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Midge Ure the autobiography - by the man himself and collaborator Robin Eggar.

Midge Ure: If I Was... - The Autobiography

With Live Aid just out on DVD and CD, now seems as good a time as ever for the man who wrote the fund-raisers song to set the record straight on a career in pop.

"All day I felt I was suffocating, as if every breath I took was first sucked through a giant pillow; my throat was parched dry. It was baking hot but not the humid heat of a beach holiday. In Ethiopia the ground was completely devoid of liquid, a dust bowl where the sun had sucked up every last drop of moisture and drunk it dry.

"The earth was that distinctive orange-red colour, dry and dusty. Passing trucks kicked up the fine dust particles which drifted through the air like a swarm of desiccated insects until they settled on people, covering their bodies like a shroud."

– From In Ethiopia, Chapter 16, Midge Ure: If I Was...The Autobiography.

He wrote the signature tune for Live Aid, was the lead singer of one of the most influential bands of the 80's enjoying massive chart success, wrote the huge Visage hit Fade to Grey, and has enjoyed a highly successful career as a music video director. Midge Ure is one of the most original and innovative musicians to emerge in the past 25 years.

New Romance

Of all the artists who came out of the 1980's New Romantic movement, Midge Ure has arguably had the most varied and interesting career of all. Since beginning his career he has sold 20 million records, and picked up Ivor Novello, Grammy, BASCAP awards along with a flotilla of gold and platinum records. By the time the single If I Was smashed into the charts – reaching number one in 1985 - he had already crammed several musical lifetimes into a 10 year professional career - Slik, The Rich Kids, Thin Lizzy, Visage, Ultravox and of course the most famous one-off group in musical history Band Aid had by then all had the guiding hand of Ure's musical navigation. Midge Ure has produced records for Phil Lynott, Steve Harley and countless others and video directed memorable hits by the Fun Boy Three, Bananarama and others.

Midge Ure was also integral to two of music's most historic moments: Band Aid and Live Aid. He wrote Do They Know It's Christmas with former Boomtown Rat - now, famously a Sir - Bob Geldof (a man still involved in campaigning ventures, who recently appeared at the 46664 event in aid of African HIV awareness, and on the accompanying album).

Band Aid

On Band Aid, Midge Ure supervised the crucial 24 hours that were the only time available to record the single, alongside 36 of the biggest artists of the 1980s - and he produced the single too! He says: "We had four weeks left before Christmas, but just one week to get this song written, recorded, mixed, pressed and into the shops.” That single – complete with a scrambled together b-side, featuring a partial instrumental of the a-side, combined with messages from stars appearing at the session – and those (including former Beatle Paul McCartney), who weren’t able to attend. The record did its job – going on to sell well over 3 million copies – the effectiveness of which led directly to the Live Aid global concert and telethon in the summer of 1985. Live Aid also raised millions for charity.

If I Was... is a revealing, intimate and sometimes opinionated autobiography. It charts the highs and lows of Midge's musical career, his battle with alcoholism and childhood growing up on a Glasgow estate. A no-holds-barred and honest account of Midge's life, this book makes for fascinating reading - not just for Ultravox fans but for anyone who wants to know what really goes on behind the glossy veneer of the music business.

Robin Eggar, the books co-author has over twenty years experience in writing regular music and show business features for various publications including newsstand titles such as The Sunday Times, Esquire, The Observer, The Sunday Mirror, The Mail, GQ and many, many others. He recently had a bestseller on his hands with the release of his biography of Tom Jones.

Midge Ure: If I Was... - The Autobiography is available now, from Virgin Books.

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