Latest news with #MidgeUre
Irish Independent
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Bob Geldof says there is one thing he is more ‘proud' of than Live Aid 40 years on from benefit concert
©UK Independent Today at 21:30 Bob Geldof has spoken about why he is not 'proud' of the Live Aid concert, stating that it is what came afterwards that he is most 'glad' about. The Dublin rock star, 73, conceived the 1985 major benefit concert together with fellow musician Midge Ure.
The Herald Scotland
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
I was a has-been at 23 says Scots singer behind one of 1980s top tunes
But it all begs the question; at 71 Ure is still young compared to Jagger and Elton and Rod. But what drives the musician to drive around California? 'Well, it's not that I have a proper job,' he says, grinning. Read more Ure did attempt a 'proper job' once upon a time, working as an engineering apprenticeship in East Kilbride. But music was too big a pull. Indeed, the teenage James Ure had 'Clapton is god' stencilled on the back of his dust jacket. 'Yet, the chances of strapping a guitar to your back and developing a career in music were extremely remote,' he recalls. 'The music industry was London or Liverpool centric. Meanwhile, my dad [a van driver] wanted something better for my older brother and I. [Than a bottom flat in a close]. He was being sensible.' Midge Ure took the less sensible route. He joined a band, Salvation, which renamed as Slik, had a No I hit with Forever and Ever, managed by songwriters Bill Martin and Phil Coulter. Ure's experience with the acerbic, egotistical Clydebank-born Martin proved to be a life lesson. Martin once delivered the put-down; 'Midge was good, but not as good as he thought he was.' Bill Martin also decreed that Slik perform his songs. And wouldn't let young Midge play on the record. 'When we talk about Bill Martin, it makes me realise that everything I've done since Slik has been a backlash to Slik,' he reveals. 'I felt I had my 15 minutes [of pop fame] and never got a chance to prove myself. And at 23, I was a has-been. So, I've constantly been trying not to be the pop star, but instead the guy who is interested in record production and new technology - which takes you into weird and wonderful places.' Midge Ure has described his life as running up a down escalator. 1977, he ran towards punk with the Rich Kids, then formed electronic outfit Visage and enjoyed success with two albums and the hit single, Fade to Grey. Yet meantime, he became the frontman with Ultravox. 'When we first went into a studio and plugged in it was the most exciting thing I'd ever done in my life. We had nothing in our pockets. We had no future. But the music we played was phenomenal.' However, the cool Ure head measured expectations. 'We went to America in 1979 to try and get a record deal and one guy interviewed us and complimented us on how well we spoke English. Looking back, I think he thought we were Kraftwerk. What chance had we got?' Read more Pop chart success didn't matter, yet the anthemic single Vienna did chart, reaching No 2. Was the cool head turned a little? 'Oh god, yeah, it's a heady drug fame, isn't it? At one point you are 'Wee Jim,' and then you're 'Midge.' And suddenly you find yourself attractive to the opposite sex. But equally so, you become the target of someone's next punch because his girlfriend fancied you.' Midge Ure's life altered dramatically. Married to model Annabel Giles with a daughter, the family lived in a eight-bedroom house in Chiswick, the garage full of beautiful cars. He bought a house in Montserrat. And a volcano destroyed it. It was a metaphor for how life can blow up in your face. After Ultravox moved away from each other, Ure carved out a solo career but found himself being hounded by the tax man for half a million. Then his marriage broke apart and he found himself with two homes to support.' But one of the cleverest things he had done when the money was coming in was to build a studio in his back garden. 'It was a massive investment, and everyone thought I was crazy, but I knew that record companies drop the moment your last record fails. So, this meant I could keep going.' Ure developed as a solo artist, with hits such as If I Was. And although he loved being in a band, he was at times reluctant to share his visions. He grins. 'It's a real madness. You end up working four times harder to create something. I once spent 12 years making a new record. It's absolutely crazy.' The musician however was more than happy to the Princes Trust Rock Gala band, playing with the likes of Elton and Eric, the guitar god whose name he had on his back.' But hang on; Midge Ure has always been the band leader. How did that dynamic work out? 'On the one hand it was intimidating - to say the least - and how could I be musical director with guys who had outsold me a gazillion times. 'But there's a leveller, and that's the realisation that all these musicians started out the same way as you, playing covers in little local bands. And even if you've got Phil Collins on drums and Mark Knopfler on guitar they don't assume they're The Big I Am.' He grins. 