which included singing the opening lines, Young played Live Aid held at Wembley Stadium, London in July 1985.

In August 1980, the British music magazine NME reported that Q-Tips had released their debut, eponymous album.

[8] Q-Tips appeared on BBC Television's In Concert, Rock Goes to College and The Old Grey Whistle Test in the latter part of 1981.

Together with ex-Q-Tips member Ian Kewley, Young began writing and recording songs for his debut album, the breakthrough No Parlez.

[9] Young's new backing band, The Royal Family, included keyboardist Kewley, fretless bass player Pino Palladino,[10][11] guitarist Steve Bolton, drummer Mark Pinder, and backing singers Maz Roberts and Kim Leslie a.k.a.

2 and even received radio airplay in the United States (thanks to its soundtrack inclusion in John Hughes's film Sixteen Candles), and his debut album No Parlez was certified platinum in various countries.

His first heavy promotional and live concert tour of America strained his vocal cords to the extent that he was forced to rest his voice and did not sing for much of the year.

", an all-star charity project put together by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure for Ethiopian famine relief.

[19] Young returned to the UK Top Ten with a version of Ann Peebles' "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down".

[6] The latter appeared on his second album, The Secret of Association, released in 1985, which secured his future success in the United States, Japan and Australia.

That year, Young scored the biggest worldwide hit of his career with "Everytime You Go Away", a cover of a song from the 1980 Hall & Oates album Voices.

[23] In July 1985, Young appeared at Live Aid at Wembley Stadium, London, performing his own hits "Come Back and Stay" and "Everytime You Go Away".

[6] Young sang the Crowded House track "Don't Dream It's Over" at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute in 1988,[25] producing a popular duet, "Senza una donna (Without a Woman)," with Italian blues singer Zucchero in 1991, and singing "Radio Ga Ga" with the surviving members of Queen in 1992, at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert soon after Freddie Mercury died.

[26][27][28] In 1991, he recorded a duet with Irish group Clannad for the Blake Edwards film Switch, a cover of the Joni Mitchell song, "Both Sides Now".

Young sang the British national anthem, "God Save the Queen", at Wembley Stadium before England's Euro '96 semi-final match against Germany.

In November 2001, when Young was on the final night of the Here and Now tour, Michael Aspel awarded him his This is Your Life book.

In 2010, Young recorded and released a new track "Come Back", a duet he did with electronic dance music act Chicane.

Young's earliest collaboration was in the late 1970s on Streetband's first album London, when Ian Dury made a guest appearance on the track "Mystery".

In between the Q-Tips and the launch of his solo career, Young sang backing vocals on the Squeeze single "Black Coffee in Bed" with Elvis Costello.

Palladino was the bass player in Young's backing band The Royal Family and played at Live Aid.

[41] Young released a version of the song "Both Sides, Now" with Irish group Clannad for the 1991 motion picture Switch.