Tiger Lily and the discarded names, 1974–1976

The band was formed in London in April 1974 as Tiger Lily, on the initiative of Dennis Leigh, who would later perform as John Foxx. Chris Cross (bass) and Stevie Shears (guitar) are given the same starting year. Warren Cann joined on drums in May 1974 and Billy Currie on violin in October 1974, which completes the five-piece that recorded the first two albums.

The single

Tiger Lily’s only release was a 1975 single, a cover of Fats Waller’s “Ain’t Misbehavin’”. It did not chart. It is the earliest recording in the discography and the only one issued under the Tiger Lily name.

Five names in two years

Before the band settled on a name, it used at least these. The first and last are dated; the order of the three in between is the order in which they are usually listed, not an established sequence.

• Tiger Lily, from April 1974
• The Zips
• Fire of London
• London Soundtrack
• The Damned, dropped after a few weeks
• Ultravox!, adopted in October 1976 while the debut album was being made for Island Records

The exclamation mark was dropped in 1978, and the band has been Ultravox since.

What is not yet documented

The dates on which each interim name was used, the venues the band played under them, and the catalogue number and label of the 1975 single are not established by any source this archive has examined. They are the first priority for the gigography. Contemporary listings in the London music press of 1974–1976 are the likeliest place to settle them; if you hold one, send a correction.

Drafting note: the wording of this essay was drafted with the help of an AI language model from the sources listed below. Every fact in it comes from those sources, and it is published only after an editor has checked each statement against them.