TRACEY ULLMAN
(UK, five Top 40 hits, one Top 40 album)

SO-SO COMEDIENNE, mainly, though her brief pop career from '83 was jangly and fun and had a tongue firmly placed in cheek. Her status as the bird factor in the overrated Three Of A Kind helped her enormously when the pacy "Breakaway" ("n-n-no no no no, n-n-no no no no") went to No.4, famous for Ullman and willowy backing singers miming into hairbrushes on TOTP. Her biggest hit would follow, Kirsty MacColl's outstanding "They Don't Know" ("and I don't listen to the wasted lines, with my eyes wide open and I see the signs") which got to No.2, featured the writer on backing vocals and had Paul McCartney as the love interest in the video, with infamous windscreen namestrip 'TRACEY PAUL' in full show as McCartney chauffeured his fictional squeeze in (obviously) a Volkswagen Beetle. A rotten version of "Move Over Darling" was next, which we'll skate over, before Ullman booked another celeb for her next video in the shape of Labour leader Neil Kinnock, vainly attempting to enhance his cool status. He had the door slammed on him by a curlers and headscarf wearing Ullman in her not brilliant gender-swapping version of the Madness classic "My Girl" (it became "My Guy") before her final throw of the dice came with the back-to-form jingleability of "Sunglasses" ("sunglasses, oooh, to cry behind, sunglasses, ooh, to hide behind"). She appeared as Candice Valentine, a parody of herself, in so-so French and Saunders sitcom "Girls On Top" before defecting to the States and being very, very successful with a host of sitcoms and skit shows. She hasn't recorded a song since.

Biggest Hit: "They Don't Know", No.2, 1983
Defining Moment: "You've been around for such a long time now, or maybe I could leave you but I don't know how..."

ULTRAVOX
(UK/Canada, sixteen Top 40 singles, seven Top 40 albums)

SENSIBLY DRESSED, statuesque electro middle-manager types who never had serious scream factor (too old and balding) but made arguably some of the best singles of the genre, without really ever becoming superstars as one. After the departure of early years vocalist John Foxx, ex-Slik frontman James 'Midge' Ure, a sarky Glaswegian who was also a Steve Strange stooge in Visage, was called in, completing the familiar line-up which also consisted of Warren Cann, Billy Currie and Chris Cross. Ure's voice was raging and distinctive, and he would become one of the most recognisable frontmen of the decade, even though his band never really hit large-scale heights. First single "Sleepwalk" ("naked and bleeding, the street lights rain by me, hurting my eyes with their glare") featured Ure whispering the title over and over again and got noticed to the extent of a No.29 and a knowledge of where improvement was necessary. What happened next will always remain in pop folklore. After "Passing Strangers" flopped, Ultravox released a sombre, dark moodfest called "Vienna" ("freezing breath from the window pane, lying and waiting") which was utterly stunning, an slow motion piece of electronica interspersed with chasing violins. It leapt and shouted No.1 at everyone, except the few thousand extra people who also decided that they would buy Joe Dolce's "Shaddap You Face". The result is history - "Vienna" stalled at No.2 and Ultravox wouldn't come as close to the top spot again. Soldiering on through '81, another Top 10 hit was achieved with the melodious, semi-rapped "All Stood Still" ("we stood still, we all stood still, still stood still, we're standing still") while "The Thin Wall" ("and those who sneer will fade and die, and those who laugh will surely fall") and the outstanding "The Voice" ("the shape and the power of the voice") both settled nonchalantly into Top 20 positions, while the latter showed Ure's terrific ragey qualities to fine effect. The next two years yielded for more Top 20 hits, including the gospelly "Hymn" ("give us this day, all that you showed me, the power and the glory, till my kingdom comes"), which should have got a lot higher than No.11. When '84 came round, the band had a bit of renaissance. Few signs of it were shown when "One Small Day" ("one day where I didn't die a thousand times") almost bombed completely, and was famously reviewed by Morrissey as 'probably not the worst record ever made, but it's in the running'. But they were paradoxically saved by nuclear warning tragedy song "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes" ("the man on the wireless cries again, it's over, it's over") shot to No.3, and deservedly so, while the title track to the fifth album "Lament" ("and just as my eyes start seeing after all the pain") was a bit dirgey, but still progressed reasonably to No.22. This was their swansong phase, as the times moved on and Ultravox were seen as a bit fuddy-duddy by the market, and also looked older than most TOTP performers. The last recognisablesingle came at the end of '84 with the ecstatic "Love's Great Adventure" ("standing on my own, it didn't mean that much to me") before Ure did his Band Aid co-writer heroics (he was as important as Bob Geldof, just not as outspoken) and then decided to concentrate on a solo career which produced the No.1 hit he deserved and is documented further down the page. The rest of the band tried to carry on as U-Vox, but two singles in '86 sounded the death tolls as neither got higher than No.30. The rest of the band disappeared into the shadows, while Ure remained a ubiquitous figurehead for much of the decade's remainder, with solo and co-projects and the odd TV cameo appearance (famously being himself in Filthy Rich & Catflap) while the Band Aid phenomenon constantly drags him up on retro documentaries. A gifted singer and musician with good backing, but ultimately Ultravox were a bit too also-ran for anyone's good. Their biggest hit, however, will keep the PRS royalties flooding in until they can use it as a pension plan.

Biggest Hit: "Vienna", No.2, 1981
Defining Moment: "At Number two for the fourth week in a row, it's Ultravox with "Vienna", so that means that yet again, Joe Dolce is Top Of The Pops!"

