Ultra (also recording as Rider) was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
boy band, which was most successful in the late 1990s. The original line-up consisted of
James Hearn
James Daniel Guy Hearn (born 19 June 1976 in Denham, Buckinghamshire, England) is an English singer-songwriter. He is best known as being the vocalist of boyband Ultra.
Biography
Hearn attended the same high school as Ultra's guitarist and drum ...
(born 19 June 1976;
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...
),
Michael Harwood (born 12 December 1975;
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...
and
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...
),
Jon O'Mahony
Jon O'Mahony (born 10 August 1973) is a British music manager and founder of Rebellion Artists, who currently manage Fraser Churchill, Honey Ryder, Dustin Paul, Starlight Theatre and Fat Buddha.
Early years
Before entering the music industry ...
(born 10 August 1973;
drums and
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...
) and Nick Keynes (born 3 May 1972;
bass and
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...
).
History
Early career
Although sometimes mistakenly described as a manufactured
boyband, Ultra was originally formed by James Hearn, James Rose, Michael Harwood and Jon O'Mahony who were schoolfriends from
Buckinghamshire,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
in the mid-1990s.
After they left school, they formed various bands, playing under names such as Stepping Stoned, Decade and Suburban Surfers. They eventually called themselves Ultra (named after the
Depeche Mode album), and the following year Nick Keynes joined as bass player after being introduced by mutual friend Neil Cowley, who was the keyboard player for the
Brand New Heavies
The Brand New Heavies is an acid jazz and funk group formed in 1985 in Ealing in west London. Centered around songwriters/multi-instrumentalists Simon Bartholomew and Andrew Levy, the core members of the group since its founding, Brand New He ...
.
Chart success
Their demo tape eventually came to the attention of
Ian Stanley
Ian Christopher Stanley (born 28 February 1957) is a British musician, songwriter and record producer. He was previously a member of the English band Tears for Fears for most of the 1980s, and played a key role in the making of their multi-plat ...
(ex-
Tears for Fears
Tears for Fears are an English pop rock band formed in Bath, England, in 1981 by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith. Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, Tears for Fears were associated with the new ...
) and they were signed to
Warner's
The Warnaco Group, Inc. was an American textile/clothing corporation which designed, sourced, marketed, licensed, and distributed a wide range of underwear, sportswear, and swimwear worldwide. Its products were sold under several brand names ...
EastWest label. In 1998, they released their first single, "
Say You Do", written by Hearn, which reached #11 in the UK.
[ Their next single, " Say It Once", charted at #16 in the UK.][ " The Right Time" was released in September 1998 and peaked at #28. Their fourth single was " Rescue Me", which charted in the UK at No. 8, the band's only British top 10 single.][
In February 1999, their debut album, '']Ultra
adopted by British military intelligence in June 1941 for wartime signals intelligence obtained by breaking high-level encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter communications at the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park. ' ...
'', entered the UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...
at #37.
The band were very popular with young female audiences, although they insisted that their success came primarily from their songs, not their looks. Ultra performed live and also supported a number of other pop acts including Irish boyband Boyzone
Boyzone were an Irish boy band, created in 1993 by talent manager Louis Walsh. Before even recording any material, Boyzone made an appearance on RTÉ's '' The Late Late Show''. Their most successful line-up was composed of Keith Duffy, Steph ...
in 1997, former Eternal
Eternal(s) or The Eternal may refer to:
* Eternity, an infinite amount of time, or a timeless state
* Immortality or eternal life
* God, the supreme being, creator deity, and principal object of faith in monotheism
Comics, film and television
* ...
member Louise Nurding for a performance at Wembley
Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...
, and boyband 911
911 or 9/11 may refer to:
Dates
* AD 911
* 911 BC
* September 11
** 9/11, the September 11 attacks of 2001
** 11 de Septiembre, Chilean coup d'état in 1973 that outed the democratically elected Salvador Allende
* November 9
Numbers
* 91 ...
. They were particularly popular in South East Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...
and Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, where they were mobbed by 3000 teenage girls at a record signing in Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
.
In 1999, they appeared on Italian television where they performed a live version of "Say It Once" with Laura Pausini.
Band split
The band lost their contract before recording their second album, as all of the record company A&Rs who signed them had left, and the new hierarchy passed on the opportunity to record a follow-up. The band split up in 2001 after James Hearn became disillusioned with the music business and decided to leave. In an interview with the '' Daily Telegraph'', Hearn said of his time in Ultra:
"My music career was great fun and, as a bunch of guys who got together at Leeds University to give the musical bigtime a go, we had a good time".
