Live Aid

On November 25, 1984, 36 British recording artists gathered at a studio in Notting Hill, London to donate their time and talent to a song written by Bob Geldof (Boomtown Rats) and Midge Ure (Ultravox) to raise money for the relief of famine in Ethiopia. The result was the historic Do They Know It's Christmas?, performed by Geldof and Ure with Bananarama, the Boomtown Rats, Phil Collins, Culture Club, Duran Duran, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Heaven 17, Kool & The Gang, Annie Lennox, Marilyn, George Michael, Spandau Ballet, Status Quo, Sting, U2, Ultravox, Paul Weller and Paul Young - a group of singers collectively known as Band Aid.

The single went straight to Number 1 in the UK and became the biggest-selling single ever. Meanwhile, the single was certified gold in the US where it inspired a similar fund-raising recording, We Are The World, by a consortium of entertainers calling themselves USA For Africa.

In March 1985, as Bob Geldof and Midge Ure accepted their Novello Award for Do They Know It's Christmas?, the first shipment of food and medicine paid for by Band Aid arrived in Ethiopia. In total, Band Aid had raised £8 million for the famine relief program. Inspired by the British effort, USA For Africa and Canada's Northern Lights added more to the pile. But Geldof wanted more.

On July 13, at one minute past noon, the biggest pop event ever staged over a one-day period kicked off with a set by Status Quo. Live Aid featured 60 of the world's biggest rock stars performing for free at the world's biggest rock concert, held simultaneously over a 16 hour period in two different countries in front of a live audience of 162,000 (90,000 in Philadelphia and 72,000 in London) and broadcast to an estimated 1.9 billion TV viewers in 150 countries across the world.

Hundreds of rock musicians gathered simultaneously at Wembley Stadium in London in the presence of the Prince and Princess of Wales (pictured at left with Bob Geldof) and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia to give the marathon concert to raise more money for famine victims in Africa.

The concert, simulcast on television and radio, featured a live hook-up between Britain and the USA, and was broadcast and telecast live around the world. Wembley Stadium and JFK Stadium were equipped with identical revolving stages and giant video screens.

The acts were given exactly 17 minutes apiece to perform. Everyone left their ego at the dressing room door and threw themselves into the spirit of the event, while Geldof harangued viewers into getting off their butts and phoning in with promises of cash. In the US, the phone system broke down momentarily when 700,000 calls hit the pledge line at the same time. By the midpoint of the day, more than $20 million had been promised through telephone pledges.

On the US stage, Madonna jammed with the Thompson Twins, Tina Turner performed a duet with Mick Jagger, and Bob Dylan made up an acoustic trio with Keith Richard and Ron Wood. Led Zeppelin reformed with Phil Collins on drums, Black Sabbath re-formed with front man Ozzy Osbourne, and Neil Young, Tom Petty, The Cars, Bryan Adams, Joan Baez, The Beach Boys and Duran Duran were part of the staggering list of performers.

The Wembley line-up included Paul McCartney, Adam Ant, Elvis Costello, BB King, The Pretenders, Paul Young, Spandau Ballet, Cliff Richard, Bryan Ferry, Paul Weller, Alison Moyet, Ultravox, Howard Jones, Nik Kershaw, INXS and Queen. Even The Who re-formed for the event. So did Status Quo. And Geldof performed again with The Boomtown Rats (even though he had vowed he wouldn't sing).

Phil Collins managed to play at both shows. After his spot at Wembley, he jumped on Concorde, jetted across the Atlantic and played again in Philadelphia later in the same day. The climax in Philadelphia saw Bob Dylan jamming incoherently with a clearly bemused Ron Wood and Keith Richards before an all-star cast degenerated into an unseemly scrum while singing the USA For Africa anthem We Are The World.

It worked though. By the time Paul McCartney and Pete Townshend carried an exhausted Geldof on their shoulders at the end of the Wembley show, over $70 million had been raised worldwide.

A heroic achievement (and Geldof promised that 100% of the money would go to African famine relief - which it did). Bob Geldof showed with Band Aid and Live Aid that rock music could be used to increase people's awareness of the world they live in - a concept out of fashion since the Sixties - and not only to raise consciousnesses but cash as well.

A lead that others were quick to follow (including Comic Relief, Artists Against Apartheid, Sports Aid and Farm Aid). And the man who started the whole charity thing off was dubbed Sir Bob Geldof, Knight of the British Empire, in the Queen's Birthday honours list in June 1986.

In 1992, having raised a total of $144,124,694 the Band Aid Trust was closed down and Geldof issued a statement which read, in part; "It seems so long ago that we asked for your help. Seven years . . . you can count them now in trees and dams and fields and cows and camels and trucks and schools and health clinics, medicines, tents, blankets, clothes, toys, ships, planes, tools, wheat, sorghum, beans, research grants, workshops . . . I once said that we would be more powerful in memory than in reality. Now we are that memory".