The Art of Longevity Season 13, Episode 3: Midge Ure

The Art of Longevity Season 13, Episode 3: Midge Ure

Author: The Song Sommelier April 18, 2026 Duration: 49:08
From his early days with proto-punk pop band Slik, through his tenure with ex-Sex Pistol Glen Matlock’s Rich Kids, the creation of Visage, and touring with Thin Lizzy, to his major league success with Ultravox, and then his pivotal musical role in Band Aid and Live Aid, Midge Ure was a constant and significant force in the evolving music scene of the late seventies and eighties. 2026 sees his first release of new material in twelve years, a double album entitled A Man Of Two Worlds. In ...

The Art of Longevity, hosted by The Song Sommelier, sits at the crossroads of music, history, and the often-unseen business behind it. This isn't a typical interview podcast; it's a series of candid, in-depth dialogues with artists who have built careers spanning decades. Each conversation explores the real journey-how these musicians have weathered the industry's constant shifts, creative droughts, and commercial pressures to not just survive, but to continue evolving and connecting with audiences. We get into the specifics: the collaboration that saved a career, the business decision that changed everything, the fanbase that grew quietly over years. The discussions move fluidly between past triumphs, current projects, and future ambitions, always grounded in the artist's personal definition of success. It's about the resilience required to make art for a lifetime. Tune in for these uniquely honest reflections on what it truly means to last.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 93

The Art of Longevity
Podcast Episodes
The Art of Longevity Season 2, Episode 2: Barenaked Ladies [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:43
Is it possible to make your best record 33 years into a career? That’s what may just have happened with Canadian legends Barenaked Ladies and their 2021 release Detour De Force. The album covers most of BNL’s styles (i.e…
The Art of Longevity Season 2, Episode 1: KT Tunstall [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:38
On the Art of Longevity Series II, Episode One, KT Tunstall tells me that albums can feel like a ‘flash in the pan’ despite all the work that goes into them. But albums like Wax (her latest, from 2018) will stick around…
The Art of Longevity Episode 7: The Coral, with James Skelly [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:36
The Coral is a band revered on the music scene - a real artist’s band. They are very accomplished musicians who first got together at school in the small Wirral town of Hoylake. The band members bonded over their many mu…
The Art of Longevity Episode 6: Maximo Park, with Paul Smith [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:09:09
Music critics have tried to classify the music made by North East England’s Maximo Park for the past two decades, eventually converging on the term ‘art pop’. Yet Paul Smith, the band’s singer and main co-songwriter (wit…
The Art of Longevity Episode 5: James, with Tim Booth [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:18
When you’ve been getting away with it as a seven piece band for nearly four decades, with 22 albums behind you - something’s got to give when it comes to longevity. Especially when, in the case of James and Tim Booth, yo…
The Art of Longevity Episode 4: Gary Numan [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:56
Success came relatively quickly to Gary Numan, when his single ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ rose to the top of the UK charts in May 1979. Without a chorus and clocking in at nearly five and a half minutes, it was an unlikel…
The Art of Longevity Episode 3: Laura Veirs [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:26
There’s no such thing as a critical review for any of Laura Veirs' 11 albums. But how does Laura measure her own success? The answer is, she doesn’t stop to think about it, much. Instead, as one project gets done, she’s…
The Art of Longevity Episode 2: Nile Rodgers [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:52
Nile Rodgers has seen and done it all. He has collaborated with the world’s top music stars including Madonna, David Bowie and Duran Duran and Daft Punk. The Chic Organisation created by Nile and music partner Bernard Ed…
The Art of Longevity Episode 1: Turin Brakes [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:45
In the Art of Longevity, a new podcast from The Song Sommelier, we take a whistle stop tour of a classic band or artist’s career, but we break a few of usual ‘media interview’ rules (well, we break all of them). Ultimate…
The Fantasy Setlist: New Romantics [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:34
Dylan Jones, long time editor of GQ, writer and father, picks out his favourite New Romantic tracks as part of his “Sweet Dreams Festival” fantasy setlist. Dylan Jones has been Editor of the UK fashion and lifestyle maga…