SCOTTISH musician Midge Ure has paid tribute to former bandmate Steve Strange who died of a heart attack on Thursday,

Welsh pop singer Strange, who passed away in Egypt at the age of 55, found fame in the 1980s as frontman for Visage whose best known hit was Fade To Grey.

Cambuslang-born Ure, who also enjoyed success with the band as well as with Thin Lizzy and as the frontman of Ultravox, said Strange - who managed the influential Blitz Club - was a "magnet for the good and bad of the industry".

The club in London's Soho was a focal point for the New Romantic movement where acts such as Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet and Boy George started.

Ure, 61, said the Blitz was the "beating heart of the new electronic movement of the early eighties" and described the way Strange would turn away anyone he didn't like the look of, including once turning away Mick Jagger as he was "too rock and roll".

Ure added: "You could stand in the Blitz Club and look around you at the future journalists and film makers and writers and musicians. And at a young Boy George taking coats at the coat stand.

"I remember seeing Spandau Ballet playing one of their first ever shows at the Blitz and it was phenomenal.

"Steve was a magnet for the good and the bad side of the industry.

"People with any sort of arty leanings sought Steve out.

"They were aware that there was this movement going on in London and they wanted to be part of it."

He told BBC Radio 4's Today Show: "Steve's door policy was fantastic at the blitz he wouldn't let anyone in that he didn't like the look of.

"He famously turned away Mike Jagger because he thought he was too rock and roll.

"But when David Bowie turned up all these kids went into turmoil and melt down because their king had appeared.

"Every movement has its heart and the Blitz was the beating heart of the electronic dance movement of the early 80's.

"It was a spring board for a huge variety of talent coming out of that place."