Beginning (1968–1972) Lead singer
Phil Mogg, guitarist Mick Bolton, bassist
Pete Way and drummer
Andy Parker formed the band in 1968. They signed to the Beacon Records label, headed by Antiguan-born Milton Samuel. Their first album,
UFO 1, released in 1970, is a typical example of early
hard rock; it includes a heavy version of the
Eddie Cochran classic "
C'mon Everybody". Neither their first nor their second album,
UFO 2: Flying, reached the charts, but the song "Boogie For George" from the first album reached No. 30 on the German singles chart, and "Prince Kajuku" from
Flying reached No. 26. At this time UFO attracted little interest in Britain and America. and UFO set out to find a guitarist who could provide the band with a more standard rock sound.
International success (1973–1978) After brief trial runs with guitarists
Larry Wallis (February–October 1972) and
Bernie Marsden (who toured with UFO in Europe and recorded a pair of demos, "Oh My" and "Sixteen"), the band recruited
Michael Schenker from the
Scorpions in June 1973. With their new-found success, the band went back into the studio to record their next album
Obsession (1978). While
Obsession was not as successful as
Lights Out, the band still maintained their arena status while touring for the album, playing with AC/DC and Rush again, and other bands like
Blue Öyster Cult,
Styx,
Foghat,
Jethro Tull,
REO Speedwagon and
Molly Hatchet; as part of the
Obsession tour, UFO recorded the live album,
Strangers in the Night, which was released in January 1979. and appearing at the California World Music Festival with
Aerosmith,
Van Halen,
Toto and
April Wine.
Post-Schenker era and breaks (1978–1990) Tensions grew between Mogg and Schenker in the late 1970s, possibly owing to Schenker often leaving before or during shows. Soon after UFO's show at the
Keystone Palo Alto, on 29 October 1978, Schenker left the band. Schenker briefly returned to the
Scorpions before forming his own
Michael Schenker Group. After Schenker's exit, UFO rehired guitarist Paul Chapman, At the beginning of the following year, UFO released the self-produced
The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent, which had a lighter, contemporary
pop rock sound. The album achieved mild success in the UK, reaching the UK Top 20, and the single "Lonely Heart" was released. In February 1982, the band released
Mechanix. It was successful in the UK, where it reached No. 8, the band's highest ever placing. Later that year, founding member Pete Way left the band to form
Fastway with
Motörhead guitarist "Fast"
Eddie Clarke and then his own band,
Waysted. He was replaced by Talas bassist
Billy Sheehan. UFO released
Making Contact in 1983, but the album was a critical and commercial failure. The band played a UK farewell tour with
Paul Gray (former bassist with
Eddie and the Hot Rods and
the Damned). However, there was a hint that this might not be permanent when UFO released a
compilation album featuring songs by UFO (as well as other groups featuring ex-members of UFO) entitled
Headstone, the
sleeve of which showed a headstone, denoting UFO with their formation date but an incomplete end date. This proved to be a short break; just short of two years later, in late 1984, Mogg assembled a new UFO line-up, featuring Paul Gray on bass again, ex-
Diamond Head drummer
Robbie France (replaced in 1985 by former
Magnum drummer Jim Simpson), and
Atomik Tommy M (Tommy McClendon), a former roadie who also wrote lyrics for
Loudness, on guitar, with Paul Raymond rejoining shortly afterward, and released
Misdemeanor. Raymond left again in 1986 and was replaced by David Jacobson, who along with Gray would leave in 1987, and Pete Way rejoined on bass. Before Gray's departure, the band recorded the
EP ''
Ain't Misbehavin'' which was released in 1988. Despite the renewed activity of the band, neither release was financially successful and they officially disbanded again in 1989 after a string of guitarists replacing McClendon: Myke Gray of
Jagged Edge in late 1987, former
Starfighters guitarist Rik Sandford and Tony Glidewell in 1988, and finally in 1989 future
Cold Sweat guitarist Erik Gamans.
Reunion(s) (1991–2003) In 1991, Mogg and Way decided to put a new UFO line-up together with former Wild Horses members
Clive Edwards on drums,
Laurence Archer on guitar, and keyboardist Jem Davis joining the band and they released
High Stakes & Dangerous Men. While only released on a small independent label,
High Stakes was enough to generate serious interest in a full-blown reunion. The following year, the classic late-1970s UFO line-up – Mogg, Schenker, Way, Raymond and Parker – reunited, and the resulting album was
Walk on Water (1995). This line-up (barring Parker's replacement by
AC/DC's
Simon Wright on drums) went on a world tour. However, tensions arose again, and Schenker left the band only four shows into the tour, walking off stage mid-set in the very venue, the Keystone Palo Alto, where their October 1978 tour died. Thereafter, the other members again went their separate ways. However, Schenker returned to the fold in 1998, and the band embarked on another tour, with Parker again replaced by a new drummer. They played at the Astoria, Charing Cross Road, London in 1998. Mogg and Way continued working together throughout this fluctuating band membership, releasing two albums under the Mogg/Way name in the late 1990s,
Edge of the World and
Chocolate Box. In 2000, Schenker rejoined UFO again and the band released the double CD
Covenant (with
Aynsley Dunbar on drums), which contained a disc of new material and a disc of live classics. In 2002, the band recorded
Sharks; shortly after
Sharks was released, Schenker left the band yet again and was replaced with
Vinnie Moore. and the official announcement was made in July 2003. In 2003, Michael Schenker and Pete Way released
The Plot with drummer Jeff Martin.
