Embrace are an English rock band formed in Bailiff Bridge, West Yorkshire, in 1990. The band consists of brothers singer Danny McNamara and guitarist Richard McNamara, bassist Steve Firth, keyboardist Mickey Dale, and drummer Mike Heaton. The group have released eight studio albums: The Good Will Out (1998), Drawn from Memory (2000), If You've Never Been (2001), Out of Nothing (2004), This New Day (2006), Embrace (2014), Love Is a Basic Need (2018), and How to Be a Person Like Other People (2022).

The band began in a small outbuilding at the bottom of a garden in Bailiff Bridge in 1990. The McNamara brothers, with Richard playing guitar and Danny, started creating songs with the aid of a cassette recorder and, soon, a drum machine was added. An initial set of songs was written and dropped, then a second set of songs written. Mickey Dale soon joined them on keyboards.

After various auditions, drummer Mike Heaton joined the band. A period of consolidation of existing songs and writing of new ones followed. It proved hard to settle on a name, so gigs were initially performed from 1992 onwards under one-off names; Curious Orange, Christianne F, Shimmer, Lady Bum, and Mesmerise. Eventually they settled on 'Embrace'. Richard was familiar with the American band Embrace, and thought it a good name, despite it having been used already. The band wrote a letter to seek approval from the older band's singer Ian Mackaye who replied that it was alright for the English band to use the same name, though he said that it could possibly cause some confusion. Steve Firth joined the quartet in 1996, forming their current and permanent line-up.

The band then recorded a three track demo in a recording studio in Huddersfield, the now closed Beaumont Street Studios, which was sold at concerts in cassette form. This now extremely rare demo consisted of the songs "Overflowing", "Say It With Bombs" and "Sooner Than You Think".

A video was recorded of a gig in Leeds, copies of which were offered for sale. A second spell in a Manchester recording studio yielded some rough mixes, one of which was seen as good enough to be released on a cassette attached to the Leeds fanzine The Expression She Pulled. A single, "All You Good Good People", was released in February 1997 on Fierce Panda Records. After building a following through two further singles (including "Fireworks" and "One Big Family"), their debut album The Good Will Out was released on 8 June 1998 and went to number 1 in the UK Albums Chart. The album achieved critical acclaim as well as success in terms of sales, going gold on its first day of release, becoming one of the fastest-ever-selling debut albums by a British artist, and going on to sell over 500,000 copies domestically.

On 27 March 2000, the band released Drawn from Memory, which reached number 8 in the UK Albums Chart. Although the album was supported by a tour during which they were supported by then-fledgling Coldplay, its sales were relatively low, but critical reception was good, especially NME praising the album: "[The album] trawls emotional depths, plays to its strengths, comforts and encourages, strong in the knowledge that sometimes the good really will out.[...]Embrace have finally put their flag firmly at the summit. Embrace covered Bob Dorough's "Three Is a Magic Number" on the B-side of "I Wouldn't Wanna Happen to You" and also released two other 'Christmas' cover versions of the traditional song "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" and "I Believe in Father Christmas".

Afterwards they quickly recorded their third studio album If You've Never Been, which was released on 3 September 2001. The album reached number 9 in the UK chart. Drowned in Sound claimed: "Embrace have returned with their most compelling piece of work to date. It doesn't base itself on the strength of a few uplifting anthems like their previous work has, instead going for the thoughtful, tender approach. And it's all the better for it." The album was once again supported by an international tour, covering Europe, the US and Australia until the end of 2002.

They were signed by Andy McDonald to his Independiente Records label and released the album Out of Nothing, which reached number one in the UK in 2004. The 'comeback' single that preceded this album was "Gravity", which had been written by Coldplay's Chris Martin. Danny McNamara and Martin had become friends after Coldplay had supported Embrace in 2000 in Blackpool. The single was a hit, charting at number seven in the UK Singles Chart. Coldplay have since recorded "Gravity" as a B-side for their single "Talk". In 2004, Radio 1's Live Lounge, Embrace recorded a version of the D12 rap song "How Come". In October 2005, the band released their first compilation, called Dry Kids: B-Sides 1997–2005. It features 18 tracks from singles and EPs across their entire career, including a version of "Blind", an early live favourite which was omitted from their debut album The Good Will Out, as was their Otis Redding-influenced "The Way I Do".