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All Music Guide:
Best known as the longtime keyboard player for the British synth pop/new wave outfit Ultravox, multi-instrumentalist Billy Currie has also issued several solo albums over the years, in addition to playing on recordings by other artists. Born William Lee Currie in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England, in 1950, Currie developed a love of music at an early age after plucking away at a guitar that a relative bought for him. This led to violin lessons and singing in a choir. Eventually he attended a nearby music college in the late '60s and played in a few different orchestras. Currie continued to pursue music (as he learned other instruments, including flute, Japanese flute, cello, bassoon, and keys), and during the '70s, met his future Ultravox bandmates. The group (which also included bassist Chris Cross, guitarist Steve Shears, and drummer Warren Cann, in addition to Currie) borrowed musically from both David Bowie and Roxy Music, soon becoming a major player in the burgeoning synth pop movement.
A string of albums from 1977 through 1980 helped establish the band as one of the genre's finest -- including 1977's self-titled debut and Ha! Ha! Ha!, 1978's Systems of Romance, and 1980's Vienna -- as the group continued to record and tour until their 1987 breakup (the band would regroup for a brief stretch in the early '90s). Subsequently, Currie embarked on a solo career, including such albums as 1988's Transportation, 1990's Stand Up and Walk, and a pair of releases in 2001 on his own label, Puzzle, Unearthed and Keys and the Fiddle. Over the years, Currie has guested on albums by other artists, including Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott's solo debut Solo in Soho, Gary Numan's Pleasure Principle, Steve Howe's Turbulence, and several albums by a rival synth pop outfit of Ultravox, Visage.
Wikipedia:
Billy Currie (born William Lee Currie, 1 April 1950, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England) is an English violist, violinist, pianist, keyboardist, and songwriter. He is best known for his work with New Wave band Ultravox, who achieved their greatest commercial success in the 1980s.
Career
In 1974, Currie left the art group Ritual Theatre to join the glam rock band Tiger Lily on viola and keyboard. In 1976, after several name changes, the band ultimately became Ultravox and recorded three albums, Ultravox!, Ha! Ha! Ha! and Systems of Romance, before singer John Foxx left to pursue a solo career in 1979.
During Ultravox's subsequent hiatus, Currie dedicated himself to different projects. He collaborated with Gary Numan who had admired the Systems Of Romance album and asked Currie to record some songs that were included on his first solo album, The Pleasure Principle. Currie toured with Numan's band during 1979. During soundchecks for the tour Currie, with Gary Numan band musician Chris Payne began to develop a song of their own called "Toot City". Currie had also joined the studio-based band Visage, fronted by Steve Strange, that also included Midge Ure. Currie and Ure developed a solid working relationship. Visage drummer Rusty Egan encouraged Currie to ask Ure to join the defunct Ultravox as lead singer/guitarist. 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. 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 and featured in Live Aid in Wembley Stadium on 13 July 1985. During the last days of the band, there were tensions between Currie and Ure. 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.
In 1992, Currie reformed Ultravox with a new line-up (himself being the only original member involved). With Tony Fennell on vocals, they recorded the album "Revelation". 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. Both albums were unsuccessful.
In 2009 and 2010, the "classic" Ultravox line-up from the 1980s (Currie, Ure, Chris Cross, and Warren Cann) reformed for two successful tours – their first together in over twenty 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. At the height of Ultravox's career, Billy Currie's keyboard rig included a Yamaha CP70 electric piano and SS30 string machine, CS80 synthesiser, a PPG Wave 2.2 digital synth, a Sequential Circuits Prophet T8 synth as well as his trademark ARP Odyssey. Other synths used by Ultravox included the Moog MiniMoog, Yamaha GS1 (the pad sound on "Lament") and Emulator II sampler.
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.
