Billy Currie
.jpg)
Billy Currie (* 1. April 1950 in Huddersfield , England as William Lee Currie ) is an English musician and songwriter .
Currie became known as the keyboardist of the new wave band Ultravox , which had its greatest commercial success in the 1980s.
Career
Currie developed a passion for music at a young age after a relative gave him a guitar. He took music lessons, learned to play the violin and sang in a choir. In the late 1960s he attended a music school and performed in several orchestras. He was initially interested in other classical instruments such as the flute, cello and bassoon.
In 1974 Currie joined the glam rock band Tiger Lily - a short-lived project under this name, but in which three founding members of Ultravox were involved: singer John Foxx (still under his real name Dennis Leigh), bassist Chris Cross and drummer Warren Cann were. From 1977 to 1979 the group released three albums that could be classified as experimental for the time. In 1979 Midge Ure replaced John Foxx as singer, songwriter and guitarist. At the same time, Ure was already working with Currie in the band Visage , which gained international fame especially with the hit Fade to Gray . In the following years Ultravox produced five successful studio albums and reached number two in the British charts with the single of the same name from their debut album Vienna . In 1988 the band broke up and was briefly re-established by Currie in the early 1990s with other musicians. In 2009 and 2010 there were two reunion tours through Great Britain and other European countries with the original line-up. At the end of May 2012, the studio album Brilliant was released.
In addition to his work at Visage, Currie has made several guest appearances with other artists, such as Phil Lynott's solo debut Solo in Soho , Gary Numan's The Pleasure Principle and Steve Howes Turbulence . In 1988 Currie released the first solo album Transportation . Further albums followed under his own label in 2001.
In the early 1980s, Currie played an ARP Odyssey alongside other analog synthesizers . Typical style elements in many arrangements were portamentos and the effective use of the oscillator. He often added solos with the violin or viola to the compositions.
Currie lives in London , is married with a daughter and a son.
Discography (albums)
Ultravox
- 1977: Ultravox!
- 1977: Ha! -Ha! -Ha!
- 1978: Systems of Romance
- 1980: Vienna
- 1981: Rage in Eden
- 1982: Quartet
- 1983: Monument - The Soundtrack
- 1984: Lament
- 1986: U-Vox
- 1991: BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert 1981
- 1993: Revelation
- 1994: Ingenuity
- 1995: Future Picture
- 2010: Return to Eden - Live at the Roundhouse
- 2012: Brilliant
Gary Numan
- 1979: The Pleasure Principle (guest appearance)
- 1981: Living Ornaments '79
Visage
- 1980: Visage
- 1982: The Anvil
- 1984: Beat Boy (guest appearance)
Humania
- 1989: Sinews of the Soul (released 2006)
solo
- 1988: Transportation
- 1990: Stand Up and Walk
- 2001: Unearthed
- 2001: Keys and the Fiddle
- 2002: Push
- 2003: Pieces of the Puzzle
- 2004: Still Movement
- 2007: Accidental Poetry of the Structure
- 2009: Refine
- 2013: Balletic Transcend
- 2016: double
Web links
- Official website
- Billy Currie at Allmusic (English)
- Billy Currie at Discogs (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ ARP Odyssey. In: synthmuseum.com. 2000, accessed April 20, 2009 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Currie, Billy |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Currie, William Lee (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British musician and songwriter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 1, 1950 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Huddersfield , England |