Vinnie Moore-era and return to chart success (2004–2017) In 2004, UFO released their 17th studio album
You Are Here with their new permanent guitarist
Vinnie Moore and
Jason Bonham on drums (intermittently). The band was forced to cancel summer 2004 tour dates due to United States
work permit issues. UFO recorded their live set and released a double-DVD recording titled
Showtime (2005) along with a double live CD on SPV in November 2005, mixing a number of re-recorded studio songs. In November 2005, Andy Parker returned to the band to play in the
Piorno Rock Festival in
Granada, Spain. UFO's eighteenth studio album, titled
The Monkey Puzzle, was released in 2006. Andy Parker returned in early 2007, after recovering from leg surgery. On the 2008 tour, Pete Way was unable to get a work visa to enter the United States,
Rob De Luca (
Sebastian Bach's band,
Of Earth,
Spread Eagle) filling in. UFO released their 19th studio album,
The Visitor, in June 2009, and followed with a tour of the UK, but without Pete Way, who was suffering from a medical condition. Bass tracks on
The Visitor were played by Peter Pichl, and Pete Way was not credited as a band member on
The Visitor cover, nor was any other bassist. However, the album saw UFO's return to the UK Albums Chart for the first time in almost 15 years. In July 2009, UFO released a six-CD live concert
box set, containing recordings of six concerts between 1975 and 1982, as well as previously unreleased live songs. On their 2011 tour, they were accompanied by
Barry Sparks playing bass. By December 2010, UFO had been working on a twentieth studio album, which was supposed to be released in June 2011. Titled
Seven Deadly, was released on 27 February 2012, with Lars Lehmann on bass, to almost universally good reviews and a higher chart position than The Visitor also charting in Germany, Sweden, and the Billboard indie charts. In 2011, former band members
Danny Peyronel,
Laurence Archer, and
Clive Edwards teamed up with bassist Rocky Newton (ex-
McAuley Schenker Group) to form a band entitled X-UFO. In live performances, X-UFO played sets of vintage UFO songs, later renamed House Of X to perform their own material. Their eponymous album was released on 24 October 2014. In 2013,
Paul Raymond revealed that a new UFO album was in the works, but there was "no detailed talk of that yet." The album, titled
A Conspiracy of Stars, was released on 23 February 2015. On 10 September 2016, guitarist
Vinnie Moore announced on Facebook that UFO were in the studio recording a covers album. The album, titled
The Salentino Cuts, was released on 29 September 2017.
50th anniversary tour and retirement (2018–present) In May 2018, vocalist Mogg announced that UFO's 50th anniversary tour in 2019 would be his last one as the frontman of the band, who may also either split up or move on with a replacement for him. Mogg explained, "This decision has been a long time coming. I've considered stepping down at the end of UFO's previous two tours. I don't want to call this a farewell tour as I hate that word, but next year's gigs will represent my final tap-dancing appearances with the band." He added that "the timing feels right" for him to quit, and that "there will be a final tour of the U.K. and we will also play some shows in selected other cities that the band has a strong connection with. But outside of the U.K. this won't be a long tour." , 22 March 2019.
Last Orders Tour. Longtime keyboardist and guitarist
Paul Raymond died from a heart attack on 13 April 2019 at the age of 73. Two weeks later, it was announced that Raymond's initial replacement
Neil Carter would be rejoining UFO for the remainder of the band's final tour. Former guitarist
Paul Chapman died on his 66th birthday on 9 June 2020. Chapman was followed two months later by original bassist
Pete Way, who died from accident injuries at the age of 69. In late August 2022, Mogg suffered a heart attack. On 1 September 2022 doctors pronounced a strict performance ban for Mogg, after having performed several detailed examinations in the previous days. This resulted in the farewell tour, which was set to occur across Europe in October 2022, being cancelled. When asked in April 2024 by
Ultimate Classic Rock about the future of UFO, Mogg said, "I think it's come to a conclusion. We did that last U.K. tour in 2019, just before COVID. So that was kind of the end of it and the time was right." ==Members==