Midge Ure

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Midge Ure (2011)

James "Midge" Ure , OBE (born October 10, 1953 in Cambuslang , Lanarkshire , Scotland ; real name James Ure ) is a British rock music - guitarist and singer-songwriter . He celebrated his greatest successes as a singer with the new wave band Ultravox and as a solo artist from 1980 to 1985. Together with Bob Geldof , he founded the Band Aid aid project in 1984 and organized the benefit concerts Live Aid and Live 8 . His best-known songs include Fade to Gray (with Visage ), Vienna and Dancing with Tears in My Eyes (with Ultravox), Do They Know It's Christmas? (with Band Aid) and If I Was (solo). Ure has received several awards and honorary doctorates for his social commitment.

Career

James Ure grew up in simple circumstances in a suburb of Glasgow . He attended Cambuslang Primary School and the Rutherglen Academy there. When he was ten years old, his parents gave him his first guitar. His first electric guitar was a used Fender Stratocaster . His musical influences at the time were the Small Faces and The Yardbirds . In addition to training as a locksmith in East Kilbride , he played guitar in the local Glasgow band Stumble. He broke off his training at the age of 19 to become a professional musician.

Previously a band member

In 1972 he began his professional career in the hard rock band Salvation , which renamed itself Slik in 1975 after a musical reorientation to teen pop . He was initially a guitarist and after Kevin McGinlay's departure from April 1974 also a singer. The band attracted Bill Martin and Phil Coulter , who signed Slik with Polydor and created a Glasgow alternative to the Bay City Rollers from Edinburgh from the band . Martin and Coulter wrote and produced the songs. In contrast to the Bay City Rollers' tartan outfits , Slik appeared in US college clothes and with short hairstyles . Ure had his first television appearance with Slik on New Year's Day 1976 on the British show Top Of The Pops . On Valentine's Day 1976, Slik pushed ABBA's Mamma Mia from the top of the UK charts with Forever and Ever ; Ure had his first national number one hit at the age of 22 .

In 1975, after Warwick Nightingale's expulsion , Malcolm McLaren courted Ure as a singer and guitarist for the then unnamed Sex Pistols , which Ure turned down due to his obligations with Slik. Frustrated by teen pop, Ure joined the power pop formation Rich Kids , who were under contract with EMI , in 1977 through the mediation of Caroline Coon from Melody Maker and the invitation of ex-Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock . It was there that Ure gained his first experience with synthesizers . Matlock and Ure did not get along artistically, so that Ure left the band in December 1978 after only one year and one album to pursue the idea of ​​electronically influenced pop music with the drummer of the Rich Kids, Rusty Egan. He worked with Egan on songs for a synthesizer pop band during the unused studio hours of the Rich Kids and recorded the Zager & Evans hit " In the Year 2525 ".

Due to his friendship with Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy , he jumped in the summer of 1979 for Gary Moore , who had left shortly before, on the US tour and some concerts of hard rockers in Asia and wrote Get Out Of Here for the album Black Rose . For the Thin Lizzy sampler The Continuing Saga of the Aging Orphans , he played guitar on some of the songs. Together with Lynott, he composed the piece Yellow Pearl in 1980 , which served for several years as the theme song for the English TV music program Top of the Pops .

Midge Ure at a concert with Ultravox (1984)

After a short guest appearance with the British band Misfits, Ure founded the new romantic band Visage in 1978 together with Rusty Egan , his former bandmate at Rich Kids and Steve Strange . He was also the co-producer of the project, for whose global hit Fade to Gray he contributed the lyrics in 1980 - including “  Devenir gris  ” as the French translation of the song title. At the age of 28, he reached the top of the charts outside of Great Britain, including in Germany, where the single and the debut album Visage were each awarded a gold record . Through the Visage project he came into contact with Billy Currie from Ultravox . In April 1979 Ure joined the New Wave band and replaced John Foxx , who was aiming for a solo career, as singer and songwriter. With Midge Ure as singer, songwriter, guitarist and keyboardist, Ultravox achieved its commercial breakthrough at Chrysalis Records in 1980 . The most famous hits included Vienna , Hymn and Dancing with Tears in My Eyes . At Ultravox he worked with the successful producers Conny Plank ( Krautrock ) and George Martin ( The Beatles ).

