Ultravox

Ultravox biography

Ultravox are a British New Wave rock band. They were one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the late 1970s/early 1980s. The band was particularly associated with the New Romantic and New Wave movements.

The band have been led by two different frontmen who never played together in the band at the same time. From 1974 until 1979, John Foxx was frontman and main driving force behind Ultravox. Foxx left the band to embark on a solo career. Following Foxx's departure, with the three remaining members in hiatus, Midge Ure took over as lead singer, guitarist, and frontman. Ure revitalised the band and drove it to commercial success lasting until the middle 1980s when the New Romantic and New Wave music scenes waned. Ure left the band in 1987 after establishing a solo career and the group disbanded for a while. A new line-up, led by sole original band member keyboard player/violinist Billy Currie, were formed in 1992, but achieved little success. The band's best-known line-up of Currie, bassist Chris Cross, drummer Warren Cann and Ure reformed in 2008 and have toured together since.

The band were formed in 1974 on the initiative of vocalist and songwriter Dennis Leigh, a then Royal College of Art student, and were originally known as Tiger Lily. An initial but incomplete lineup comprised Leigh plus Chris Allen (bass guitar) and Stevie Shears (guitar), with Warren Cann (drums) and Billy Currie (violin) joining later in 1974. The group released one single in 1975, Ain't Misbehavin', which contained a cover of the Fats Waller song, as A-side. Later, the band went through a series of name changes including The Zips, Fire of London, London Soundtrack, and The Damned, using this last name for a few weeks before discovering that another band had already taken it.

Experimental years: 1976-1979

Ultravox!

On the strength of their live act, the band signed to Island Records in 1976. The group had still not finalised their band name, wanting to make a good and lasting choice. In 1976, while working on the late stages of their debut album, the band conceived the name "Ultravox!" (the exclamation mark was a reference to krautrock band Neu!, produced by Conny Plank, who later produced two Ultravox albums). At the same time, the singer chose John Foxx and the bassist chose Chris Cross to be their respective stage names. In February 1977, Island released their eponymous debut album, Ultravox!.

Like many other bands that formed Britain's punk and New Wave movements, Ultravox! drew inspiration from the art-school side of glam rock. Musically, Ultravox were heavily influenced by Roxy Music, The New York Dolls, David Bowie and Kraftwerk. Their debut was co-produced by Steve Lillywhite, and Brian Eno (who next co-wrote and performed with Bowie on Low). Ultravox! sales were disappointing, and neither the album nor the associated single "Dangerous Rhythm" managed to enter the UK charts. Relations within the band were on an occasionally tenuous footing during this time as Foxx declared that he intended to live without emotions, a sentiment he wrote into the début album track "I Want to Be a Machine".

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