Tag Archives: Band Aid 30

➤ Celebrating Midge Ure: the big-hearted old poser behind Band Aid

 Band Aid 30, pop music, recording, Midge Ure

Band Aid 30: Midge Ure yesterday conducting the artists for a new version of the song Do They Know It’s Christmas? Photograph: Band Aid Trust/Brian Aris/Camera Press

◼ TODAY AT 8pm ON THE X-FACTOR BAND AID 30 airs the fourth version of its pop smash hit, Do They Know It’s Christmas? So let’s remember the lifelong contribution of the quietest man in pop, Midge Ure, who is the true brains behind the charity project. As Bob Geldof described him on This Is Your Life: “He’s a great guy, hilariously funny though you wouldn’t know it from his old New Romantic posing. He’s got a great heart and is a great all-round good bloke.”



➢ Previously at Shapersofthe80s: 1984, Band Aid, when pop made its noblest gesture but the 80s ceased to swing

➢ Previously at Shapersofthe80s: How Midge Ure helped shape the British New Wave

Midge: “There’s no doubt the early 80s was a golden age of music made by real popstars who created themselves. It was more than just padded shoulders and asymmetrical haircuts. It was a pivotal moment in our cultural history when new tech mixed with new ideas to create something really good. All in the pressure cooker environment that was the Blitz club”

Rusty Egan, Steve Strange, Midge Ure, Visage, synth-pop, new wave, electro-pop,Band Aid, Rocking the Blitz,BBC

Visage Mk 1: Rusty Egan, Steve Strange and Midge Ure in 1978 searching for sounds and styles

UPDATE: BAND AID 30 MUSIC VIDEO – PG ADVISED

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2014 ➤ Harry Styles signs up for Band Aid 30

Midge Ure, Bob Geldof, Band Aid 30

Fund-raising veterans Ure and Geldof: can they pull together another Christmas chart-topper? (Pic PA)

◼ ROCK LEGENDS SIR BOB GELDOF, 60, and his unknighted partner in charity, Mr James “Midge” Ure OBE, 61, plan to record a new fund-raising song, most likely destined to help fight ebola in West Africa. The 80s stars masterminded the 1984 chart-topper Do They Know It’s Christmas? by co-writing the song and amassing a Who Was Who of 45 rock stars to record it free, under the group name Band Aid. The track sold 3.7million copies in the UK alone and remained its best-selling single for 13 years.

Three decades on, One Direction are thought to have agreed to record the new tune, with other hot acts for Band Aid 30 tipped to include 20-something generationers Adele, Emeli Sandé, Ed Sheeran, Alt-J, Ellie Goulding, Paloma Faith, Jessie Ware, Bastille, Olly Murs, Ben Howard and Sam Smith.

The 1984 hit led directly to the globally televised Live Aid concerts of 1985, voted the most important music event of the past 30 years, which raised £150million to fight famine in Ethiopia.

Tracey Emin, Band Aid 30

Design by Tracey Emin

➢ Nov 10 update: One Direction confirmed at BBC News: One Direction, Ed Sheeran, Elbow and old-timers such as U2’s Bono and Coldplay’s Chris Martin are among the acts confirmed to record the fourth version of the Band Aid charity single Do They Know It’s Christmas?. Bob Geldof and Midge Ure said the song’s lyrics would be changed to reflect the ebola crisis. The new version will be recorded this Saturday and artwork has been designed by Tracey Emin.

Patryk Spiker,Band Aid 30, Harry Styles,

Up for Band Aid 30: 1D’s Harry Styles tonight snapped in the recording studio with Polish photographer Patryk Spiker. Harry made no comment on the charity project

➢ Previously at Shapersofthe80s: Band Aid, when pop made its noblest gesture but the 80s ceased to swing

➢ Previously at Shapersofthe80s: Band Aid, the smash hit that earned 47 artists three platinum discs each

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