Since then, Ure has not only worked as a musician, but also as a producer and director of music videos. He has produced for Visage and Ultravox, Phil Lynott and Steve Harley of Cockney Rebel , among others, and has directed music videos for Ultravox, Fun Boy Three and Bananarama . In 1982 he published his first solo work, a version of the Tom Rush hit No Regrets , with which the Walker Brothers were already successful in 1975. In 1984 Ure wrote the band aid world hit Do They Know It's Christmas? With Bob Geldof . , which is one of the best-selling singles in Great Britain and which he produced with Trevor Horn . Ure was involved in the preparations for the first Live Aid concert in 1985 at London's Wembley Stadium, where he performed with both Ultravox and the All-Star band.

Career as a solo artist

While still a member of Ultravox, Ure set up his own recording studio, the Musicfest Studio in Chiswick , where he lived at the time. There he recorded his self-produced first solo album The Gift with the hits If I Was and That Certain Smile in 1985 . Ure composed the songs together with Danny Mitchell, who had already supported Ultravox as an additional band member on the tours. As guest musicians, Mark King from Level 42 (bass), Mark Brzezicki from Big Country (drums) and Kenny Hyslop from Slik (drums) and Nigel Ross-Scott from Re-Flex (bass) recorded some songs. Ure covered the debut album Living in The Past by Jethro Tull and dedicated the title track to Charles Rennie Mackintosh . After the publication of U-Vox in 1986 and the tour of the same name, Ultravox officially dissolved two years later. Ures second solo LP Answers (Answers to Nothing) was released in 1988, again with prominent guest musicians such as Mark King, Mark Brzezicki, Mick Karn from Japan and Robin and Ali Campbell from UB40 and also included a duet with Kate Bush with Sister and Brother . Recorded again in his own London studio and produced by himself, this time nine of the ten songs came from his pen. In 1990 the video cassette Answers - A Musical Biography was released , consisting of an interview with Ure and comments by George Martin, Bob Geldof, Phil Collins and other artists with whom he had worked over the past 15 years. The tape also contained clips from 16 music videos since joining Slik. He wrote the song Come the Day for the film The Class of 1999 with Malcolm McDowell and Stacy Keach .

After changing the record label, Ure released the single Cold Cold Heart and the album Pure on Arista Records in 1991 , neither of which reached high chart positions. In addition to Mark Brzezicki, Josh Phillips-Gorse from Diamond Head on the Mellotron and Paddy Moloney from the Chieftains on the bagpipes and flute were also guest musicians . In addition to Ure, Danny Mitchell and background singer Kate Stephenson were also involved in the compositions. Ure also produced this album himself, which was recorded in his Musicfest studios in Chiswick and Montserrat. In 1992 he contributed the title theme to the Playboy Late Night Show . In 1995 he wrote the song My Wonderful Friends for the animated film The Adventures of Mole and Trail of Tears for the film The thing with the women (The Pompatus of Love, directed by and starring Jon Cryer ). The song Breathe from the 1996 album of the same name gained international popularity two years later with the help of a Swatch TV commercial. The album, produced by Dave Stewart under the pseudonym Richard Feldman, again featured numerous popular guest musicians: Robert Fripp (guitar), Paddy Moloney (bagpipes), David Palmer from ABC (drums), Eric Bazilian from the Hooters (mandolin), Shankar ( Vocals, violin), Liam O'Maonlai from the Hothouse Flowers (vocals, bodhrán ) and Eleanor McEvoy (vocals).

In 1998 he turned back to film music and wrote the soundtrack for the film Went To Coney Island (again by and with Jon Cryer). 2001 the album Move me (Hypertension Music) as well as the studio album Little Orphans and several live CDs, which are only available on his homepage, were released. On April 20, 2001, he performed an acoustic version of the 1966 Small Faces hit My Mind's Eye (published on Mustn't Grumble ) at the memorial concert for Steve Marriott at the Astoria, London . In October 2004 his autobiography was published with the title If I was… .

In December 2005 Midge Ure was represented at the Night of the Proms project together with Roger Daltrey ( The Who ), Manfred Mann , John Miles and other well-known artists and played some of his greatest successes in a new guise with orchestral accompaniment. With his releases Duet and Move me + (re-release) he was touring in smaller clubs alternately in Great Britain and Germany on his solo acoustic tour from autumn 2005 to spring 2008 .

On his 55th birthday, October 10, 2008, his album 10 ( Ten ) was released in Germany , with which Ure fulfilled a long-cherished heart's desire: He covered songs that had a formative influence on his personal musical development. However, it was not the big hits of other bands, but rather lesser known, quieter songs that Midge Ure reinterpreted. So 10 is not a typical Midge-Ure album, but rather a musical retrospective of his musical life.

