Phil Mogg

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Phil Mogg
2022 Lieder am See - UFO - Phil Mogg - by 2eight - 9SC5157.jpg
Mogg performing with UFO in 2022
Background information
Birth namePhillip John Mogg
Born (1948-04-15) 15 April 1948 (age 76)
Wood Green, London, England
Genres Hard rock
Occupation(s)
  • Singer
  • songwriter
Years active1968–present
Member of UFO
Formerly of
  • Mogg/Way
  • $ign of 4
Website ufo-music.info

Phillip John Mogg (born 15 April 1948, Wood Green, London) [1] is an English singer. He is the lead singer and frontman of the hard rock band UFO, which he co-founded with longtime friends Pete Way, Andy Parker and Mick Bolton in 1968. [2]

Contents

Career

Formed in 1968, [3] UFO first gained notice as a space rock group with a series of recordings on Beacon/Decca Records. After guitarist Michael Schenker joined in 1973, they signed to Chrysalis Records, and changed their musical style from space rock to hard rock and heavy metal, but found only modest commercial success. [4] [5] However, UFO are often cited as one of the key influences on the hard rock and heavy metal scenes of the 1980s and 1990s, including bands such as Metallica, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Guns N' Roses, Def Leppard, Slayer, Megadeth, Testament, Overkill, Anthrax, Alice in Chains, Tesla and Dio. [6] Mogg wrote the majority of UFO's lyrics, with the music being written by Way, Schenker, and later, Paul Raymond, although Schenker left the band in 1978 to launch his solo band. Mogg is the only member of UFO to appear on all of the band's albums and remained their only permanent member.

In 1997, during UFO's hiatus, Mogg and Way, under the moniker Mogg/Way, released a couple of albums, Edge of the World and Chocolate Box. [2] In 2002, he was in a side project, $ign of 4, featuring Cosmosquad members Shane Gaalaas on drums and Jeff Kollman on guitar, respectively. [7] Kollman had earlier been the guitarist and co-writer on Mogg/Way's Chocolate Box.

In late 2003, having regained the rights to the UFO name from Schenker, Mogg spoke with Pete Way and Paul Raymond, and ended up having a reunion tour which later brought the band back for good, with newly hired American guitarist Vinnie Moore. UFO have since released six more albums, the latest being the 2017 covers album The Salentino Cuts .

UFO announced their "Last Orders: 50th Anniversary" farewell tour in 2019. The band was to tour the United Kingdom from March to April, Europe from June to August, and finally the United States from October to November. The final gig was to be the rock legends cruise, a five-day event in early 2020. Mogg confirmed he was retiring after the tour as a member of UFO, but did not rule out other musical ventures. [8] The final tour was rescheduled to 2022, but cancelled due to Mogg's health status. [9] Mogg confirmed in an April 2024 interview with Ultimate Classic Rock that UFO were no more. [10]

Personal life

Phil Mogg was a junior boxing champion in North London before his music career. He is married to Emma Mogg, a former page three girl since 2006 and currently resides in Brighton, East Sussex. He is the uncle of Nigel Mogg, former bassist of The Quireboys. [11]

In August 2022, Mogg suffered a heart attack. [9] [12]

Discography

UFO

Studio albums

Live albums

  • Live (1972) Uncharted
  • Live in Concert (1974)
  • Strangers in the Night (1979) Chart Position 42 (US), 8 (UK)
  • Lights Out in Tokyo (1992)
  • Live in Japan (1992)
  • T.N.T. (1993)
  • Heaven's Gate (1995)
  • Showtime (2005)

Others

Mogg/Way

$ign of 4

Related Research Articles

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UFO were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They became a transitional group between early hard rock and heavy metal and the new wave of British heavy metal. The band's current lineup includes vocalist Phil Mogg, lead guitarist Vinnie Moore, rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Neil Carter, bass guitarist Rob De Luca, and drummer Andy Parker. They have gone through several line-up changes, leaving Mogg as the only constant member, and had disbanded three times. The band also featured former Scorpions guitarist and Michael Schenker Group (MSG) founder Michael Schenker, who was a member of UFO from 1973 to 1978 and rejoined the band sporadically between 1993 and 2003, when Moore replaced him. In May 2018, Mogg announced that he would retire from UFO after one last tour as a member of the band in 2019; however, their farewell tour was set to conclude in 2022 before it was cancelled, due to Mogg's health issues. Mogg confirmed UFO's third disbandment in April 2024.

<i>Obsession</i> (UFO album) 1978 studio album by UFO

Obsession is the seventh studio album by English rock band UFO, released in 1978. This was the final studio album to feature Michael Schenker on lead guitar until he returned to the band in 1993. A single from the album, "Only You Can Rock Me" / "Cherry", was also released in 1978. So too was the band's first 3-track EP "Only You Can Rock Me", "Cherry" / "Rock Bottom", reaching No. 50 in the UK. The album was recorded at an abandoned post office in Los Angeles.

<i>Lights Out</i> (UFO album) 1977 studio album by UFO

Lights Out is the sixth studio album by English rock band UFO, released in 1977. All songs are band originals except for "Alone Again Or" which is a cover of a song by the band Love. Reaching number 23 on the Billboard 200, it remains the band's highest-charting album in the United States. In the UK it hit number 54 and stayed on the chart for two weeks.

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Michael Schenker is a German guitarist. He played in the rock band UFO and leads the Michael Schenker Group (MSG). He was an early member of the hard rock band Scorpions, a band co-founded by his elder brother Rudolf Schenker. In the mid-1970s, Schenker joined UFO, playing lead and rhythm guitar. He left the band in 1978 to briefly rejoin Scorpions for the recording of Lovedrive, and then to form MSG. He has rejoined UFO three times, producing an album each time. Schenker continues to perform and record. He has been called "a legendary figure in the history of metal guitar."

