Hah! Thought I'd forgotten about this section, didn't you? Well, truth to tell, I wanted to feature it more, but there's a lot of research has to go into it, and what with my tributes to Dio and Gary Moore, not to mention my “Stranger in a strange land” section, I really haven't been able to put the time aside to do another one. But it's an intriguing notion, that not every star who goes solo makes it, no matter how famous he or she has been with their band. Success in a band situation does not necessarily guarantee that you'll find fame if you decide to strike out on your own.
Many do of course: music history is littered with examples of people who have either left their band or, in some cases, managed to carry on a successful solo career within the band. But as we learned in the case of our first study, El DeBarge, it's not always the case. There can indeed often be something of a backlash by your fans, especially if you desert, as they see it, the band to go find fame on your own terms. Sometimes the fans you had hoped to take with you, on whom you had intended, at least initially, to build your fanbase, are not interested.
It should be noted that, though by and large I'll try to concentrate on people whose careers totally nosedived, or never got off the ground in the first place, I'll also be looking at those who may have started with a hit or two, but who after that just faded away. To qualify as a successful solo artist in my opinion you have to have consistent success; that interest has to continue and perhaps even grow after the initial “novelty factor” has worn off.
And so we come to the example of one James “Midge” Ure, known of course to one and all simply as Midge Ure. Having found considerable success --- some might even say stardom --- in the eighties with new wave/electronic pop band Ultravox, Midge decided in 1985 to go it alone. No-one would have blamed him: this was the year, after all, that he became one of the two most famous men on the planet when he and Sir Bob Geldof (though at the time he was just plain ol' Bob; the knighthood came later) organised what is still the biggest and most ambitious charity concert ever, and raised awareness of the desperate plight of famine-struck African countries when they hosted Live Aid.
Although Geldof was seen as the main mover and shaker behind that enterprise, everyone acknowledged that it was a dual effort and Midge Ure's name was spoken of in the same breath as Sir Bob's. Good time then to launch your solo career, you would think, on the heady pulsing waves of goodwill engendered by Live Aid. Bob thought so too, and look what happened to him, though this is not his story (we may feature him some time in the future).
Midge's solo career kicked off well, in fairness, with both an album that peaked at number two, and a single that reached number one as “If I was” raced straight to the top of the charts. Even at that, though, this was the only single to chart from that album, and would in fact be the last time any of his material would get into the top twenty, either albums or singles. Like one massive supernova sunburst, Midge blazed and then faded down to a dull red dot, more or less forgotten about, in terms of solo material.
Perhaps it was the fractured, somewhat directionless style of Midge's solo career that did for him, as his albums by and large are not terrible, and certainly deserve to have garnered more attention than they did. But in 1986 he decided to get Ultravox back together and they released an album, “U-Vox”, which did okay but failed to recapture the past glories and successes of their earlier career. Disillusioned with the reformation, Midge disbanded Ultravox and decided to return to the solo life. However, by now three years had passed, and his second solo album, “Answers to nothing” became pretty much that. Despite a small hit single in the track “Dear god” and a duet with Kate Bush on “Sister and brother”, the album failed to capture any real interest.
Following what could really only be characterised as a failure, the next album would not come until 1991, another three years, and would do even less well, yielding no hit singles at all and failing to hit the charts, just barely scraping into the top forty.
No doubt totally disheartened by the failure of his third album, Midge would then make the further mistake of waiting another five years before unleashing his fourth effort. Although this album would completely fail to chart (his first solo album that never even got into the charts) it would see some later success as the single from it, “Breathe”, would be featured in a TV ad and become a subsequent and retrospective hit, but the rest of the album would sink without a trace. His next new musical output would consist of a soundtrack, all instrumental, to the film “Went to Coney Island on a mission from God --- back by five.” I know nothing about either the movie or the soundtrack, and can find no videos of it, so I can't pass judgement, but naturally it did nothing in the charts. In fairness though, soundtracks rarely do, unless they're from well-known and popular films, or the product of some superstar.
Midge's last proper album then came in 2001, again causing not a ripple in the charts. “Move me” failed to do that, and never entered the top forty on either side of the ocean. It again yielded no singles, and despite being reissued as an extended edition five years later, again failed to chart. This was a repeat of a trick tried by the label with his first, and most (only) successful album, “The Gift”, which was released in extended format in 1996, eleven years after its original release. This time, however, no-one seemed interested. Whereas “The gift” had gone to number two originally in 1985, the reissue didn't chart at all. Undeterred, they've tried it a third time, with his second and third albums, “Pure” and “Breathe” both re-released in a double pack in 2009. One more time, guys: it won't work. No chart position.
Of course, after 2004 Midge hooked back up with Bob and they began badgering the world's governments to share the wealth a little, and created Live 8, a sort of revisiting of Live Aid, aimed at ending world poverty and hunger. Doctorates and honours followed, and it would be remiss of us to point out that, though he may not have been a successful solo artist, Midge Ure has done more in his life to help the needy and the deserving, and bring great causes to the world's attention, than most multi-platinum artistes you could mention. So in no way has his career been a waste of time, or a failure. Even now, he is an ambassador for Save The Children, a worthy and deserved honour if ever there was one.
But looking purely at his musical achievements, outside of Ultravox, he had the one hit single and the one hit album, and despite releasing four more (six, if you count the soundtrack and a covers album released in 2008) never managed to really capitalise on his initial success, and like water draining down a plughole it quickly leaked away. Nobody seemed to want to hear what he had to say with his music, though thankfully people listened --- and did something --- when he spoke about more important matters.
You definitely have to give him credit for all he's done, and possibly he might not have been in a position to have done much of any of it had he not been known outside of the band. So perhaps though he did not exactly have a glittering musical solo career, it became a means to a much greater end.
You really can't fault that.