In late 2008, Ultravox announced a comeback in the 1980s line-up with Ure, Billy Currie, Chris Cross and Warren Cann. The subsequent reunion tour Return to Eden led in the spring of 2009 and 2010 through Great Britain and other European countries, including Germany and Switzerland. The band also took part in several open air festivals in England, Belgium and Sweden. In May 2012 the studio album Brilliant was released.

Due to Steve New's cancer, Ure and his former band Rich Kids gave a charity concert on January 7, 2010 at the O2 in Islington. Steve New succumbed to cancer on May 24, 2010.

In spring 2016 Midge Ure will tour Germany with "Rock Meets Classic".

social commitment

Midge Ure (2004)

Midge Ure is a founding member, along with Bob Geldof, of the Band Aid Trust , which was originally set up to alleviate hunger in Ethiopia. He organized the concerts Live Aid (Motto: “ Feed The World ”) in 1985 in London and 20 years later Live 8 (Motto: “ Make Poverty History ”) in Edinburgh.

From 1986 to 1988 he was the musical director of concerts for the Prince's Trust , a Prince of Wales charitable organization that supports disadvantaged youth and young adults.

On June 11, 1988, he campaigned for the later South African President Nelson Mandela to be released and took part in the benefit concert in London on the occasion of the 70th birthday of the ANC leader, who was then imprisoned .

Midge Ure is an ambassador for Save the Children . In this capacity he has traveled to Ethiopia and Sierra Leone in recent years.

He is involved with Nordoff Robbins , a music therapy organization .

Awards

Numerous singles and albums in which Midge Ure was involved received silver, gold or platinum status.

For the song Do They Know It's Christmas , Bob Geldof and Ure received the Ivor Novello Award and the Special BRIT Award, respectively .

In 1986 Ure was nominated for the BRIT Award for Best British Male.

In 1988, Ure received the Grammy for Best Concert Music Video as Musical Director of the Prince's Trust Concerts .

In 2005, Midge Ure was raised to the nobility by Elisabeth II in recognition of his services to music and Africa aid. The Queen appointed him Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) . Ure therefore does not have a sir in front of his name, while Geldof as Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) has been addressed as Sir Bob since his nobility , although as an Irish citizen he is also not entitled to the sir in front of his name.

In the same year Ure received an honorary doctorate in the arts from Abertay University in Dundee for his 30 years of artistic work and social commitment.

In the summer of 2006, the University of Edinburgh awarded him an honorary doctorate in music for his special services to British pop music.

In 2007 he was awarded his third honorary doctorate by Paisley University for his contribution to Scottish culture and social engagement.

The fourth Dr. He received hc from the University of Glasgow in November 2008 for his musical and humanitarian achievements.

The fifth honor followed in December 2010 from the University of Bath , which awarded him an honorary doctorate in law.

In 2010 he became Companion of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts .

In 2015 he and Bob Geldof received the Ivor Novello Award in the category The Ivors Special Anniversary Award for working together on the Band Aid projects.

Private

Midge Ure (2014)

The name Midge comes from the time before Slik , where Jim McGinley played alongside Jim Ure. In order to avoid confusion with first names, Ure turned his first name around at the suggestion of Kevin McGinlay in 1972; from Jim was Mij respectively Midge .

As a car collector, he owned numerous Willys jeeps in the 1980s .

He owned a house on the Caribbean island of Montserrat that was devastated by a volcanic eruption in 1995. George Martin also operated his second AIR studio on the island until it was destroyed by Hurricane Hugo in 1989 .

Ure is a dry alcoholic .

In addition to music, Midge Ure likes to cook. He appeared on the English celebrity cooking show Celebrity Masterchef in 2007 and reached the final round.

In June 2011 he appeared in the British entertainment series Popstar to Operastar , sang the aria Questa O Quella (Eng. Whether this or that) from the first act of Verdi's Rigoletto as Duke of Mantua , but lost just under Melody Thornton in the jump-off and divorced in the first round.

Midge Ure has been married to Sheridan Forbes for the second time since 2003. His first marriage to British actress and TV presenter Annabel Giles, whom he met while filming the video Lament by Ultravox in 1984 and got married on December 30, 1985 in Montserrat, was divorced in 1989. From this marriage comes his daughter Molly McQueen (* 1987), former singer of the band The Faders, which dissolved in 2006 . Ure lives with his second wife and three daughters in Box near Bath in south-west England.

