More Info on UltravoxSimilar Electronic MusicSearch Artistopia
Biography
Other usesInfobox musical artist | name = Ultravox| image = Ultravox Duisburg 2009.jpg| caption = Ultravox in 2009, playing a "Return to Eden" tour concert in Duisburg, Germany| image_size = | landscape = yes| background = group_or_band| alias =| origin = London , England| instrument =| genre = New Wave music|New Wave , synthpop , post-punk | occupation =| years_active = 1974–1988 1992–1996 2008–present| label = Island Records Chrysalis Records EMI Polygram | associated_acts = Tiger Lily (UK band)|Tiger Lily , John Foxx , Billy Currie , Cowboys International , Faith Global , Neo (UK band)|Neo , Ajanta Music , Midge Ure , Slik , The Rich Kids , Visage (band)|Visage , Thin Lizzy , Helden (band)|Helden , Big Country , Humania, Huw Lloyd-Langton Group , Blitz| website = http://www.ultravox.org.uk/ www.ultravox.org.uk| current_members = Billy Currie Chris Cross Warren Cann Midge Ure | past_members = John Foxx Stevie Shears Robin Simon Mark Brzezicki Tony Fenelle Gerry Laffy Neal Wilkinson Jackie Williams Sam Blue Vinny Burns Tony Holmes Gary Williams| notable_instruments = Ultravox is a British New Wave music|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 music|New Wave movements.
The band was 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 revitalized the band and drove it to commercial success lasting until the middle 1980s when the New Romantic and New wave music|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 bandmember keyboard player/violinist Billy Currie , was 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.
History
Early years – Tiger Lily: 1974–1975
Main|Tiger Lily (UK band)The band was formed in 1974 on the initiative of vocalist and songwriter Dennis Leigh , a then Royal College of Art student, and was originally known as Tiger Lily (UK band)|Tiger Lily . An initial but incomplete lineup comprised Leigh plus Chris Cross|Chris Allen (bass guitar) and Stevie Shears (guitar),Cite web | title = John Foxx and Ultravox& #33; | publisher=www.astradyne.org | url = http://www.astradyne.org/e/ultravox_music_magazine.htm | accessdate = 13 November 2008 with Warren Cann (drums) and Billy Currie (violin) joining later in 1974.Cite web | author=Warren Cann and Jonas Wårstad | title = Ultravox, the story Part 1 | publisher=www.discog.info | url = http://www.discog.info/ultravox-interview.html | work=Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wårstad | accessdate = 10 February 2011 The group released one single in 1975, '' Ain't Misbehavin' (song)#Tiger Lily version|Ain't Misbehavin' , which contained an eponymous 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 The Damned (band)|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 finalized 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& #33; (album)|Ultravox! .
Like many other bands that formed Britain's Punk rock|punk and New Wave music|New Wave movements, Ultravox& #33; 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 .Allmusic|class=artist|id=p5726|pure_url=yes Ultravox AMG (Allmusic.com) Overview Their debut was co-produced by Steve Lillywhite , and Brian Eno (who next co-wrote and performed with Bowie on Low (David Bowie album)|Low ). Ultravox& #33; (album)|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".
Ultravox returned later in 1977 with the punkier Ha!-Ha!-Ha! . Sales of both the album and its lead single, " ROckWrok ", were poor, both failing to register on the UK charts. "ROckWrok" had a punk-lyric chorus, with the words "Come on, let's tangle in the dark / fuck like a dog, bite like a shark". (Despite this, it got airplay on BBC Radio 1 ). Although Ha!-Ha!-Ha! was dominated by guitars and electric violin, the final track, " Hiroshima Mon Amour (song)|Hiroshima Mon Amour ", was a prototypical synthpop song. One of the first tracks by a British band to feature a drum machine (a Roland TR-77 with preset patterns), the song signalled a new direction for Ultravox. The energy, anger, and popular appeal of punk was fading in 1978, http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/rip-it-up-and-start-again/ Post Punk 1978 – 1984 by Simon Reynolds (books) and the more creative UK punk-genre talent sought new directions—calling themselves New Wave music|British New Wave instead of punk rock artists. " Hiroshima Mon Amour (song)|Hiroshima Mon Amour " remains a critic's and fan's favourite from the group's initial period. Ultravox& #33; also performed it on the Old Grey Whistle Test later in 1978.
