Midge Ure is a guitarist and singer-songwriter hailing from Lanarkshire, Scotland who was born on October 10th 1953. He is best known as the frontman of Ultravox, and also co-wrote the charity single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” with Bob Geldof, while also fronting a succesful solo career.
Born James Ure to a working class family in Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, Scotland, Midge Ure formed his first band in Glasgow when he was sixteen years old, singing lead vocals in a band called Stumble. They weren’t to last and the group folded in 1971, but they were crucial getting the young Midge (at the time going under the slightly more reasonable name Jim) into Glasgow’s thriving music scene. His first taste of real success would come after he joined the band Salvation in 1972 as a rhythm guitarist, however as there was already a Jim in that band, and seniority taking precedence as it does, Ure was forced to change his name. Stuck for choice, the other Jim simply took Ure’s first name and reversed it, and the moniker he’d perform under for the rest of his career was born.
In 1974, Salvation’s lead singer left the band, and since Ure was the only other member with any experience singing lead vocals, the job fell to him just as they changed their name to Silk, and started working with the Bay City Rollers’ songwriters. Although Ure arguably missed a trick by turning down an offer from Malcolm McLaren to front some bunch of no-hopers called the Sex Pistols, the band scored a number one single in their home land with 1976’s “Forever And Ever”. However, Silk’s boyband image was starting to look ridiculous thanks to the rising punk rock movement, and despite an attempt from the band to adapt to the times, Ure left the band in 1977. After that, Ure worked as a jobbing guitarist, first for Glen Matlock’s Rich Kids, then Steve Strange’s Visage, and he even enjoyed a brief stint playing in Thin Lizzy. However, Ure’s fortunes changed in 1980, when he joined the band Ultravox, the main project of Billy Currie, who Ure had met while playing in Visage.
Ultravox were all but dead before Ure joined, having been going on since 1973 under different names and with another frontman, but Ure revitalised the band. By 1981 they had scored a number 2 hit single in the form of “Vienna”, a track that would go on to be the fifth best-selling single in the U.K of that whole year. The band spent the early to mid-1980s as one of the biggest New Wave bands in the U.K, constantly scoring huge hit singles and albums, but after the Band Aid project in 1984, the band went on hiatus and Ure began a solo career in 1985. It was an immediate success, with Ure scoring a number one single right off the bat in the form of his debut solo single “The Gift”. In light of this Ultravox split in 1987 and Ure focused on his solo career, which is going strong to this very day. For being one of the biggest names in British music throughout the 1980’s, and then continuing that success with a solo career that well and truly lives up to his golden years, Midge Ure comes highly recommended.
Noah Kahan
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