JOHN FOXX
Born Dennis Leigh, John Foxx was born in Chorley, Lancashire in
the north of England. A child intellectual, reading the manifesto's
of the Futurists aged 9, a career in the arts beckoned as Foxx
enrolled at the Royal College of Art in London before forming
the band Ultravox. After 3 albums, including one produced by the
now legendary Brian Eno, Foxx left in '79.
His first solo disc, Metamatic, was issued in 1980 through his
own label metal beat, with Virgin handling distribution. With
the exception of some bass, the sound was completely synthetic.
It became his biggest selling album, featuring the single "Underpass."
A livelier album, The Garden, followed a year later. Named after
the studio where it was recorded and which Foxx would frequent
for the next few years. The opening "Europe After The Rain"
is perhaps his finest moment. The Garden also included a version
of the "Lord's Prayer (Pater Noster)" sung in Italian
to a disco beat! Initial copies came with a booklet entitled Church,
complete with Foxx's photomontage images, poems and lyrics.
1983's The Golden Section was one of the few Foxx releases produced
by an outsider, Zeus B.Held. As with the Garden it peaked slightly
lower down at 27. If that was a shame, it was nothing compared
to the shock of his fourth and final album for sometime, In Mysterious
Ways, charting at no.85 on its release in 1985. Two singles featured,
both failed to chart despite the usually stunning Foxx illustrations
on the sleeve, especially on "Stars on Fire."
After this John Foxx vanished, his name bearing 'whatever happened
to..' conversations. On the sleeve notes for 1992's compilation
Assembly, Foxx hinted he was totally disinterested in the mid-eighties
music scene. He spent his time lecturing (helping shoot the video
to techno band LFO's debut namesake single), illustrating book
covers and collaborated with Bomb the Bass mainman Tim Simenon
on the short lived project Nation 12.
In 1997 Foxx re-appeared almost as mysteriously as he had disappeared
with two new albums: Cathedral Oceans and Shifting City (with
Louis Gordon). The former was primarily ambient in nature and
namechecked musician Harold Budd who, during an interview, cited
Foxx 'a fantastic artist.'
