Ultravox's Midge Ure tours behind new solo album

February 16, 2015 11:00 pm • Last Updated: February 16, 2015 5:08 pm

By Rick Koster
Day Arts/Features writer

Midge Ure of Ultravox performs in New Haven on Friday night.

He co-wrote one of the biggest-selling songs in UK history, didn't receive a penny in royalties - and is completely happy about it.

Midge Ure is probably best known as the singer-guitarist in Ultravox, the British synthpop band responsible for mainstay '80s New Wave hits such as "Hymn," "Vienna," "Dancing With Tears in My Eyes" and "Reap the Wild Wind." He's also released several hit solo albums, including last year's gorgeously melancholic "Fragile," and also for stints in Thin Lizzy, Visage, and Rich Kids.

The Scottish native, 61, is on a solo acoustic tour behind "Fragile" and performs Friday in New Haven's Cafe 9.

But Ure also happens to be the guy who collaborated with Bob Geldof on "Do They Know It's Christmas?," a tune recorded by a dizzying collective of rock stars called Band Aid that has sold more than 3.75 million copies to benefit famine relief in Ethiopia. Three subsequent versions of the song were also charitable efforts and sold millions, as well. The 1989 and 2004 versions also provided funds for famine relief while the 2014 arrangement raised money for the Ebola crisis in west Africa.

Ure couldn't be prouder of the good works and best intentions spawned of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and its successors, but modestly claims he just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

One night in 1984, as Ultravox released a greatest hits album, Ure was a guest on "The Tube," a popular weekly British music television program. The show was hosted by Paula Yates and, during pre-show rehearsals, she received a phone call from her boyfriend, Bob Geldof, singer of Boomtown Rats. Geldof was extremely upset over reports of famine in Ethiopia and was voicing his concern to Yates. She mentioned that Ure, a mutual friend, was seated next to her.

"It was just fate," says Ure during a call last week from Manhattan. "It just happens that I was on the show that evening. If Spandau Ballet had been on instead, it would have been (Ballet singer) Gary Kemp instead of me. Or whomever. Bob was really worked up and was in that brash, madman mode that we all know and love, and he said, 'We've got to do something!' As I'm the kind of quiet and studious guy, I calmed him down and held him still, so to speak. And since I'm also the guy who knows how to put a record together, by the following Monday we were working on the song."

As for whether Ure plays "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in his Cafe 9 set, well, one never knows. He says part of the fun of doing a solo tour is that he has the freedom to explore his entire and expansive catalog. Each night will include plenty of Ultravox and solo hits, of course, but he loves throwing in deeper cuts that surprise and delight longtime fans. And "Fragile" - with songs such as "Dark Dark Night," "Star Crossed" and "Become" among the best of his career - adds another layer. Ditto for tunes from the unexpected 2012 Ultravox reunion album, "Brilliant," which delighted and surprised fans.

"I'm always juggling a lot of things in life and that's good," Ure says. "It only makes sense that I'd be the same way with music and touring. I just enjoy the whole process of playing for people."

Given that Ultravox was a very synthesizer-happy band, and that Ure as a producer and writer is talented at sculpting complex arrangements and almost cinematic soundscapes, a solo acoustic tour might seem a bit odd in terms of presentation.

"People might think there's something radically different, and hearing the songs stripped-down and bare certainly takes away the original production values," Ure says. "But as a listener the songs are still in your head and so it works in a very different way. I find people like this approach a lot - but it only works in smaller rooms. I call it the 'whites of their eyes' effect. I can be scary - they see and hear warts and all - but there's a lot of intimacy in these situations that's very rewarding."

Ure laughs when discussing "Brilliant" since, only a year before Ultravox recorded the album, he'd gone on record as saying there was zero chance the band would ever make another record.

He says, "Before we made 'Brilliant,' I thought there was no chance we'd ever even TALK together again - much less play together or go in the studio! But sometimes something happens you never expect."

In this case, Live Nation, the concert-events conglomerate, contacted Ultravox and pointed out it was coming up on the 30th anniversary of their iconic "Vienna" album.

"They sent us an email and said, 'If you ever were thinking of doing it again, now's the time.' And, weirdly, I think we all sort of had it in our minds that, after all, it might be fun to get together onstage and play those songs one more time. And we did - and then Universal Records contacted us and offered a record deal. Of course, that made us want to see if, three decades later, we could get together and see if there was still a compositional spark. And it worked."

"Brilliant," as it turned out, cleaved the creative process that was the making of the "Fragile" album. Ure had already been at work on the latest solo project but was having doubts.

"'Fragile' was started years ago but I was having problems with the will and the drive of the process," Ure says. "Basically, I thought I didn't have a place in the industry any more - that our era and way of doing things was over. There was a lot of self doubt. But then the thing with Ultravox happened and we had such fun that it gave me the impetus to finish 'Fragile.' And being on the road and connecting with fans has only made the experience better."

r.koster@theday.com

Twitter: @rickkoster