Ultra (British band)

Ultra
Origin	England
Genres	Pop
Years active	1990–2001 2005–2006
Labels	EastWest (1990-2001) Goldust (2005-2006)
Website	Link
Past members	James Hearn Michael Harwood Jon O'Mahony Nick Keynes

Ultra (also recording as Rider) was an English male pop band, which was most successful in the late 1990s. The original line-up consisted of James Hearn (born 19 June 1976) (vocals), Michael Harwood (born 12 December 1975) (guitar), Jon O'Mahony (born 10 August 1973) (drums) and Nick Keynes (born 3 May 1972) (bass).

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 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.

Their demo tape eventually came to the attention of Ian Stanley (ex-Tears for Fears) and they were signed to Warner's 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 for 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, entered the UK top 40 at #37.

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