The word ‘innovator’ is often overused in electronic music with few having the credentials to live up to the accolade. John Foxx is an exception. Born Dennis Leigh in Chorley, Lancashire, the former leader of synthpop band Ultravox was years ahead of his time.
While their debut album was primarily post-punk, Foxx envisioned the future on its closing electronic ballad My Sex and had to depart the group to fully realise it. The result was his seminal solo album Metamatic, released three years later using little more than a Roland CR-78 drum machine, Arp Odyssey and an Elka String Machine.
Despite luminous follow-up albums such as The Garden and The Golden Section, Foxx was trampled on by the new wave explosion and shifted his focus to photography and graphic design.
