Midge Ure

James "Midge" Ure (born 10 October 1953) is a Scottish musician, singer-songwriter and record producer.

His stage name, Midge, is a phonetic reversal of Jim, a hypocorism of his given name.

He started playing music in a Glasgow band called Stumble (c.1969 – c.1971): the line-up included lead guitarist Alan Wright, Fraser Spiers on harmonica, Kenny Ireland on bass and Alec Baird on drums.

Ure enjoyed particular success in the 1970s and 1980s in bands including Slik, Thin Lizzy, Rich Kids and Visage, and as the second frontman of Ultravox.

The band had been formed in Glasgow in June 1970 by the brothers Kevin (vocals) and Jim McGinlay (bass guitar).

Jim McGinlay (born James McGinlay) decided to turn Ure's name backwards to "Mij" (Midge) to avoid any confusion caused by two members of the band having the same first name.

Ure has since presented himself in the music scene as Midge Ure.

The band performed covers as house band in the Glasgow and Edinburgh Clouds discothèques.

The band also comprised Billy McIsaac on keyboards and Kenny Hyslop on drums.

Ure joined Salvation as a guitarist in 1972.

In April 1974, Kevin McGinlay left to pursue a solo career, so Ure assumed vocals in addition to his guitar duties.

In November 1974, the band changed its name to Slik, with Bay City Rollers writers Bill Martin and Phil Coulter providing songs.

In 1975 Ure turned down an offer to be the lead vocalist of the Sex Pistols, stating that he felt at the time that Malcolm McLaren had "his priorities completely wrong!", a position he later reversed.

Slik achieved a number one single on the UK Singles Chart in February 1976 with "Forever and Ever".

In early 1977, Jim McGinlay decided to quit the band, being replaced by Russell Webb.

Slik terminated their contract with Martin and Coulter, believing that their boy band image was hindering their chances of success during the rising punk rock scene.

They changed their name to PVC2 and adopted a more punkish style.

Ure's only release with the band under this name was the single "Put You in the Picture".

By October 1977, Ure had left PVC2 to join former Sex Pistol bass guitarist Glen Matlock in Rich Kids.

He moved to London and soon found himself immersed in a scene he had previously only read about in the pages of the NME.

Musical tensions within the band led to Ure's departure.

Having acquired a Yamaha CS50 synthesiser, Ure – alongside bandmate Rusty Egan – wanted to integrate the new instrument into the band's sound.

With Glen Matlock and Steve New preferring to remain with the traditional guitars and drums approach, the band broke up.

In 1978, Egan and Ure formed Visage with lead vocalist Steve Strange, and utilised their new synthesiser when they recorded a cover of the Zager and Evans classic "In the Year 2525" for promotional purposes.

Ure is the producer and writer of several other synth-pop and new wave hit singles of the 1980s, including "Fade to Grey" (1980) by Visage and the Ultravox signature songs "Vienna" (1980), "Hymn" (1983) and "Dancing with Tears in My Eyes" (1984).

He also co-wrote Phil Lynott's "Yellow Pearl", which served as the theme of Top of the Pops for much of the 1980s.

Born to a working-class family in Cambuslang (on the outskirts of Glasgow), Ure attended Rutherglen Academy until he was 15 years old.

For the first 10 years of his life he lived in a one-bedroom tenement flat in Cambuslang with his brother, sister and parents, later moving to a new house in nearby Eastfield.

After leaving school, Ure attended Motherwell Technical College and then began to work as an engineer, training at the National Engineering Laboratory (NEL) in nearby East Kilbride.

He achieved his first UK top 10 solo hit in 1982 with "No Regrets".

In 1984, he co-wrote and produced the charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?", which has sold 3.7 million copies in the UK.

The song is the second-highest-selling single in UK chart history.

Ure co-organised Band Aid, Live Aid and Live 8 with Bob Geldof.

He acts as a trustee for the charity and also serves as an ambassador for Save the Children.

In 1985, his solo debut studio album The Gift reached number two in the UK Albums Chart and yielded the UK Singles Chart number-one single "If I Was".

In January 2010, Rich Kids reformed, for one night only, for a benefit concert for guitarist Stella Nova who was fighting terminal cancer (and who died on 24 May 2010).

Although it had been over 30 years since they played together, the press reports praised the gig, which included energetic performances of "Ghosts of Princes in Towers" and "Hung on You".

Rich Kids were joined onstage by Mick Jones of the Clash and Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet.

Ure also played an acoustic set of Ultravox and Visage songs.

In February 2016, it was announced that Rich Kids would reform for a joint headline show with the Professionals at London's O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire.