Midge Ure

Born in Cambuslang near Glasgow, Scotland, Midge Ure first came to attention in the 1970s as a member of Slik and later Rich Kids, before joining the New Romantic scene with Visage, where he co-wrote “Fade to Grey”. When he joined Ultravox at the end of the decade, Ure helped steer the band toward a synthetic, melodic and taut new wave sound that sat between synth-pop, post-punk and art rock, giving as much prominence to electronic textures as to guitars. With Ultravox he is associated with songs such as “Vienna”, “Hymn” and “Dancing with Tears in My Eyes”. His path also crossed Thin Lizzy: he accompanied them on tour and collaborated with Phil Lynott, notably on “Yellow Pearl”. As a solo artist Ure developed a more introspective songwriting approach on The Gift (1985), Answers to Nothing (1988), Pure (1991), Breathe (1996), Move Me (2000), 10 (2008), Fragile (2014) and Orchestrated (2017). His career has alternated between band tours, acoustic formats and projects with Band Electronica. Midge Ure also co-wrote and produced “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” with Bob Geldof and was involved in organising Band Aid, Live Aid and Live 8.