'As for the musical direction in rehearsals, it became about diplomacy.' Did he have to correct Elton at any time? He laughs. 'It was more like 'Elton, could you stop disappearing in between songs for a cup of tea.'' There was another commonality. Every one of these performers had had to battle with their own demons. Having re-married to actor Sheridan Forbes, the couple had three daughters, but Ure too had developed a serious drink problem. It began as recreational fun, a post gig relaxant, but became a next day necessity, then a spiral downwards into the void. It was only when one of his daughters caught him secretly swigging from the vodka bottle that he gave up. Midge Ure in Ultravox (Image: unknown) Ure acknowledges that the extremes we enjoy/endure in life can sometimes fuel the artist. 'Songs don't come from books,' he maintains. 'They come from life. So, I get up in the morning, go to a computer and twiddle knows, rather than drive a baker's van like my dad. For me, it's all about doing something that's real and honest and totally heartfelt.' His politics has become more focused over the years. 'I'm disgusted with humanity. We all are. I was born Protestant and after being in London for years, I came back, and someone asked me what religion my pals in London were. I said I had no idea - and it never struck me to ask. And it made me think that in growing up in an environment like that you ask yourself 'What in the world is going on?' And you look around and you see all these conflicts going on because of religion.' What's apparent is the performer has always been his own, focused, hard grafting man. 'I didn't want to do DJ remixes, for example. Why hand over your work to person who's only knowledge of music is how to put a needle on it? Of course, the result can be the situation where the record label calls and tell you've been dropped can happen. But there's nothing you can do about it. And I didn't take rejections personally.' What's his biggest regret? Is it getting the tense all wrong in the lyric of If I Was? 'You have to blame my pal Danny Mitchell for that,' he smiles. 'He wrote it.' Has there ever been a time he hasn't enjoyed a performance? 'Yes, when I was invited to the girls' school, to play and talk about Band Aid,' he says with a dry smile. 'Watching my kids slide down through the floor in sheer embarrassment was hell.' He's still on the escalator then, ready to play in Glasgow? 'It's not for the money. That's a scarce thing, but it's for the love of it. And if you know how to do it . . .' He laughs. 'And yes, the steps are still there, although like me they move a little slower.' Midge Ure plays Big Nights Out, the Kelvingrove Bandstand, Glasgow, on June 6.
Extra.ie
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
Everything you need to know ahead of summer gigs at St Anne's Park
It's set to be a stunning summer of music, with some of the hottest gigs of the season kicking off across the weekend. St. Anne's Park is one of the venues boasting an impressive lineup this summer, with a handful of major acts taking to the stage in Clontarf. If you're heading for a day of fun in the sun and epic tunes from Friday, here's everything you need to know! It's set to be a stunning summer of music, with some of the hottest gigs of the season kicking off across the weekend. Pic: Mariano Regidor/Redferns Friday May 30th: Inhaler, Blossoms, Gurriers, Scustin Saturday May 31st: The Lumineers, Michael Marcagi Sunday June 1st – Rew!nd: Billy Ocean, The Boomtown Rats, ABC, Matt Goss, Boyzlife, Midge Ure, Tiffany, Toyah, Jerry Fish, Something Happens ABC, Matt Goss, Boyzlife, Midge Ure, Tiffany, Toyah, Jerry Fish, Something Happens Wednesday June 4th – Macklemore, Rudimental, Allie Sherlock Friday June 6th – Stereophonics, James Bay Saturday June 7th – The 2 Johnnies, Vengaboys, Basshunter Sunday June 8th – The Corrs, Imelda May, Natalie Imbruglia St. Anne's Park is one of the venues boasting an impressive lineup this summer, with a handful of major acts taking to the stage in Clontarf. Gates open at 5pm for most gigs, with the shows starting at 6pm. This is except for Rew!nd where gates are 2pm and the first act is 3pm. There is strictly no queuing allowed prior to gates opening. Patrons are advised to allow sufficient time to travel to the event and pass through security checks. If patrons do turn up early they will be turned away at restricted area points around the event site. If you're heading for a day of fun in the sun and epic tunes from Friday, here's everything you need to know! Pic: Anthony Pidgeon/Redferns Due to safety precautions, there are strictly no camping/collapsible chairs/stools permitted on site. Patrons are being advised not to bring large bags/backpacks as they may experience delays or be refused entry. Any items left at entrances/in surrounding areas will also be removed and disposed of accordingly. Bags larger than A4, glass or cans, umbrellas, alcohol, garden furniture, e-scooters and e-bikes, flares, professional cameras and audio recording equipment will not be permitted. Please see full details of prohibited