits as Rotterdam, Don’t Marry Her and Perfect 10 and is now recaptured on the duo's album, typified by the singles D.I.Y, Moulding Of A Fool and When It Was Ours.

Heaton says working with Abbott again is "like going into your garage and discovering a beautiful, covered-up Rolls Royce that hasn’t been started in years". “Jacqui is one of the best singers I’ve worked with and is also part of my past. It was only a matter of time before I asked her,” he said.

"I always wrote songs with Jacqui in mind. Even before I met her, I pictured a voice that could carry the songs into people’s hearts in a particular way. When I first heard her sing, I almost laughed because it was so right for the songs."

Their Dalby Forest concert comes in the wake of a series of indoor gigs this year, such as Yorkshire dates at Leeds O2 Academy and Hull City Hall in May. Tickets for June 27 go on sale on Friday at 9am on 03000 680400 or at forestry.gov.uk/music

Income generated from ticket sales will go towards protecting, improving and expanding England’s forests and woodlands and increasing their value to people and wildlife.