Reunification
In 2005, the four original members of the band reunited to write and record their second studio album, ''The Sun Shines Brighter
''The Sun Shines Brighter'' is the second studio album from English band Ultra, released on 24 October 2006, seven years after their debut album ''Ultra''. The lineup consists of James Hearn, vocals and piano; Michael Harwood, vocals and guitar; ...
'', which also features songs written by former member Alistair Griffin
Alistair Richard Griffin (born 1 November 1977) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Already an established songwriter, he first became famous as a solo artist through his appearances on the BBC television show ''Fame Academy 2'' in 2 ...
(who provides guest vocals on one of the tracks). Producer credits on the album include Ian Stanley (who produced their first album), Claudio Guidetti ( Laura Pausini, Eros Ramazzotti), and Ash Howes (Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
, Blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...
). This was released on 2 October 2006 on the Goldust label.
Rider
The other band members formed a new group with a number of different short term vocalists including Ryan Molloy
Ryan Molloy (born 21 November 1972) is a British singer, songwriter and actor, who replaced Holly Johnson as the lead singer in Frankie Goes to Hollywood for a charity concert in 2004. He has also been successful in musical theatre, appearing ...
. Singers Alistair Griffin
Alistair Richard Griffin (born 1 November 1977) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Already an established songwriter, he first became famous as a solo artist through his appearances on the BBC television show ''Fame Academy 2'' in 2 ...
and James Fox
William Fox (born 19 May 1939), known professionally as James Fox, is an English actor. He appeared in several notable films of the 1960s and early 1970s, including '' King Rat'', '' The Servant'', ''Thoroughly Modern Millie'' and ''Performan ...
were both briefly members of the band at different times.
In 2002, several members of Ultra wrote and recorded a song to celebrate the World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
, called "England Crazy", which they recorded as a one-off project as 'Rider' with Terry Venables
Terence Frederick Venables (born 6 January 1943), often referred to as El Tel, is an English former football player and manager, and an author. During the 1960s and '70s, he played for various clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Queen ...
. This project was re-signed to their old record label East West, but only reached number 46 on the UK chart due to a lacklustre campaign from the label. The song has since been featured on a number of football-themed compilation albums.
Goldust Productions
O'Mahony, Harwood and Keynes set up a music production company, Goldust, writing and producing for other artists such as Bryan Adams
Bryan Guy Adams (born 5 November 1959) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and photographer. He has been cited as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and is estimated to have sold between 75 million and mor ...
, Kylie Minogue, Natasha Bedingfield
Natasha Anne Bedingfield (born 26 November 1981) is a British singer and songwriter. Bedingfield released her debut album, '' Unwritten'', in 2004, which contained primarily up-tempo pop songs and was influenced by R&B music. It enjoyed intern ...
, Phixx
Phixx were an English-Irish boy band formed in 2003 from the five runners up on British TV show '' Popstars: The Rivals''. The original members were Andrew Kinlochan, Chris Park, Mikey Green, Peter Smith, and Nikk Mager. Between 2003 and 2005, ...
and Liberty X
Liberty X (originally called Liberty) are a British-Irish group originally consisting of Michelle Heaton, Tony Lundon, Kevin Simm, Jessica Taylor and Kelli Young. The group was formed by the five finalists of the 2001 ITV talent show '' Popstar ...
. They have also written music for films, with title tracks on the Andy García
Andrés Arturo García Menéndez (born April 12, 1956), known professionally as Andy García, is a Cuban-born American actor, director and musician. He first rose to prominence acting in Brian De Palma's ''The Untouchables'' (1987) alongside ...
film ''Modigliani'', and ''The Magic Roundabout
''The Magic Roundabout'' is an English-language children's television programme that ran from 1965 to 1977. It used the footage of the French stop motion animation show ''Le Manège enchanté'' but with completely different scripts and characte ...
''.
Discography
Albums
Singles
References
External links
Ultra
on Myspace
Ultra Discography
at Rate Your Music
Rate Your Music (often abbreviated to RYM) is an online collaborative database of music releases and films. Users can catalog items from their personal collection, review them, and assign ratings in a five-star rating system. The site also fea ...
Ultra Discography
at Discogs
Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...
{{Authority control
English boy bands
Musical quartets
Musical groups established in 1998
Musical groups disestablished in 2001
Musical groups reestablished in 2005
Musical groups disestablished in 2006
East West Records artists