items here. Gates open at 5pm for most gigs, with the shows starting at 6pm. There will be two routes of entry – the BLUE and GREEN route. You may enter through whichever of these is most convenient for you. Please note: both routes require an approximate 1.3km walk from park entrance to concert arena. • GREEN ENTRANCE: Sybil Hill onto main avenue. • BLUE ENTRANCE: All Saints Road, via Tennis court entry. There is no entry or exit from Mount Prospect Avenue. Organisers are advising patrons to book their return travel in advance and to give at least an extra 2 hours travel time to and from the venue. Traffic and parking delays are set to be evident on the day, with patrons being encouraged to walk, cycle, use public transport and private coach services. By DART: The DART will run services to and from the concerts each day. Please alight at HARMONSTOWN DART station. By BUS: Dublin Bus run services that will bring you within walking distance of the concert site. From Abbey St Lower – 6, H1, H2, H3. More info here. There is also no public parking at this event, the car parks in St Anne's are not open to the public during events. There is one box office / guestlist point on the main avenue, adjacent to where the GREEN and BLUE routes meet. Under 16's MUST be accompanied at all times by a Parent/Guardian over 25, who takes full responsibility and remains with them throughout the event. Those under 16 who are unaccompanied will be refused entry without refund. The promoter reserves the right to refuse admission without refund to anyone who fails to comply. Recommended no under 5's. The 2 Johnnies is 14+.
Scottish Sun
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Band Aid legend reveals new fans shocked to discover he's an old guy with a synthesiser
BAND Aid legend Midge Ure has revealed how he hasn't been allowed to Fade to Grey - as new legions of fans keep discovering him through Netflix shows and a No1 video game. The singer songwriter from Cambuslang, Glasgow, has enjoyed a hit-laden career going back to the seventies when his band Silk first topped the charts with Forever and Ever. Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter Sign up 4 Midge back at Wembley for the 40th anniversary of Live Aid. 4 Metal Gear Solid video game creator has been a fan of Midge's for decades. 4 Midge is...
The National
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
Charting protest pop: How music can bring about change
Decrying the effects of deindustrialisation and mass unemployment, Ghost Town by The Specials from Coventry spent three weeks at No 1 in the singles chart in June 1981, just months after the first widespread rioting in inner cities for many decades. The lead singer from The Specials, Terry Hall, then left with two other members of the band, Neville Staple and Lynval Golding, to set up a new group called Fun Boy Three. Later that same year, Fun Boy Three had a Top 20 chart hit with The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum) about Thatcher, the Tories and nuclear war. The Specials continued as the Special AKA, led by its co-founder, Jerry Dammers. In 1984, the band released the single Free Nelson Mandela, written by Dammers. The single entered the Top 10, spending two weeks at No 9. It was, The Guardian, commented 30 years later, 'one of the most effective protest songs in history'. READ MORE: Scottish musician releases single condemning Israel's war crimes in Gaza The Specials and their offspring are just some of the many examples of not just pop becoming patently political but also being prolifically popular, judged by record sales, chart success and airplay. Such songs and others were played on daytime radio like Radio 1 and not just on its specialist late-nights 'ghetto' slots like those of John Peel. The Housemartins from Hull are another obvious example of popular political pop. Both the band's albums – London 0 Hull 4 (1986) and The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death (1987) – made it into the Top 10 of the album charts, and they had two Top 10 singles and four Top 20 singles. On the inner sleeve of the first album, the band declared: 'For too long the ruling class have enjoyed an extended New Year's Eve Party, whilst we can only watch, faces pressed up against the glass. [We] say: 'Don't try gate crashing a party full of bankers. Burn the house down!'.' Along the way, there was The Beat's single, Stand Down Margaret, in 1980, Morrissey's Margaret On The Guillotine in 1988, Elvis Costello's Tramp The Dirt Down in 1989, all about wanting to see Thatcher terminated. The Clash with its lyricist and leader singer, Joe Strummer, was still around, releasing a triple album in 1980 called Sandinista! in tribute to the successful Nicaraguan revolution and which contained tracks like Washington Bullets that condemned American and Russian imperialism. This was followed up by the likes of Know Your Rights (1982) and This Is England (1985) about human rights and deindustrialisation respectively. Of course, the politics of all these political pop lyrics were wide-ranging and left-wing, ranging from radical through to revolutionary. But