Formed in 1977 by multi-instrumentalists Blaine L. Reininger and Steven Brown, then two students of electronic music at San Francisco City College, with technical assistance from video artist Tommy Tadlock, Tuxedomoon started playing salons and accompanying performances by Angels of Light. Brown's connections to local theatre gave the band access to vocalists Gregory Cruikshank, Victoria Lowe, and, most frequently, Winston Tong,the latter bringing along Bruce Geduldig who took care of the band's visuals. The band gained some level of recognition in 1978 when they opened for Devo. Michael Belfer, (guitarist), and Paul Zahl, (drummer) joined the band in time to help with the group's first EP, No Tears. Lowe left prior to the album's release in 1978. Soon afterward, Tong and Belfer left the group temporarily, and bassist Peter Principle joined the lineup. In 1979, the group signed to The Residents' Ralph Records, with whom they recorded their next two albums, Half Mute in 1980 and Desire in 1981, after which the band relocated to Rotterdam for a short time and moved on to Brussels, believing their sound better fit the electronic scene in Europe.
The band soon created the score for a ballet by Maurice Bejart, which was released in 1982 as Divine. In 1983 Reininger left the group in order to pursue a solo career, and trumpeter Luc Van Lieshout joined. In 1985 Tuxedomoon had its largest success commercially with the international release of Holy Wars. Tong left the group again soon after its release. Multi-instrumentalist Ivan Georgiev was brought in to perform on the group's next two albums, 1986's Ship of Fools and 1987's You. The band remained inactive through most of the 1990s, although never technically broke up. On July 20, 2004 a reborn Tuxedomoon, consisting of Steven Brown, Blaine Reininger, Peter Principle, and Luc Van Lieshout released a new studio album, Cabin in the Sky. They continue to work and tour together and have since released Bardo Hotel Soundtrack in 2006. For the group's 30th year anniversary in 2007 they released another studio album, Vapour Trails.
In 2008, writer/journalist Isabelle Corbisier published a 476-page biography, entitled "Music For Vagabonds - The Tuxedomoon Chronicles" covering the band's entire career as well as members' solo activities.
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