--- description: Band Aid founder Midge Ure paid tribute to the late musician title: David Bowie Was Leader of Pop Says Band Aid Co-Founder image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb6be2218a3d251e/6988786e8e0601a2aa4640ff/bowie.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # David Bowie: 'We Are All Still Walking in His Slipstream' by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 11, 2016 11:03 AM CUT  British pop singer David Bowie in concert at Earl's Court, London during his 1978 world tour. British pop singer David Bowie in concert at Earl's Court, London during his 1978 world tour.Evening Standard—Getty Images by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 11, 2016 11:03 AM CUT David Bowie was the ‘leader’ of pop music according to Band Aid co-founder and Ultravox lead singer, Midge Ure. Ure, who worked with the late singer for charity concert Live Aid in 1985, [spoke to the _BBC_](http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03f4v84 "undefined") about Bowie’s boundary pushing music. Bowie died on Sunday at the age of 69 after an[ 18-month-battle with cancer](http://time.com/4174815/david-bowie-death-cancer/?xid=homepage "undefined"). “He was consistent in the quality of what he did, some things were more commercially successful than others, but you do get the overwhelming impression that commercial success was not his driving force, creativity was” Ure told the _BBC_. The co-founder of Band Aid, a charity supergroup pulled together with Bob Geldof in the 80s to provide famine-relief in Ethiopia, also thought Bowie’s brand of pop music was anything but trivial. “We looked towards what he did, we are all still walking in his slipstream. We are still many, many yards behind what he was doing because he led the way. He was the leader, he was the guv’nor.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4174885/david-bowie-leader-pop-music/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4174885/david-bowie-leader-pop-music/"},"headline":"David Bowie: 'We Are All Still Walking in His Slipstream'","datePublished":"2016-01-11T11:03:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:56:56.522Z","description":"Band Aid founder Midge Ure paid tribute to the late musician","url":"https://time.com/4174885/david-bowie-leader-pop-music/","keywords":["celebrities","Music"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb6be2218a3d251e/6988786e8e0601a2aa4640ff/bowie.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara John","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-john/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfb6be2218a3d251e/6988786e8e0601a2aa4640ff/bowie.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"British pop singer David Bowie in concert at Earl's Court, London during his 1978 world tour.","caption":"British pop singer David Bowie in concert at Earl's Court, London during his 1978 world tour.","creditText":"Evening Standard—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4174885/david-bowie-leader-pop-music/","name":"David Bowie: 'We Are All Still Walking in His Slipstream'"}}]}] ```