Ultravox were a British new wave band, formed in London in April 1974 as Tiger Lily. Between 1980 and 1986, they scored seven Top Ten albums and seventeen Top 40 singles in the UK, the most successful of which was their 1981 hit "Vienna".
James "Midge" Ure is a Scottish musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. His stage name, Midge, is a phonetic reversal of Jim, the diminutive form of his actual name. 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. 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.
"I'll Be There for You" is a song by American pop rock duo the Rembrandts. The song was written by David Crane, Marta Kauffman, Michael Skloff, and Allee Willis as the main theme song to the NBC sitcom Friends, which was broadcast from 1994 to 2004. American rock band R.E.M. was originally asked to allow their song "Shiny Happy People" to be used for the Friends theme, but they turned the opportunity down. "I'll Be There for You" was subsequently written and Warner Bros. Television selected the only available band on Warner Bros. Records to record it: the Rembrandts. In 1995, after a Nashville radio station brought the song to mainstream popularity, Rembrandts members Danny Wilde and Phil Sōlem expanded the theme song with two new verses and included this version on their third studio album, L.P. (1995).
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a charity song written in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. It was first recorded by Band Aid, a supergroup assembled by Geldof and Ure consisting of popular British and Irish musical acts. It was recorded in a single day at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London, in November 1984.
"Vienna" is a song by British new wave band Ultravox from their 1980 fourth studio album of the same name. It was released as the album's third single on 9 January 1981 by Chrysalis Records and features Midge Ure singing the lead vocal.
"Drive" is a song by American rock band The Cars from their fifth studio album, Heartbeat City (1984). It was released on July 23, 1984, as the album's third single. Written by Ric Ocasek, the track was sung by bassist Benjamin Orr and produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange with the band. Upon its release, "Drive" became the Cars' highest-charting single in most territories. In the United States, it peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Adult Contemporary chart. It reached number five in the United Kingdom, number four in West Germany, number six in Canada and number three in Ireland.
"Forever and Ever" is a UK number-one single by Scottish glam rock band Slik, released in 1975. It was number one for one week in February 1976, knocking ABBA's "Mamma Mia" off the number-one position. It was also a hit in Ireland, reaching number two on the charts there. The song was written by the songwriting partnership of Bill Martin and Phil Coulter who had recently stopped writing for the Bay City Rollers.
"Fade to Grey" is a song by British new wave band Visage, released in November 1980 as the second single from their debut album, Visage (1980), on Polydor Records.
"Shy Boy" is a 1982 song recorded by English girl group Bananarama which was written and produced by the production team of Steve Jolley and Tony Swain and marked the first in a long line of studio collaborations between them and Bananarama. Released in the summer of 1982, "Shy Boy" became the third consecutive single by Bananarama to hit the top-five, reaching number four in the UK Singles Chart. It also was a success in Australia, where it reached number two, becoming their first top 40 hit in that country. Top-ten success also followed in New Zealand and Canada. "Shy Boy" charted well on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart and was the first of Bananarama's singles to dent the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 83. The song was known as "Shy Boy " in the USA.
Lament is the seventh studio album by British new wave band Ultravox, released on 6 April 1984 by Chrysalis Records. It was the last album featuring original drummer Warren Cann until the band's reunion album Brilliant in 2012. The album peaked at number eight on the UK Albums Chart and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 8 June 1984 for shipments of 100,000 copies. It also reached number 25 in Germany and number 115 in the United States.
"I Adore Mi Amor" is a song by American R&B group Color Me Badd, released as the second single from their debut album, C.M.B. (1991). The song peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for two weeks and spent 20 weeks on the listing, finishing 1991 at number 18 on the Billboard year-end chart. Worldwide, the track entered the top 20 in Canada, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. In 1992, saxophonist Najee covered the song from the album Just an Illusion.
"Some Like It Hot" is a song by British-American band the Power Station. It was the first single released from the group's 1985 eponymous debut album. Released by Parlophone Records in 1985, the song features loud, prominent drum beats from Tony Thompson and lead vocals from Robert Palmer. The video featured model Caroline Cossey. It was the band's biggest hit, peaking at number six on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number four in Australia.
"Reap the Wild Wind" is Ultravox's first single from their sixth studio album Quartet, recorded in Air Studios, in London and Montserrat and released on Chrysalis Records on 16 September 1982.
"Dancing with Tears in My Eyes" is the second single from Lament, Ultravox's seventh studio album, released in May 1984.
"Love's Great Adventure" is a single released by Ultravox on 12 October 1984. Having enjoyed massive radio airplay that autumn, the single became Ultravox's thirteenth Top 30 single in Britain, and was their last major hit in the UK, peaking at #12 in the UK Singles Chart. The style of this single is different from any of their preceding Lament singles, aiming for a more lightweight, pop-oriented approach.
The Gift is the debut solo studio album by Scottish musician Midge Ure, released on 7 October 1985 by Chrysalis Records. It was released while his band Ultravox were taking a break; the band would go on to release U-Vox (1986) before breaking up. The album reached No. 2 in the UK Albums Chart partly due to the large attention drawn to it by the single "If I Was" which reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart in September 1985. "That Certain Smile" was released as the second single in November 1985, and "Wastelands" was released as the third single in January 1986.
"No Regrets" is a song by folk and blues singer/songwriter Tom Rush. It is the final song on his 1968 album The Circle Game and was released as a single in the UK in January 1968 and in the US in April. It peaked at number 57 on the UK BMRB Breakers, an official extension of the UK Singles Chart.
"Alive and Kicking" is a song released by the Scottish rock band Simple Minds as the lead single from their seventh album, Once Upon a Time. The song reached number three on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number four in Canada; it peaked within the top five of several European countries including Italy, where the song reached number one.
"Man of the World" is a song recorded by Fleetwood Mac in 1969, and composed by vocalist and lead guitarist Peter Green. After the group signed to Immediate Records that year, the label collapsed shortly after the single's release. As such, "Man of the World" is the only Fleetwood Mac single under the Immediate Records label.
Messengers were a Scottish new wave duo consisting of Danny Mitchell and Colin King. The duo were originally part of Modern Man, a Glasgow post-punk/new wave band discovered by Midge Ure of Ultravox. Modern Man disbanded after releasing one album produced by Ure, Concrete Scheme (1980), after which Ure stayed as producer with Mitchell and King as Messengers.
