Bob Geldof brings back superstar Band Aid line up after 30 years

Sir Bob Geldof and Midge Ure are preparing to release a new Band Aid single with another version of Do They Know It's Christmas?

16:44 10 November 2014

Sir Bod Geldof and Scottish musician Midge Ure, who co-wrote the first Band Aid track Do They Know It's Christmas, are preparing for the release of the band’s new single that will see another superstar line-up share vocal duties on the charity tune.

 

The new version will be released to raise funds for the Ebola crisis in Africa.  Confirmed acts so far include One Direction, Adele, Coldplay, Bastille, Ellie Goulding, Jessie Ware, Paloma Faith, Sam Smith, Olly Murs, Ed Sheeran and Emeli Sande.

 

Do They Know It’s Christmas, which was first released in the UK in 1984, featured Bono, George Michael, Paul Weller, Boy George and Simon le Bon. It became the biggest-selling single of all time. 

 

Meanwhile, the 2004 version raised money for famine relief in the war ravaged Sudanese region of Darfur.

 

Sir Bob recently revealed that reuniting with his band The Boomtown Rats had helped him cope with his grief after the death of his daughter Peaches from a heroin overdose in April. 

 

He said: ‘For those two hours I’m utterly, utterly lost in it. Somehow you’re allowed this other thing to come out and it is utterly cathartic, and so for two hours I forget it. I forget that stuff.’