Midge Ure's Former Chiswick Home on the Market
Famous for being where Do They Know It's Christmas was recorded
House on Grosvenor Road is listed for £3.5million. Picture: Fine and Country
July 16, 2023
A house on Grosvenor Road that formerly belonged to Midge Ure has been put up for sale.
It is most famous for being the location where the original Band Aid song Do They Know It’s Christmas was recorded.
The Ultravox band member got together with Bob Geldolf to write the song in a recording studio he had set up in an annexe of the house. Sting was invited along as well to sing on the initial recording. They managed to complete all the music in Chiswick except for the drums which were to be provided later by Phil Collins. The track was finished off the following day at a studio in Notting Hill with vocals from a range of singers including David Bowie, Bono, George Michael and Boy George added.
It was released at Christmas 1984 and topped the charts across the world for an extended period raising £200 million for famine relief in Africa. Ure and Geldolf were prompted to write the song and organised Band Aid after watching Michael Buerk's BBC documentary about people starving in Ethiopia.
Midge Ure had lived in Chiswick since the seventies and bought the house in Grosvenor Road in the early eighties with the proceeds received from his band’s hit Vienna.
He says that he came up with the Melody for Do They Know It’s Christmas in the kitchen of the house.
House features a large wood-panelled reception room. Picture: Fine and Country
The house which was built in the thirties is listed with Fine and Country for £3.5 million with the former recording studio now converted into a one bedroom ‘granny flat’. It features a large wood-panelled reception room and includes a sizeable back garden with a pergola and a cellar which has been turned into a utility room and sauna. The current owner purchased the property for £2.8 million in 2021.
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