Warren Cann

Warren Reginald Cann (born 20 May 1950 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada) is a Canadian drummer and drum machine programmer, best known as a member of the British new wave band Ultravox.

The son of two British immigrants, he began to be interested in electronics while he was at school. After playing in bands in Vancouver, he came to Britain in 1972, where he found a more creative environment.

He established himself in London, where he formed his first band, along with Huw Lloyd-Langton, future Hawkwind member, on guitar and Rob Rawlinson, later in Overnight Angels, on bass.

Shortly thereafter, Cann contacted John Foxx, who invited Cann to join his fledgling band Tiger Lily with bassist Chris Cross and guitarist Stevie Shears. The band recorded sole single "Ain't Misbehavin'", which was released in 1975 and used as a main theme to the namesake softcore porno movie. In 1976, Tiger Lily changed its name to Ultravox!, and later in 1978 to Ultravox.

Cann played on the first albums released by Island Records, Ultravox! (1977), Ha! Ha! Ha! (both 1977) and Systems of Romance (1978). After a tour of United States and Canada the band fragmented because of the departure of vocalist John Foxx and guitarist Robin Simon. Ultravox replaced them with singer/guitarist Midge Ure in Summer 1979.

Ure-led Ultravox signed to Chrysalis in 1980 and went on to have a commercial success worldwide. Cann contributed lyrics to 2/3 of the first Ure-led album "Vienna", sang backing vocals, co-lead and lead on some Ultravox songs: "Mr. X" (1980), "Paths and Angles" (1981), "We Came to Dance" (1982) and "Break Your Back" 1983).

He remained active outside the band during Ultravox success. In 1982 he played acoustic and electronic percussion for Zaine Griff (album "Figvres") and Peter Godwin (single "Images of Heaven"). He and Hans Zimmer were a part of the backing band for a New Romantic singer Ronny on her London show in The Dominion. Ronny also participated in the Helden project, formed by Cann and Zimmer that year, which merged electronic, orchestral and classical influences. Helden were the first music project to play The London Planetarium in March 1983. They released a single "Holding on" (1983) and recorded an album called "Spies" which featured lots of guests (Zaine Griff, Eddie Maelov from Eddie & Sunshine, Brian Robertson from Thin Lizzy etc.). It remains unreleased.

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