Tyg was a human musician, a member of a group of four musicians who were best known for the song "Universal Chord". He was Australian, and was the adoptive father of a woman named Pet. Tyg and Pet crawled out of a bomb shelter together, the only two survivors, when Pet was nine months old. The incident left Tyg with an artificial knee.
Tyg was the musical group's percussionist. Along with the group's singer, Eskey Inglesei, the guitarist, Marco, and the keyboardist, Piqué, Tyg gave a performance at a San Francisco nightclub which was attended by T'Pol prior to her service on the Enterprise. (ENT short story: "Universal Chord")