In 2014 he brought his autobiography "If I Was" up to date. As someone who likes to push the limits of technology, he brought it out as an audio book with over 13 hours of material in the form of a USB flash drive card.

Discography

Main articles: Ultravox / Discography , Visage , Slik and Rich Kids

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)
Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
1985 The Gift DE28 (10 weeks)
DE
- - UK2
gold
gold

(15 weeks)UK
-
First published: October 1985
1988 Answers to Nothing - - - UK30 (3 weeks)
UK
US88 (16 weeks)
US
First published: September 1988
1991 Pure - - - UK36 (2 weeks)
UK
-
First published: September 1991
1996 Breathe DE63 (6 weeks)
DE
AT10 (15 weeks)
AT
CH22 (7 weeks)
CH
UK95 (1 week)
UK
-
First published: June 1996
2000 Move Me - - - - -
First published: September 2000
2008 10 - - - - -
First published: September 2008
2014 Fragile - - - UK66 (1 week)
UK
-
First published: July 2014
2017 Orchestrated - - - UK33 (2 weeks)
UK
-
First published: December 2017

Live albums

  • 1999: Live in Concert
  • 2001: A Glorious Noise - Breathe Live
  • 2002: Intimate Moments (2 CDs; recording: Tour 2002)
  • 2002: One Night in Scotland - Nov 21st 1988
  • 2002: Once Upon a Time in America (CD + DVD)
  • 2004: Septemberfest Official Bootleg
  • 2004: If I Was - Sampled, Looped & Trigger Happy on Tour (DVD)
  • 2005: Re * Live - Sampled, Looped & Trigger Happy on Tour (CD)
  • 2005: Hammer Summer 2005 (DVD)
  • 2006: Duet with Troy Donockley
  • 2007: A Live Christmas Gift
  • 2008: Intimate Moments 2 (CD + DVD)
  • 2013: Live in Chicago
  • 2015: Breathe Again: Live and Extended

further live contributions

  • 1985: Live Aid
  • 1987: The Prince's Trust 10th Anniversary Birthday Party (CD; reissued in 1989 and supplemented as The Royal Concert , 2 CD)
  • 2005: Live 8 (DVD)
  • 2005: Night of the Proms Vol. 12 (CD)
  • 2010: Schiller - Breathless (DVD + 2 CD) / Breathless Live (2 CD) / Lichtblick (2 DVD + CD)
  • 2014: Schiller - Symphonia (Blu-ray / DVD + 2 CD)

Compilations

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)
Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
1993 If I Was - The Very Best of Midge Ure & Ultravox - - - UK10
silver
silver

(6 weeks)UK
-
with Ultravox
2001 The Very Best of
Midge Ure & Ultravox
- - - UK45 (2 weeks)
UK
-
with Ultravox
2019 Soundtrack: 1978-2019 - - - UK75 (1 week)
UK
-

More compilations

  • 1997: If I Was
  • 2000: No Regrets
  • 2004: Finest (with Ultravox)
  • 2009: Pure + Breathe… Plus (2 CDs)
  • 2013: The Works (2 CDs)

Singles

year Title
album
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)
Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
1982 No regrets - - - UK9 (10 weeks)
UK
-
First published: May 1982
1983 After a fashion - - - UK39 (4 weeks)
UK
-
First published: June 1983
with Mick Karn
1985 If I Was
The Gift
DE2 (15 weeks)
DE
AT6 (10 weeks)
AT
CH16 (7 weeks)
CH
UK1
silver
silver

(14 weeks)UK
-
First published: September 2, 1985
That Certain Smile
The Gift
DE54 (5 weeks)
DE
- - UK28 (4 weeks)
UK
-
First published: November 1985
1986 Wastelands
The Gift
- - - UK46 (3 weeks)
UK
-
First published: January 1986
Call of the Wild
The Gift
- - - UK27 (8 weeks)
UK
-
First published: June 1986
1988 Answers to Nothing
Answers to Nothing
- - - UK49 (4 weeks)
UK
-
First published: August 1988
Dear God
Answers to Nothing
- - - UK55 (4 weeks)
UK
US95 (5 weeks)
US
First published: November 1988
1991 Cold, Cold Heart
Pure
DE47 (10 weeks)
DE
AT26 (2 weeks)
AT
- UK17 (7 weeks)
UK
-
First published: August 1991
1996 Breathe
Breathe
DE12 (19 weeks)
DE
AT1
platinum
platinum

