27 Years Ago: Band Aid recorded "Do They Know It's Christmas?"

Twenty-seven years ago today, on 25th November 1984, 36 British and Irish musicians, inspired by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, went to SARM studios in Notting Hill, London to record "Do They Know It's Christmas?"



A few days earlier, Bob Geldif had watched Michael Buerk's news reports from drought and famine-stricken Ehiopia. He decided he wanted to do something and Band Aid was the result raising millions of pounds to bring food and water to those suffering in Africa.

Since then, there have been two more "Band Aids" who also released versions of the same song in new arrangements - in 1990, Band Aid II was very much a Stock, Aitken & Waterman collection of pop stars, and, in 2004, Band Aid 20 released a darker, more melancholy cover that both marked the 20th anniversary of the original but also helped raise funds for yet another African drought and famine.

The performers on the original 1984 version were (in record sleeve order):

Adam Clayton (U2)
Phil Collins (Genesis, and solo)
Bob Geldof (The Boomtown Rats)
Steve Norman (Spandau Ballet)
Chris Cross (Ultravox)
John Taylor (Duran Duran)
Paul Young
Tony Hadley (Spandau Ballet)
Glenn Gregory (Heaven 17)
Simon Le Bon (Duran Duran)
Jim Kerr (Simple Minds)
Simon Crowe (The Boomtown Rats)
Marilyn
Keren Woodward (Bananarama)
Martin Kemp (Spandau Ballet)
Nik Kershaw
Jody Watley (Shalamar)
Bono (U2)
Paul Weller (The Style Council, and The Jam)
James "J.T." Taylor (Kool & The Gang)
Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits)
John Illsley (Dire Straits)
Terry Williams (Dire Straits)
George Michael (Wham!)
Midge Ure (Ultravox)
Martyn Ware (Heaven 17, and Human League)
John Keeble (Spandau Ballet)
Gary Kemp (Spandau Ballet)
Curt Smith (Tears for Fears)
Roland Orzabal (Tears for Fears)
Sting (The Police)
Pete Briquette (The Boomtown Rats)
Francis Rossi (Status Quo)
Robert 'Kool' Bell (Kool & the Gang)
Andy Taylor (Duran Duran)
Jon Moss (Culture Club)
Rick Parfitt (Status Quo)
Nick Rhodes (Duran Duran)
Johnny Fingers (The Boomtown Rats)
David Bowie - recorded his part and sent in via the post
Boy George (Culture Club)
Holly Johnson (Frankie Goes to Hollywood) - recorded his part over the phone
Paul McCartney (The Beatles, and Wings) - recording sent in by post
Stuart Adamson (Big Country)
Bruce Watson (Big Country)
Tony Butler (Big Country)
Mark Brzezicki (Big Country)

The iconic sleeve was created by Peter Blake.

The following three videos tell the Band Aid Story with interviews and backstage filming of the recording.

Part One:

Part Two:

Part Three:


The song became the fastest-selling single of all-time selling over a million copies in its first week alone and entering the charts at No. 1 (It sold more copies than all the rest of the chart combined in that first week). It stayed at No. 1 for five weeks and sold more than 3 million copies. Only Elton John's 1997 re-working of Candle in the Wind, released to mark he death of Diana, Princess of Wales has sold more copies.

It, of course, inspired both USA for Africa (a similar venture to Band Aid organised in America) and Live Aid, billed as the "global jukebox", which took place in both Philidelphia and London, in July 1985 and also used to raise money and awareness of the Ethiopian famines.

20 Years Ago: Freddie Mercury died

Twenty years ago today, on the 24th November 1991, Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the rock group Queen, died quietly at his home in West London of bronchio-pneumonia, brought on by AIDS, aged just 45.

The day before he had, for the first time, publicly announced that he was HIV positive. He is thought to have had the disease for about two years, during which time he had recorded a great deal of new material which was to be released posthumously. Few had noticed his failing health, and his death came as a tremendous shock.

Freddie Mercury,whose original name was Farookh Bulsara, was born in Zanzibar in 1946. His childhood was mostly spent in India, and then, in 1964, his family moved to the UK. In 1970, Mercury joined with Mike Grose, Brian May and Roger Taylor to form Queen.



Mercury enjoyed a rather colourful rock and roll lifestyle, and was openly bisexual at a time when many still found this shocking.

Many considered Mercury to be the ultimate showman, and he will always be remembered for his, and Queen's, performance at the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium in 1985.



He wrote and performed on many classic rock tracks, most notably being Bohemian Rhapsody,which broke all the rules of what a successful chart song could and should be. Queen's songs still have a wide popularity and have, in recent years, been re-worked into both an orchestral symphony and a successful musical, We Will Rock You.

To this day, the gate of his former house is a place of pilgramage for Mercury's fans.