Becoming Ultravox
In early March 1978, Stevie Shears, whose style of guitar playing was considered a limiting factor, was sacked from the band after they toured EnglandCite web | author=Warren Cann and Jonas Wårstad | title = Ultravox, the story Part 2 | publisher=www.discog.info | url = http://www.discog.info/ultravox-interview2.html | work=Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wårstad | accessdate = 10 February 2011 and joined Cowboys International in 1980. He was replaced by Robin Simon|Robert Simon (ex-member of Ian North 's Neo (UK band)|Neo ), who during his first days with the band changed his performance-name to Robin Simon. http://www.punk77.co.uk/groups/neo.htm PUNK77: Neo Some time in 1978, the group also dropped the exclamation mark, becoming simply "Ultravox". The new line-up performed live at the Reading and Leeds Festivals|Reading Festival along with Radio Stars , Penetration , Sham 69 , The Pirates and The Jam , playing early versions of "Slow Motion" and "Quiet Men" on 25 August 1978. http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/reading-78.html The Reading Rock Festival. Richfield Avenue. Reading – August& nbsp;25–27, 1978.
Their third album, 1978's Systems of Romance , was recorded with producer Conny Plank (the producer of German electronic outfit Kraftwerk ) and engineer Dave Hutchins at Plank's Studio in rural Germany. Musically, the album was markedly different from Ultravox's earlier work, bringing synthesisers to the forefront of the group's sound. Despite praise from some critics, the album was a commercial failure. Since none of the albums to date had generated much income, tensions within the band—particularly between Currie and Foxx—threatened the band's viability.
Island dropped the band after an attempt to market the album in the United States failed to generate sales. That appeared to be the final nail in their coffin, but Ultravox undertook a self-financed US tour at the beginning of 1979. Splitting after their final gig, near San Francisco, Foxx declared his intention to go solo. Simon remained in the US and briefly joined The Futants , an American punk band from New York. He later returned to England and teamed up with Howard Devoto to replace guitarist John McGeoch in the band Magazine (band)|Magazine . The remaining members made their way back to a Britain in the midst of a "winter of discontent". Island Records|Island dropped the three Ultravox albums from its catalogue, and released a compilation of highlights from the group's first three albums in 1980, called Three into One .
Foxx subsequently signed to Virgin Records and released his album Metamatic in 1980. Billy Currie, all but broke, was then recruited by the rising star Gary Numan to do a presentation at the Old Grey Whistle Test show with his band Tubeway Army and to play on his début solo album, The Pleasure Principle (Gary Numan album)|The Pleasure Principle , and its subsequent tour; he was a hero to Numan who had inwardly digested Ultravox's albums and had seen them play live several times. Currie's awesome ARP Odyssey solo on ' On Broadway ' is a highlight of Currie's participation in Numan's 1979 UK tour. Warren Cann went to work for Zaine Griff, while Chris Cross did some shows with James Honeyman-Scott (of The Pretenders ) and Barrie Masters, (from Eddie and the Hot Rods ). Cann also undertook some session drumming, most notably on The Buggles | The Buggles' number one single ' Video Killed The Radio Star '
The Midge Ure years: 1979–1988
With the band seemingly over, Ultravox were then revitalized by Midge Ure , who joined the band as vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist. He had already achieved minor success with semi-glam outfit Slik and Glen Matlock 's The Rich Kids , and in 1979 he was temporarily playing with hard rock band Thin Lizzy . Ure and Billy Currie had met whilst collaborating on the Visage project, a studio-based band fronted by New Romantic icon and nightclub impresario Steve Strange . Encouraged by Visage drummer and mutual friend Rusty Egan , Currie asked Ure to join Ultravox. Ure filled both John Foxx's and Robin Simon's posts for Ultravox's next album, Vienna (album)|Vienna , which heralded a major change of direction and would become their most successful to date, far surpassing any of the previous Ultravox (or Foxx's) albums, and one of the most important and critically acclaimed albums of 1980. As with Systems of Romance , it was produced in Germany by Conny Plank. Ure knew of Ultravox's past, being a fan of Systems to the point where the new four-piece outfit (Ultravox mk. III, often called "the classic line-up") played songs from that album on tours with Ure singing Foxx's lyrics. Released on Chrysalis Records in June 1980, the Vienna (album)|Vienna album produced the band's first UK Top 40 hit with " Sleepwalk (song)|Sleepwalk ", whilst the album itself peaked at #14. A second single, " Passing Strangers ", failed to reach the Top 40, but the band achieved a substantial hit with the third single, the album's Vienna (Ultravox song)|title track (inspired by Carol Reed 's 1949 film The Third Man ). Accompanied by a highly distinctive video, the single became Ultravox's biggest ever hit, peaking at #2 in early 1981 (famously kept off the top spot by Joe Dolce 's comedy song " Shaddap You Face "). On the strength of the single, the album then re-entered the chart and reached #3 in early 1981. A fourth single from the album, " All Stood Still ", peaked at #8.
