Midge Ure

Jim ‘Midge’ Ure OBE was born in Cambuslang, and is a guitarist, singer, keyboard player and songwriter. He is best known for co-writing and producing Do They Know It’s Christmas?, for which he received two Ivor Novello awards, and co-organising Band Aid, Live Aid and Live 8 with Bob Geldof.

Ure has played in a number of bands over the years, starting with ‘Stumble’ after he left school. He changed his name to Midge (his name, phonetically backwards), to avoid confusion with the ‘other Jim’, bass guitarist Jim McGinlay is his second band, Salvation in 1972. They changed their name to Slik and Ure became the lead singer. He turned down an offer to become the lead singer of the Sex Pistols to stay with the band, and Slik rose in popularity reaching number one in the UK singles chart in 1976; Ure left the band one year later and moved to London to join former Sex Pistol Glen Matlock in The Rich Kids. Three years later, Ure joined Thin Lizzy, replacing Gary Moore for the Black Rose album, but left only a year later for Ultravox.

In 1984, he wrote Do They Know It’s Christmas? with Bob Geldof for Band Aid in response to the famine in Ethiopia. The single and the ensuing Band Aid concerts still resound as a symbol of the 1980s and many stars of pop and rock became involved including Duran Duran, George Michael, Boy George, Sting, Spandau Ballet, U2, Phil Collins and Status Quo. BBC Radio 1 played the song every hour, and was the biggest selling UK single until Elton John’s Candle in the Wind  in 1997.

It's twelve noon in London, seven AM in Philadelphia, and around the world it's time for: Live Aid

Live Aid was held on 13 July 1985, with simultaneous concerts in London and Philadelphia and other concerts in Sydney, Cologne, the Hague and Moscow, was one of the largest scale satellite link ups of all time, with an estimated 2 billion viewers in 60 countries raising an estimated £150 million. Artists who participated included Status Quo, Elvis Costello, Sting, Queen, U2, Elton John, The Who, George Michael, Paul McCartney, Bryan Adams, Madonna, The Beach Boys, Simple Minds, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins (who played in both London and Philadelphia after flying by Concorde between performances), Lionel Richie, Tina Turner, Led Zepellin and Mick Jagger.

Ure has received honorary degrees from the universities of Abertay, Edinburgh, Paisley and Glasgow Caledonian for his achievements, and is an ambassador for Save the Children.