(16 weeks)AT
CH17 (23 weeks)
CH
UK70 (1 week)
UK
-
First published: March 1996
2007 Personal Heaven
Lost in Paradise
DE64 (2 weeks)
DE
- - - -
First release: March 2007
X-Perience feat. Midge Ure
2009 The Voice
Volume 10
DE71 (3 weeks)
DE
- - - -
First release: August 2009
The Disco Boys feat. Midge Ure

More singles

  • 2000: You Move Me
  • 2000: We Came to Dance (Tron feat.Midge Ure)
  • 2001: Beneath a Spielberg Sky
  • 2006: Alone
  • 2008: Two
  • 2014: Taking Back My Time (with Stephen Emmer)
  • 2014: Become
  • 2015: Dark Dark Night (Midge Ure feat.Moby )

literature

  • Robin Eggar: Midge Ure, If I Was… The Autobiography . Virgin Books, 2005, ISBN 0-7535-1077-4 (British English, 288 pages).

swell

  1. Midge Ure on the British television program This Is Your Life . The guitar cost two pounds sterling back then.
  2. In his autobiography he mentions that the Fender cost 110 British pounds. Ure disassembled it, sanded off the paint, put it back together and traded it in for a £ 180 semi-acoustic Gibson 330, which he would otherwise not have been able to afford and which he also sanded down the paint. Eggar, pp. 18-19
  3. "The Small Faces were without doubt my favorite band during my early teens." Liner notes for album 10 , on which Ure covers My Mind's Eye .
  4. Interview in the Daily Express of June 13, 2001. Ure earned six pounds sterling a week.
  5. Eggar, p. 35
  6. He was approached on the street by Bernie Rhodes, who later became the manager of the Clash. Eggar, p. 30
  7. Eggar, p. 51
  8. Eggar, p. 55
  9. He heard the song on his first TV appearance on New Year's Day 1975 on Top Of The Pops. Eggar, p. 36
  10. The Midge Ure Interview. (PDF: 24.7 MB) In: Extreme Voice No. 18. Ultravox Official Website, 1999, p. 27 , accessed on October 3, 2012 (English).
  11. ^ Midge Ure on our campaign to make healthcare free. (No longer available online.) In: SaveTheChildren.org.uk. October 17, 2007, archived from the original on November 6, 2009 ; accessed on November 8, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.savethechildren.org.uk
  12. Geldof confirms G8 summit concert. BBC, May 26, 2005, accessed November 8, 2009 .
  13. ^ The BRIT Awards - Midge Ure. (No longer available online.) BRIT Awards, archived from the original on November 20, 2010 ; Retrieved October 30, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.brits.co.uk
  14. ^ The University of Edinburgh. Honorary degrees 2005/2006. University of Edinburgh, July 21, 2008, accessed November 8, 2009 .
  15. ^ Honorary Doctors of the University of Paisley. (PDF: 22 kB) (No longer available online.) University of the West of Scotland, 2009, archived from the original on July 15, 2014 ; accessed on October 3, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.uws.ac.uk
  16. Annual Review 2008. (PDF: 4.8 MB) (No longer available online.) Glasgow Caledonian University, 2008, formerly in the original ; accessed on October 3, 2012 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.gcu.ac.uk  
  17. ^ Singer Midge Ure to receive honorary degree in Bath. BBC, December 14, 2010, accessed December 15, 2010 .
  18. ^ LIPA Companions. (No longer available online.) Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, archived from the original on February 17, 2013 ; accessed on August 5, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lipa.ac.uk
  19. Ivor Novello Awards: Midge Ure and Annie Lennox among guests to be honored at glitzy ceremony. Daily Record, May 21, 2015, accessed May 22, 2015 .
  20. Kevin McGinlay: Salvation - The Early Years. (No longer available online.) In: kevinmcginlay.com. Archived from the original on February 26, 2009 ; Retrieved January 4, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kevinmcginlay.com
  21. Cornelia Fuchs: What does Midge Ure actually do? (No longer available online.) In: Stern.de. December 21, 2006, archived from the original on April 22, 2010 ; Retrieved November 8, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stern.de
  22. Rachel Tarley: Popstar To Operastar: Midge Ure booted off by Katherine Jenkins. (No longer available online.) In: metro.co.uk. June 5, 2011, archived from the original on August 21, 2011 ; Retrieved July 19, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.metro.co.uk
  23. Eggar, p. 96
  24. a b c Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
  25. Gold / platinum databases: AT UK

Web links

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