This was soon followed by Rage in Eden (1981), with the band returning to Conny Plank's studio for what turned out to be a difficult recording session. Whereas the Vienna material had been performed live a great deal prior to a three-week recording process, Rage in Eden took over three months. The album featured a long track in three parts on the second side, leading some criticsWho|date=April 2010 to decry the band as "the new Genesis". The album was another success for the band and peaked at #4 in the UK, while two singles from the album, " The Thin Wall " and " The Voice (Ultravox song)|The Voice ", both reached the UK Top 20.
Ultravox teamed up with producer George Martin for 1982's Quartet (Ultravox album)|Quartet , which peaked at #6 in the UK and contained four Top 20 hit singles. It also became their most successful album in the U.S., peaking at #61. The band undertook a major world tour known as the Monument Tour, which was recorded and released as a Monument (Ultravox album)|live LP and video in 1983 and once again hit the UK top ten.
1984's Lament (Ultravox album)|Lament continued the band's run of top ten albums and produced three top 40 hit singles, including the international hit " Dancing with Tears in My Eyes " (UK #3). However, this album was the last to feature the "classic" line-up of the band. Towards the end of 1984, a "greatest hits" compilation spanning the band's 1980s output was released entitled The Collection (Ultravox album)|The Collection . It was preceded by a new single, " Love's Great Adventure ", which enjoyed massive radio airplay that autumn, which saw the single eventually peak at #12 in the UK, and was accompanied by a popular Indiana Jones -style spoof video. The Collection (Ultravox album)|The Collection went triple Platinum and reached #2 in the UK album chart, the band's highest ever peak.
By that time the band was specialized in delivering electronic, majestic songs as their main asset; far gone were the quirky, hysterical experiments of Foxx times, and also the delicate but energizing Vienna style. Between 1982 and 1986 Ultravox became a factory of machine-made driving electronic tunes with power-melodies and strong delivery, backed by massive live shows.
At this time, Ure also co-wrote and helped produce the 1984 Band Aid (band)|Band Aid single " Do They Know It's Christmas? ". The group also appeared at Live Aid the following year and played four of their hit singles ("Vienna", "Reap the Wild Wind", "Dancing with Tears in My Eyes" and " One Small Day "). Later in 1985, Ure scored a #1 solo hit with "If I Was" and his solo album The Gift reached #2 in the UK.
Ultravox reconvened in 1986, but Warren Cann was sacked from the band at the beginning of sessions for their U-Vox album. Cann emigrated to the US and retired from music to become an actor. Big Country 's Mark Brzezicki took his place. The U-Vox album is widely regarded as the band's creative low point with even Currie (and later Ure) describing it as "unfocused". Although it continued their string of top ten albums in the UK, the declining performance of its singles prompted both Ure and Cross to leave the band. In 1987 Ultravox decided not to continue, after the U-Vox tour early that year, and officially split up in 1988.Cite web | last = Currie | first = Billy | title = Humania – Sinews of the Soul | publisher=www.billycurrie.com | url = http://www.billycurrie.com/linernotes.html | accessdate = 13 November 2008Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot Ure subsequently concentrated on his solo career with varying levels of success, and Cross retired from music altogether and returned to his former career as a psychotherapist. Billy Currie and Robin Simon reunited in 1989 as the short-lived Humania (band)|Humania , performing live shows but never making a release until 2006, when Currie released a Humania-recorded album, Sinews of the Soul (album)|Sinews of the Soul .
First re-formation: 1992–1996
Without any other original members, Currie reformed Ultravox again in 1992 with vocalist Tony Fenelle to record Revelation (Ultravox album)|Revelation , and later Sam Blue replaced Fenelle in a new five-piece Ultravox line-up, lending his voice to their final release, Ingenuity (Album)|Ingenuity (1994).
