Billy Currie

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Billy Currie (born William Lee Currie on 1 April 1950 in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England) is a 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.

Contents

[edit] Career

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 Synthesizer 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.

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".

Ultravox recorded the Revelation album with Tony Fennell but soon after completion, at the outset of the supporting 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 the Minimoog, were abandoned for this tour, replaced with Korg Wavestations and T-series keyboards.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Associated bands

[edit] Discography

[edit] With Ultravox

[edit] With Gary Numan

[edit] With Visage

[edit] With Humania

  • Sinews of the Soul (2005, recorded 1989)

[edit] 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)

[edit] External links

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