Elbow are a British alternative rock band. Members of the band first played together in 1990 at The Corner Pin pub in Ramsbottom, Bury, a borough of Greater Manchester. The band currently retain their original line-up of lead vocalist and lyricist Guy Garvey, guitarist Mark Potter, keyboardist Craig Potter, bassist Pete Turner and drummer Richard Jupp. They have released four top 20 studio albums, three EPs ('Noisebox', 'Newborn' and 'Any Day Now') and had seven top forty singles in the UK. The band is named after a line in the BBC TV drama The Singing Detective. A character (Philip Marlowe) says that the word "elbow" is the most sensuous word in the English language; not for its definition, but for how it feels to say it.

Acclaimed for their innovative sound and front-man Guy Garvey's evocative candid lyrics, Elbow have received vast critical acclaim and been endorsed by major artists Radiohead, Coldplay, Blur, R.E.M. and U2 despite minor commercial success during much of their career. The Velvet Underground's co-founder John Cale selected Elbow's 'Switching Off' as one of his eight chosen songs on the BBC's Desert Island Discs radio programme. The band won the 2008 Mercury Music Prize for their fourth album, 'The Seldom Seen Kid'.

On December 22, 2010, Elbow announced the release of their fifth studio album, "Build a Rocket Boys!", to be released on March 7, 2011.