Current re-formation: 2008–present
Warren Cann, Chris Cross, Billy Currie and Midge Ure reformed Ultravox again for a UK tour in April 2009, entitled "Return to Eden".Cite web | title = Ultravox to reform and tour in 2009 | publisher=www.ultravox.org.uk | url = http://www.ultravox.org.uk/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi/archive/evnews/20081106200935 | accessdate = 6 November 2008Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot This would be the first time the classic line up of the band have performed together since Live Aid in 1985. The tour played at venues across the UK. Since success from touring the UK they have extended the tour to Germany and Belgium.
In September 2008, both Vienna (album)|Vienna and Rage in Eden were released in digitally remastered 2-disc format with the second disc containing previously unreleased material. Quartet (Ultravox album)|Quartet and Monument (Ultravox album)|Monument were released in February 2009, also in two-disc editions. The second disc in the Monument (Ultravox album)|Monument package is a DVD containing the concert video that was previously only available on VHS tape. The other Chrysalis-era releases are planned for similar future releases. A live CD and DVD of Ultravox sell-out Roundhouse show was released on 5 April 2010. The DVD features a documentary filmed on the build up to and during the reunion tour, much of it filmed by Midge Ure.
An anthology of unreleased Ultravox material was planned in mid 2008, but has not been scheduled for release. http://www.ultravox.org.uk/cgi-bin/dada/mail.cgi? flavor=archive;list=evnews;id=20080720233908 Album News Ultravox.org UK The track-listing is currently being compiled.
Speaking to the Sunday Mail , Midge Ure stated that the reunion was only a one-off, and there would be no new material from the group. He said: "We're not trying to recapture our youth and won't be writing new songs or recording another album. This is about celebrating our music and our anniversary."Cite web | title = The Big Ticket: Ure Dead Brilliant | publisher=www.sundaymail.co.uk | url = http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/opinion/columnists/billy-sloan/2009/01/18/the-big-ticket-ure-dead-brilliant-78057-21050773/ |accessdate = 18 January 2009
On Jonathan Ross's show on BBC's Radio 2 on 21 February 2009, Ure discussed the tour, with all four members of the most successful incarnation of the band on board. He mentioned that this reunion was not planned in light of the previously mentioned events, but rather was spontaneous and happened very quickly with the band members talking and communicating online (using email and Skype). The interview did not reveal whether or not new material would be recorded as a result of the reunion tour. Ultravox returned to performing live with their Return To Eden II tour during the spring and summer of 2010.
On 20 January 2011, via their official website, http://www.ultravox.org.uk Ultravox.org.uk, the band announced that a new studio album is nearing completion.Cite web | title = New Ultravox album nearing completion | publisher=www.ultravox.org.uk | url = http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/? u=017e8bf3ce11a136b4e3e6abb& id=55e445e4a5 | accessdate = 10 January 2011 The band are to release a fan store exclusive superdeluxe EP on CD and 7& nbsp;inch single via http://server1.townsend-records.co.uk/ultravox Townsend Records on 14 March. The EP is to be called Moments From Eden and feature 4 new live tracks.Cite web | title = New Ultravox EP | publisher=server1.townsend-records.co.uk/ultravox | url = http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/? u=017e8bf3ce11a136b4e3e6abb& id=55e445e4a5 | accessdate = 7 February 2011
It was announced in Dec 2011 that the new studio album has been completed for a 2012 release.
http://www.worldmusicdatabase.org/profile.php? id=Ultravox& tag= Ultravox at WorldMusicDatabase
http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/ultravox Ultravox at Rolling Stone
" http://www.ultravox.org.uk/images-history/Ultravox-History_Screen_v1.0.pdf The Story." Warren Cann interviewed by Jonas Wårstad. Gives a detailed history of the band. ( http://www.discog.info/ultravox-interview.html text)
UltravoxUse dmy dates|date=April 2011Use British English|date=August 2010 Category:Musical groups established in 1973 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1988 Category:Musical groups reestablished in 1992 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1996 Category:Musical groups reestablished in 2008 Category:Ultravox Category:Art rock musical groups Category:British electronic music groups Category:British New Wave musical groups Category:Glam rock groups Category:Musical groups from London Category:Synthpop groups
