John Peel Wiki
Don't have an account?
Register
Advertisement
Register
in: Artists

Ultravox

Sign in to edit
Ultravox Foxx band

Ultravox (formerly known as Ultravox!) are a British new wave band, formed in London in 1974 as Tiger Lily. Between 1980–86, they scored seven Top Ten albums and seventeen Top 40 singles in the UK, the most successful of which was their 1981 hit "Vienna". The band has been led by two different frontmen who never played together in the band at the same time. From 1974 until 1979, singer John Foxx was frontman and the main driving force behind Ultravox. Foxx left the band to embark on a solo career and, following his departure, Midge Ure took over as lead singer, guitarist and frontman in 1980 after he and keyboardist Billy Currie worked in the studio project Visage. Ure revitalised the band and steered it to commercial chart success lasting until 1987. Ure left the band in 1987 after establishing his own solo career and the group disbanded for a while until 1992 when they briefly re-united and then reformed again in 2008.

Bassist and co-founding member Chris Cross died in March 2024.

Links To Peel[]

Peel came away impressed by Ultravox's performance at the 1977 Reading Festival, writing in Sounds (1977-09-10, later republished in Olivetti Chronicles):

"Here is another band which has improved considerably in recent months, and their set was of a very high quality; tight, concise and exciting ... So I liked Ultravox."

The DJ regularly played tracks from early LPs with John Foxx, and the only session by either version of the band was recorded in 1977 on the release of the second Ultravox! album, 'Ha! Ha! Ha!'. On the 15 August 1978 show, Peel mentioned liking the track 'Slow Motion' the first time heard it, hating it the second, then liking it again the third time, but finally being undecided on the fourth. In the period after the departure of Foxx, keyboard player Billy Currie worked with Tubeway Army, who were strongly supported by Peel, and was part of the line-up for their second session, also known as the first Gary Numan 'solo' session.[1]. From available tracklistings, John did not play any of the Midge Ure era records, though did introduce the band on Top Of The Pops.

After Peel's death, a total of 12 Ultravox albums were found in his record collection, including releases from the commercially successful years with Midge Ure. (See Record Collection: U.) Ultravox's first three albums and associated singles were released on the Island Records label.

Sessions[]

Three of the tracks from their only session is available on The Peel Sessions (12" / Strange Fruit / 1988), while all four were included on the 'Rare Retro' disc included with the four-disc compilation The Island Years (4 CD Box-set and digital, Caroline International/Island, 2016).

Ultravox!_-_Peel_Session_1977

Ultravox! - Peel Session 1977

1. Recorded: 1977-11-21. Broadcast: 28 November 1977. Repeated: 04 January 1978

  • My Sex / The Man Who Dies Every Day / Artificial Life / Young Savage

Other Shows Played[]

Ultravox
Tiger Lily

Top Of The Pops[]

See Also[]

External Links[]

Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
Advertisement

Fan Feed

More John Peel Wiki