Curved Air are an English progressive rock group formed in 1970 by musicians from mixed artistic backgrounds, including classical, folk and electronic sound.

[1] The group evolved out of the band Sisyphus,[2] who played one of their early gigs in the ballroom of Leith Hill Place, Surrey for a masked ball[3] and which was formed by Darryl Way (who studied violin at Dartington College and the Royal College of Music) and Francis Monkman, a member of the Royal Academy of Music.

[4][5] While wandering through an outlet store of the Orange Music Electronic Company, Monkman was intrigued by the sound of Way testing his first electrically amplified violin, and the two "got to talking.

"[6] They discovered they had a lot in common, and in 1969 invited pianist Nick Simon who, along with bassist Rob Martin and drummer Florian Pilkington-Miksa, completed the line-up of Sisyphus.

[4] Sisyphus was hired to provide accompaniment for Galt MacDermot's new play, Who the Murderer Was, at the Mercury Theatre in Notting Hill Gate, serving as the pit band.

He felt that Sonja Kristina, an aspiring folk musician who he had seen in the London stage production of Hair,[8] was the missing ingredient in the group.

After a series of intensive rehearsals in Martin's family home in Gloucestershire,[12] the five-piece launched a well-received UK tour, supporting Black Sabbath at one point.

[7] The band received a much-publicized advance of £100,000[14] and their debut album Air Conditioning was released in November notable for its being issued as the first commercially available LP picture disc in the UK.

[10] In the course of constant touring drummer Pilkington-Miksa became ill in late 1971 and, for several months, Barry de Souza, who band members knew from studio work, sat in for him.

It was de Souza who played with Curved Air at the 1971 Beat Club German TV performance of "Back Street Luv", the televised version of which became well known.

[4] In late 1971, Sonja Kristina joined Faces, Soft Machine, Marc Bolan and David Bedford to do a Christmas radio show for the BBC.

Having retained a good working relationship, Sonja Kristina and Mike Wedgwood formed a new band with Kirby Gregory (electric guitar), Eddie Jobson (keyboards, violin), and Jim Russell (drums).

[8] The new musicians brought more direct rock energy, with young prodigy Eddie Jobson, influenced by Curved Air, kept the classical blend strongly in the mix.

On the suggestion of manager Clifford Davis, they continued using the name Curved Air with the approval and support of the departing band members.

Not long after the release, Eddie Jobson was asked to replace Brian Eno in Roxy Music,[17] so Kirby Gregory and Jim Russell both left the group to form Stretch.

Between the band's previous breakup and the reunion tour she had worked as a croupier at the London Playboy Club[8] and returned to the stage with Curved Air in see through lace, feathers and beads, highlighting her sexuality.

Phil Kohn left and the band, unable to replace him in time for the sessions for Midnight Wire, relied on guest musicians to play both bass (John G Perry) and keyboards (Peter Wood).

[8] Kohn was later replaced by Tony Reeves,[3] formerly of Colosseum and Greenslade, but the recording sessions for both Midnight Wire and 1976's Airborne were expensive and highly stressful for everyone involved.

This line-up's final release was a cover version of "Baby Please Don't Go” and although the shows were sold out and always successful the new recordings did not chart.

After months of gradually losing steam, Curved Air broke up so quietly that, by Sonja Kristina's recollections, most of the music press wrote off the band's absence as a "sabbatical".

[9] Copeland formed The Police, Reeves returned to work as a producer and played in semi-pro band Big Chief along with Jacques, and Kristina and Way both pursued solo careers.

In 1984, Darryl Way asked Sonja Kristina to provide vocals to several of his solo recordings, two of which, "Renegade" and "We're Only Human", were released as a single under the Curved Air name.

[7] In 1990 the original Kristina, Way, Monkman and Pilkington-Miksa quartet gave a one-off reunion concert at the London's Town & Country, supported by Noden's Ictus.

[7] Following the one-off reunion, guitarist Mike Gore instigated a series of jam sessions which involved three fifths of Curved Air's original lineup: Monkman, Pilkington-Miksa, and Martin.

[23][24] On 4 May 2008, in a message to the Curved Air Yahoo Group, Kristina advised that the new line-up would be herself, Darryl Way (violin), Florian Pilkington-Miksa (drums), Andy Christie (guitar) and Chris Harris (bass).

Sonja Kristina confirmed, "Francis was in at the beginning but had extremely different ideas from Darryl about how he wanted this new Curved Air to prepare and develop.

"Robert Norton is exceptional – as is Paul Sax, a master violinist – one of the first entrants to the Yehudi Menuhin school – a passionate and brave performer very well qualified to step into Darryl's light ... Chris Harris is literally our root on bass and Kit Morgan the fire on guitar.

The band played at the London High Voltage Festival 2011 (23–24 July), alongside Spock's Beard, Jethro Tull, Dream Theater, and Queensrÿche, among others.

In 2019, Kirby Gregory returned on guitar in place of Hudson, and Grzegorz Gadziomski replaced Paul Sax on violin, both playing with the band at London's 100 Club on 17 October.