later the same year as Free Nelson Mandela was in the charts, Midge Ure, of Ultravox fame and from Cambuslang, and Bob Geldof, from Belfast's Boomtown Rats, organised Band Aid, the one-off pop supergroup, which released Do They Know It's Christmas?' Bob Geldof and Midge Ure (Image: Getty Images) It was a desperate attempt to raise money to end the horrendous scenes of mass starvation taking place in Ethiopia at the time. The single made the Christmas No 1 that year, staying there for five weeks, becoming the fastest-selling single of all time in Britain and then went on to sell some three million copies. Band Aid then led to Live Aid, two mass simultaneous hours-long concerts in London and Philadelphia, again to raise money to alleviate the starvation in Ethiopia. In the US, Band Aid and Do They Know It's Christmas? inspired Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie to write and release the single We Are the World in 1985 with an American cast of super-group singers and musicians. With sales in excess of 20 million, it became the eighth-bestselling single of all time, again raising money for the victims of famine in Ethiopia. In 1985, Chris Dean, lyricist and lead singer of the left-wing band The Redskins (more about them later), branded Live Aid – and by implication Band Aid as well – as 'Egos for Ethiopia'' In 1986, anarchist band Chumbawamba released their album, Pictures Of Starving Children Sell Records. The Redskins and Chumbawamba argued such charity initiatives were thoroughly liberal and not left-wing as they not only masked the true causes of the starvation – that is, not a lack of rain – but also were sticking plasters on a gaping, open wound. Indeed, that Do They Know It's Christmas? was deemed to be needed to be released twice again in the next two decades illustrated the point that the effort had not ended hunger and starvation in Africa, nor even looked at its actual underlying causes. Band Aid was, indeed, a Band-Aid (brand) plaster. READ MORE: Israel 'sending soldiers to commit war crimes in Gaza', says former army chief By contrast, and though he'd been part of Band Aid and Live Aid, Paul Weller, previously of The Jam and then The Style Council, put together a group of musicians in late 1984 to raise money for the striking miners so they would not be starved back to work. Called the Council Collective, they released the Soul Deep single, which reached No 24 on the singles chart. This was a more radical move than Band Aid because it meant tackling the Tories on home turf. Weller had form here, whether with calling for a general strike in Trans-Global Express on The Jam's last album, The Gift album of 1982 and pronouncing on Walls Come Tumbling Down from The Style Council's 1985 album, Our Favourite Shop, that 'The class war's real and not mythologised'. During the year-long miners' strike, many bands and artists such as Billy Bragg, The Housemartins, New Model Army, Newtown Neurotics, The Men They Couldn't Hang, The Three Johns as well as The Redskins and Easterhouse played countless benefit gigs to raise money and spirits for the striking miners and their families. Bragg released Between The Wars about the miners' strike in 1985, reaching No 15 in the charts – followed by the likes of There Is Power In A Union from his 1986 album, Talking With The Taxman About Poetry. After the devastating defeat of the miners' strike in March 1985, Bragg and Weller together took the initiative to form Red Wedge, a collective of mainly musicians in support of the Labour Party in the run-up to the 1987 General Election. They organised gigs and meetings. Labour's loss to the Tories again was something of a death knell for popular political pop, with even Bragg mournfully opining on his song, Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards, from his 1988 Workers' Playtime album: 'Mixing pop and politics, he asks me what the use is/I offer him embarrassment and my usual excuses'. Red Wedge (Image: Getty Images) The economic, political and social stimulants to the rise of radical music in the 1980s were not hard to find. High youth unemployment combined with the existing traditions of folk and punk music plus a personalised hatred of Margaret Thatcher were the wellsprings. Punk's DIY ethic also encouraged anyone to pick up a guitar and form a band. This expression through music was facilitated not just by music being the quintessential component of youth culture and youthful rebellion but also by the emergence of independent, progressive record labels like Go! Discs and Rough Trade. There were then far less stringent rules for receiving housing and unemployment benefits which allowed budding musicians to hone their craft without having to undertake paid work. Of course, an unfortunate but equally forceful – if not more forceful – movement in music was the escapism of the 'New Romantics' such as Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet. Surprisingly, the Scottish supply of political pop was slight even though working-class communities in the central belt were equally badly affected by Thatcherism and deindustrialisation. None of the big and