Published on October 19th, 2021 | by Darren Paltrowitz
0Midge Ure On His Upcoming U.S. Tour Dates, In-Progress Albums, His New York History & More
Singer, songwriter and producer Midge Ure may be best known as the leader of Ultravox, which had big hits in the early 1980s with “No Regrets” and “If I Was. But Ure’s success as a musician came long before Ultravox, as he had a U.K. #1 single with Slik in 1976, as followed by time spent with punk pioneers Rich Kids. Life before Ultravox also included writing and performing with Thin Lizzy, in addition to work forming the group Visage, which itself had a hit with “Fade To Grey.”
Concurrent with Ure’s success with Ultravox was co-writing the Band Aid charity staple “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” with Bob Geldof. Ure and Geldof also worked together to co-organize the Live Aid concert in 1985; he also worked on the subsequent Live 8 gathering in 2005. Regular philanthropic efforts — including serving as Musical Director at The Prince’s Trust concerts — are likely why Midge Ure would not only earn multiple honorary doctorates, but also an Order Of The British Empire.
Midge Ure returns to North America this month for his Un-Zoomed & Face To Face Tour including several new dates in California. The trek will see Midge playing solo-acoustic versions of songs from his vast career including Ultravox, Visage, Thin Lizzy and his solo albums. The last time Ure toured the States was in early 2020 with his one-man Songs, Questions & Answers tour. Meanwhile, Ure is now working on 3 albums including a follow-up to Fragile, an Orchestrated Pt. 2 and an instrumental album.
On October 19, 2021, I had the pleasure of speaking with Midge Ure via Zoom, as embedded below. More on Ure, including his upcoming tour dates, can be found by clicking here, here, here and here.