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History of UFO
UFO formed in the Wood Green/Enfield area of North London in August 1969.
They played a unique amalgam of underground/progressive pop, R&B and
folk-rock in those early days, which was augmented by more power and a
little blues when Andy Parker joined the line-up in place of their
original drummer.
In March 1970 they signed to the Beacon label and recorded UFO I in six
evenings at Jackson Studios in Rickmansworth. It was produced by a South
London car dealer on a four track machine and licensed all over the world.
Nobody really noticed it at all in Britain but it sold quite well in
Germany and Japan. More important, two 45s from the album were released in
Japan and became hit singles; in fact, C'mon Everybody got to No 1.
Amazingly the group, which was surviving on a hand-to-mouth sort of
existence in Britain, was in demand to visit Japan. A tour was arranged
for them to support Three Dog Night, but when the latter pulled out, UFO
found themselves headlining the tour and leading the lifestyle of
superstars. Their second album, Flying (One Hour Space Rock), will appeal
to fans of the genre.
When Mark Bolton left the band to quit the music business in January
1972, they got Larry Wallis in as a replacement. Wallis had earlier been
with Shagrat and Blodwyn Pig. He wasn't with them long but taught them how
to move around and dress up, important considerations in the glam rock era.
By the time he left in October to join Pink Fairies, after a personality
clash with Phil Mogg, the band had cultivated a distinct visual image,
appearing on stage in snakeskin boots, tights, sequins, glitter, leather
trousers, arm bands and so on.
Eventually they signed to Chrysalis and recorded a new album, Phenomenon,
which they toured all over Britain and Scandinavia to promote. By now
Schenker had been added to their line-up and Paul Chapman from Skid Row
was added as a second guitarist around this time but was given the push
before they set off on an American tour (he would later rejoin them).
After the release of Force It, they spent several weeks in America,
frenetically touring and establishing a live reputation, which paid off
because the album eventually climbed to No 71 in the US Album Charts.
In September 1975, Danny Peyronel (ex-The Heavy Metal Kids) was recruited
to augment their sound. This line-up recorded the No Heavy Petting album,
which was also more successful in the US, where it climbed to No 169, but
Peyronel didn't really fit in and left in Summer 1976. UFO continued their
long climb to success...... tbc