medium-sized hitters like Altered Images, The Associates, Aztec Camera, Big Country, Bluebells, Blue Nile, Deacon Blue, Del Amitri, Hipsway, Hue and Cry, the Jesus and Mary Chain, Lloyd Cole and The Commotions, Orange Juice, Primal Scream, Texas, and Wet Wet Wet were known for anything approximating to political pop. This was even though Sharleen Spiteri of Texas said she was inspired by Joe Strummer of The Clash and wanted to do what he did. Where Scotland did contribute was through The Proclaimers with their single Letter From America in 1987 from the This Is The Story album. It reached No 3 with its telling outro refrain about deindustrialisation: 'Bathgate no more/Linwood no more/Methil no more/Irvine no more'. On their next album in 1988, Sunshine On Leith, there was the song Cap In Hand with its key line: 'I can't understand why we let someone else rule our land; cap in hand'. READ MORE: Scottish Labour 'blocking left-wing MSPs from standing' for election The various songs like Belfast Child and Mandela Day from Simple Minds' 1989 album called Street Fighting Years seemed to lack authenticity given the band's previous songs. Though Dick Gaughan, a communist folk singer from Edinburgh, never troubled the charts, his anti-war song, Think Again, of 1983 became well known in the peace movement. There was also anarchist leaning, The Exploited, from Edinburgh whose first two albums – Punks Not Dead and Troops Of Tomorrow – went Top 20. Scotland's only other connection was through UB40 from Birmingham. Taking its name from the Unemployment Benefit, Form 40 needed for signing on for the dole, the band was fronted by the three Campbell brothers. Their hits included Food For Thought (1980) about starvation which reached No 4 and One In Ten (1981) about unemployment which reached No 7. The Scottish connection is that the Campbell brothers' father was communist folk singer Ian Campbell. He helped with the initial lyrical direction of the band. There was, however, no Scottish connection to Easterhouse. The band from Manchester, led by two brothers associated with the Revolutionary Communist Party, took their name from the Glasgow housing scheme as an act of solidarity with the community there. Even though most of the aforementioned bands also wrote love songs, almost all of their political songs only dealt with what was wrong and not how to resolve the situation. The exception was The Redskins. Led by a member of the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party, their lyrics made clear that they believed unequivocally there was one solution, namely, revolution. Their single, Bring It Down (This Insane Thing), reached No 33 in 1985, and the next year, their album, Neither Washington Nor Moscow, reached No 31. Turning to today, is this 40-odd-year-old past all but a foreign country now? There are some songs that still have a resonance today. One, for example, is The The's Heartland from 1986 with its lines, 'Let the poor drink the milk while the rich eat the honey/Let the bums count their blessings while they count their money' and its outro of, 'As the pound in our pocket turns into a dollar/This is the 51st state of the USA'. But what about new and up and coming bands? While there are still some longstanding political bands around making new music like the Manic Street Preachers from Wales, there is a deadly dearth of the new. Bob Vylan, The Idles, Kneecap and Sleaford Mods are four of the relatively more well-known ones, though they are not exactly new. The likes of Joe Solo and Grace Petrie have kept the folk-based tradition of protests songs alive. Of course, existing bands have the potential to produce political music. Billy Bragg puts the dearth of the new down to younger people expressing themselves through other means now like social media. But this is only half the story at best as the reduction in the costs of technology means that it is much cheaper to make and distribute music now (even if it is difficult to make a living from it). There was no great revival of left-wing music under Blair and Brown from 1997 to 2010 because until the tail end of those Labour governments, there was economic growth, increased public spending and some hope. Now with a Starmer-led Labour government, we find ourselves in an altogether different situation. So, with Labour's loveless landslide turning into despair and destitution for many, the tyranny of Trump as well as endless war in Gaza and Ukraine, there's definitely an audience for music that not just attacks what's wrong but also points to the alternatives. Capitalist companies call that a 'gap in market'. We have to hope that we'll soon see an array of new Billy Braggs, Joe Strummers and Paul Wellers for the late 2020s, fired up by the dashed expectations of a Labour government and the mounting anger it is causing. Music cannot change the world in and of itself but it certainly can help change people's consciousness, giving expression to beliefs that provide hope and inspiration. Music that expresses this can reflect a popular mood for radical, left-wing change as well as spurring on those that are organising for that very change.