UNIQUE
(US, one Top 40 hit, no Top 40 albums)

HAVEN'T GOT the foggiest here. One hit which probably shouldn't have bothered was "What I Got Is What You Need", as it attained a not world-changing No.27 peak, before the fast food outlets beckoned. Anything we need to know?

Biggest Hit: "What I Got Is What You Need", No.27, 1983
Defining Moment: None yet.

UNTOUCHABLES
(US, one Top 40 hit, no Top 40 albums)

TIP OF THE tongue job, this one. "Free Yourself" ("free yourself, yes you can now free yourself like I did") was the single, which we recall with some iffiness, and can't quite place it well enough to quote or identify the sound. Then along came DEREK, who readily informed us that they were a sixties-esque 'soul stomp' act, which is more than descriptive enough for us.

Biggest Hit: "Free Yourself", No.26, 1985
Defining Moment: The song.

MIDGE URE
(UK, four Top 40 hits, two Top 40 albums)

VERY BALDING vocalist of the highest quality who gained his money with Ultravox and his acclamation from Band Aid to stab through a bitty solo career which had one serious high and a few too many troughs. Mid-Ultravox, Ure put on his crooning hat and delivered a decent version of the Walker Brothers' foggy "No Regrets" ("we'd only cry again, say goodbye again") to get to No.9 in '82 (and an '83 duet with Mick Karn reached an unimpressive No.39), but it was in '85 that he did his highest profile stuff, going to No.1 (with a struggle, but it was great to see him there) with "If I Was"  ("carrying the weight of popular demand, tell me would that alarm her?") which lacked grammatical accuracy but was a deserved topper, even though the video, which Ure directed, was voted the worst of the year by kiddywink types. The follow-ups were awkward, with "That Certain Smile" ("the words you said to me tonight has me falling for that certain smile") too morose after the great optimism of his chart topper. His last worthwhile contribution to the decade was the pleasant "Call Of The Wild" ("and in my heart I held you just for a while, don't go") though he kept going through until '88. Only one 90s moment sticks out, in the shape of "Cold Cold Heart", but despite one peak and a few commercial troughs, he remains a songwriter and performer of great ability and integrity, as well as having one of the most authentically fiery voices of the era, which stood him out as a truly exceptional singer.

Biggest Hit: "If I Was", No.1, 1985
Defining Moment: "If I was a soldier, captive arms I'd lay before her..."

USA FOR AFRICA
(US/Ireland, one Top 40 hit, no Top 40 albums)

AFTER BAND AID and all the positive vibes it sent around the world, not to mention trucks and corn, a hammering was dished out by the Press in the States to the American pop fraternity as to why they hadn't shown their own brand of selfless chivalry towards the world's unfortunates. As it happened, Harry Belafonte was thinking of doing a Yank reposte to the British stars and save a few extra existences, and so, anxious to show that they could do charidee just like anyone else, a whole gaggle of some of Stateside's pop superpeople assembled at a studio to record something written in merely two hours (and you could tell) by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, the first two people Belafonte contacted. It was called "We Are The World" ("we are the children, we are the ones who make a brighter day so let's start giving") which was pretentious, self-indulgent and twee (and about two minutes too long), unlike the rumpity-pump egoless optimism which the Brits put together at SARM five months earlier. The key difference was that while Band Aid was worded about the problem in hand, USA For Africa's song concentrated more on what they were generously going to do about it, and that stuck in many a throat. As the song about hearing a certain call and standing together as one and being part of God's great big family (bet Jackson wrote that line) slimed its way to No.1 (can't knock that at all, nor should anyone) the great and good of the States all got their line to sing as they trundled along to the studio following the American Music Awards, which explained their immaculate look (as opposed to the bleary-eyed, slobbing-out shower who went to SARM) with Quincy Jones on production duties. In order, they sang thus: Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, James Ingram, Tina Turner, Billy Joel, Michael Jackson (in diamond studded glove, of course), Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson, Al Jarreau, Bruce Springsteen (in somewhat throaty mode), Kenny Loggins, Steve Perry, Daryl Hall, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper and Kim Carnes (who got the grand total of two words on her own before Lauper drowned her out). There was an attempt at a Zippo-waving crescendo when the chorus was repeated over and over again by Bob Dylan, then Ray Charles, and then a quite surreal duet between Wonder and Bruce Springsteen, whose hoarse contribution was quite hilarious. In an attempt to recreate the 'togetherness' of the Feed The World climax, this unorthodox group of egos did the big, typically over the top Yank gospel chorus too, which looked so false and forced. Other singers there who only got chorus line status were the Pointer Sisters, Harry Belafonte, Bette Midler, Jeffrey Osbourne, Lindsay Buckingham, Sheila E, Smokey Robinson and five other members of the Jackson clan. Bob Geldof was there too, hence the Irish connection (he didn't say what he really thought of the song because the idea was right), while Prince famously failed to show up after having one or two too many sherbets, so after being suitably chastised, he donated a song for the album. Country star Waylon Jennings flounced out after arguing over the lyrics, and Dan Aykroyd did chorus work too, having attended the ceremony earlier to present an award. No sign of Madonna at all. Watching the video now, you can just sense the enormous, teeth-gritting tension, even though Quincy Jones told them all in his invitation letters to 'check their ego at the door'. You wonder how many hateful histories were being temporarily put on ice while they all did their bit for the hungered, and can bet your bottom dollar that those spats recommenced the moment the tapes were turned off. Hindsight allows us to conclude that the song was sick-making and the video and many of those on it false. But it was No.1 for a fortnight, raised a bloody fortune and, mercifully, saved millions of precious lives, so we won't say it.

Biggest Hit: "We Are The World", No.1, 1985
Defining Moment: "There's a choice we're making, we're saving our own lives..."