Billy Currie

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Billy Currie
Background information
Birth name	William Lee Currie
Also known as	Billy Curry, Billy Currie
Born	1 April 1950 (1950-04-01) (age 59)
Origin	Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England
Genres	New Wave, Synthpop, Glam Rock
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Viola, keyboards
Years active	1974–present
Associated acts	John Foxx, Tiger Lily, Ultravox, Visage, Steve Strange, Midge Ure, Dave Formula, Barry Adamson, Gary Numan, Tubeway Army, Phil Lynott, Humania, Sam Blue, Vinny Burns

Billy Currie (born William Lee Currie, 1 April 1950, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England^[1]) is an English musician and songwriter. He is best known as the keyboard player with the New Wave band, Ultravox, who achieved their greatest commercial success in the 1980s.

Career

In 1974, after being part of art group Ritual Theatre, Currie joined the glam rock band Tiger Lily, in which he played the viola and keyboard. After several name changes, the band ultimately became Ultravox in 1976. After three albums, Ultravox!, Ha! Ha! Ha! and Systems of Romance, singer John Foxx left the band to pursue a solo career in 1979.

During this period, with the band in hiatus, Currie dedicated himself to different projects. He began to collaborate with Tubeway Army, whose singer Gary Numan had admired the Systems Of Romance album and asked Currie to record some songs which were included on his first solo album, The Pleasure Principle. Currie also toured with Numan's band during 1979. It was during the soundchecks for the tour that Currie and Tubeway Army musician Chris Payne began to develop a song of their own called "Toot City". Simultaneously, Currie joined the studio-based band Visage, fronted by Steve Strange and which also included Midge Ure. Currie and Ure developed a solid working relationship, to the extent that Ure then joined the virtually defunct Ultravox as lead singer. Whilst composing material for a new Ultravox album and for the debut Visage album, Ure collaborated with Currie on the "Toot City" track which eventually became "Fade to Grey". The single became a huge hit for Visage in early 1981. However, this was surpassed by Ultravox's hit "Vienna", released around the same time. Both Ultravox and Visage became highly successful recording acts in the early 1980s, though Ure decided to leave Visage to focus on Ultravox full time in 1982. Currie remained with Visage for a while longer, but he too had left by 1984.

From 1980-86, Ultravox released seven top 10 albums, including a live album and a "greatest hits" compilation. However, during the last days of the band, there were tensions between Currie and Ure. Coupled with an underwhelming response to their 1986 album U-Vox, the band effectively disintegrated.

In 1988, Currie put out an instrumental solo album Transportation, released on the IRS NoSpeak record label. Steve Howe played guitar on some of the tracks, including "Schna Schna".

In 1992, Currie tried to reform Ultravox with a new line-up (himself being the only original member involved). With Tony Fennell on vocals, they recorded the album "Revelation", but at the outset of the subsequent tour, Fennell left to be replaced by Sam Blue. The tour took in the former USSR and Malta amongst other locations. Many of the synthesisers for which Currie was famous, apart from the often-volatile OSCar and Minimoog, were abandoned for this tour, replaced with Korg Wavestations and T-series keyboards. A further Ultravox album featuring this line-up, "Ingenuity", was released in 1994. However, both albums were unsuccessful.

In 2009, the "classic" Ultravox line-up from the 1980s (Currie, Ure, Chris Cross, and Warren Cann) reformed for a successful tour - their first together in over 20 years.

Instruments

Currie is noted for his use of analogue synthesizers, and in particular his trademark soloing sound, which typically consisted of soaring fluid lines on an ARP Odyssey, making use of oscillator sync, later re-created with the Oxford Synthesiser Company "OSCar" synth. Currie's original instrument whilst at music college was the viola, and he frequently added solo violin or viola to the arrangements of songs he played on, a relatively unusual choice in pop music.

Personal life

Currie has a daughter called Lucy, born c. 1991, and a son Tom, born c. 1996. He is married to Heidi and lives in North London.

Associated bands

• Barry Edwards' "The Ritual Theatre"
• Ultravox (1974–1988, 1991–1996, 2009)
• Visage (1979-1984)
• Gary Numan (1979-80)
• The Armoury Show (1985)
• Humania (1988-89)
• Phil Lynott
• Steve Howe

Discography

With Ultravox

• Ultravox! (1977)
• Ha!-Ha!-Ha! (1977)
• Systems of Romance (1978)
• Vienna (1980)
• Rage in Eden (1981)
• Quartet (1982)
• Monument (1983)
• Lament (1984)
• U-Vox (1986)
• Revelation (1993)
• Ingenuity (1996)

With Gary Numan

• The Pleasure Principle (1979) (guest)
• Living Ornaments '79 (1981)

With Visage

• Visage (1980)
• The Anvil (1982)
• Beat Boy (1984) (guest)

With Humania

• Sinews of the Soul (2005, recorded 1989)

Solo

• Transportation (1988)
• Stand Up and Walk (1990)
• Unearthed (2001)
• Keys and the Fiddle (2001)
• Push (2002)
• Pieces of the Puzzle (2003)
• Still Movement (2004)
• Accidental Poetry of the Structure (2007)
• Refine (2009)

References

External links

• Official web site
• Allmusic biography