20th October 2020 - In October, BigChange hosted Midge Ure OBE as its speaker for Motivational Monday.Midge co-wrote and performed on the second biggest-selling UK single of all time - Band Aid’s ‘Do They Know It's Christmas?’.
He found fame as a member of Visage, Thin Lizzy and frontman of Ultravox in the late 70s. He went on to become key to the formation of Band Aid, performing at the 1985 Live Aid concert at Wembley, and has won Ivor Novello and Grammy awards.
In the video, which you can view in full here, Midge explored the lessons he learnt from his career.
As a youth on the outskirts of Glasgow and a school dropout, Midge felt predestined to stay stuck in his hometown. In chasing every musical opportunity he could Midge says that his rise to fame was a result of hard work, not talent, and that nothing is set in stone.
When arguing to keep Ultravox’s classic hit ‘Vienna’ at full length, despite the label's wishes, Midge showed that if you believe in your idea, you need to fight with everything you have to keep it yours.
When organising Live Aid, the idea of simultaneous concerts in London and Philadelphia looked, to many, too large to pull off. However, through dedication and hard work the event was staged and went straight into the history books.
Midge was joined by Fiona Martin, founder of Friends of Alfie Martin, a charity providing neonatal care and transport across Yorkshire. Fiona spoke about turning a personal tragedy into a motivation to support others. We at BigChange are very proud to support this cause. You can find out more here. Next month, we are excited to learn from the experiences of Ann Hiatt. Now a sought-after angel investor, Ann spent 15 years as the Executive Business Partner to Jeff Bezos (CEO of Amazon) and Chief-of-Staff to Eric Schmidt (CEO at Google/Alphabet). Join us then.