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The Michael Schenker Group is an English hard rock band, formed in London in 1979 by former Scorpions and UFO guitarist Michael Schenker. In 1986, Schenker and vocalist Robin McAuley formed the McAuley Schenker Group, which lasted until 1993. Afterwards, in 1996, the Michael Schenker Group was reformed. After the release of their second live album, 1984's Rock Will Never Die, its members began to have serious discussions that caused a two-year hiatus, and Michael ended the band in 1986.

<i>Strangers in the Night</i> (UFO album) 1979 live album by UFO

Strangers in the Night is a live album by British hard rock band UFO, first released in 1979 on the Chrysalis label. The original double LP album was recorded at shows in October 1978 at Chicago, Illinois, and Louisville, Kentucky, while UFO was on tour.

<i>Phenomenon</i> (UFO album) 1974 studio album by UFO

Phenomenon is the third studio album by English rock band UFO, released in May 1974. It was the band's first album to feature guitarist Michael Schenker, who replaced Mick Bolton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pete Way</span> British bassist (1950–2020)

Peter Frederick Way was an English bassist. He was the co-founder and original bassist of the rock band UFO from 1968 to 1982; he briefly rejoined the band in 1988–1989 and full-time from 1991 to 2008. He was also a founding member of Waysted and Fastway and notably played with Michael Schenker Group and Ozzy Osbourne.

<i>Live on Earth</i> (UFO album) 2003 live album by UFO

Live on Earth is a live recording of the band UFO. It was recorded in Vienna, Austria in 1998 and features four-fifths of the reformed, classic line up of the band from the late 1970s with Simon Wright replacing Andy Parker on drums who had decided to run his family business rather than tour.

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Paul Martin Raymond was an English keyboardist and guitarist, best known for playing in UFO and Michael Schenker Group. Raymond was the replacement for Christine McVie when she left Chicken Shack to join Fleetwood Mac in 1969.

<i>The Visitor</i> (UFO album) 2009 studio album by UFO

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doctor Doctor (UFO song)</span> 1974 single by UFO

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<i>Regenerator – Live 1982</i> 2001 live album by UFO

Regenerator – Live 1982 is a live album by the British hard Rock band UFO, recorded live at the Hammersmith Odeon in London on 28 January 1982. It is the official issue of the bootleg UFO Landed London of the early 1990s, with the addition of the song "Mystery Train".

<i>The Chrysalis Years: 1973–1979</i> 2011 compilation album by UFO

The Chrysalis Years: 1973–1979 is a compilation album by the band UFO which includes 81 tracks, some not previously released. The compilation includes, in their entirety, the albums recorded for the Chrysalis label during said years, including : Phenomenon (1974), Force It (1975), No Heavy Petting (1976), Lights Out (1977), Obsession (1978), and Strangers in the Night (1979). In addition to these albums, the compilation also includes a previously unreleased live set recorded at Alex Cooley's Electric Ballroom in Atlanta, GA, several singles and B-sides which had not previously been released in CD format, and tracks recorded with BBC DJs Bob Harris and John Peel but not included on the original album releases. Arguably, this period during the 1970s is the zenith of the band's creativity, and The Chrysalis Years: 1973–1979 is an attractive collection likely to contain all the recordings by the band one might desire excepting for the most devout UFO fans.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shane Gaalaas</span> Musical artist

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<i>The Salentino Cuts</i> 2017 studio album of cover songs by UFO

The Salentino Cuts is the 22nd and final studio album by British rock band UFO. The album was released on Cleopatra Records on 29 September 2017. It was the final studio release by the band prior to the 2019 death of keyboardist/guitarist Paul Raymond. In reference to the album title, Bassist Rob De Luca stated "We recorded the album in Hannover, Germany. We would often end up at an Italian restaurant afterward to eat, drink, hang and plan out the next day. The restaurant is called Salentino's. So it became our defacto clubhouse.”

References

  1. Daniels, Neil (2013) High Stakes & Dangerous Men - The UFO Story, Soundcheck Books, ISBN   978-0957144262, p. 2
  2. 1 2 Buckley, Peter (1999) The Rough Guide to Rock, Rough Guides, ISBN   978-1858284576, p. 1115
  3. "UFO's PHIL MOGG To Step Down After 50th-Anniversary Tour: 'This Is The Right Time For Me To Quit'". Blabbermouth.net. 28 May 2018. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
  4. "Artist Chart History - UFO". Billboard charts . Retrieved 24 June 2018.
  5. "UFO Discography". Official Charts Company . Retrieved 24 June 2018.
  6. "Phil Mogg: I Am Leaving UFO". Ultimate-Guitar.com. 29 May 2018. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  7. "Phil Mogg What's Your Sign?". BraveWords.com. 31 July 2002. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  8. Whiteman, Scott (27 February 2019). "Phil Mogg of UFO Will Retire After 50th Anniversary". Digital Beat Magazine. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  9. 1 2 "UFO To Play Last-Ever Concert In October 2022". Blabbermouth.net. 3 September 2021. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  10. "How UFO Aimed for the Stars With 'Lights Out'". ultimateclassicrock.com. 13 April 2024. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
  11. Larkin, Colin (2011) The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Omnibus Press, p. 2260
  12. "Phil Mogg suffers heart attack. Farewell tour in October 2022 cancelled ahead of schedule". Ufo-music.info. 1 September 2022. Retrieved 1 September 2022.