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"Do They Know It's Christmas?" was inspired by a series of reports made by the BBC journalist Michael Buerk in 1984, which drew attention to the famine in Ethiopia. [2] The BBC News crew were the first to document the famine, with Buerk's report on 23 October describing it as "a biblical famine in the 20th century" and "the closest thing to hell on Earth". [3]
Band Aid is the oldest collective name of a charity supergroup featuring mainly British and Irish musicians and recording artists. [1] [2] [3] It was founded in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for anti-famine efforts in Ethiopia by releasing the song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" for the Christmas market that year.
In total, they had eleven singles reach the US Billboard Hot 100 (1983–1988). [4] They are associated with the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US. [5] The trio performed on "Do They Know It's Christmas?", a UK chart-topping collaborative charity single released in 1984. They topped the Australian ARIA albums chart in June 1988 with Wow!
Ethiopians knew it was Christmas in the winter of 1984, and they know it now — despite the song’s patronizing question. And Ethiopia continues to be misrepresented in the Western imagination.
The new version of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” is set to feature vocals from the 1984, 1989, 2004 and 2014 recordings, according to Billboard.
In late-1984, Marilyn took part in the Band Aid charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas" along with various other pop stars of the era. [24] In early-1985, facing financial difficulties and being forced to sell his London home, Phonogram Records dispatched him to Detroit, to work with producer Don Was. While in America, he cut his trademark ...
Bob Geldof may have disavowed his 1984 new wave carol, but the lesser-heard all-star remakes from 1989, 2004 and 2014 have their time-capsuled charms.
The trio went on to have a string of top 10 hits in the UK, including "Shy Boy" (1982), "Robert De Niro's Waiting" (1984) and "Love in the First Degree" (1987). They also achieved international success, including in the United States, where they had top 10 hits with " Cruel Summer " (1984), " Venus " (number one in 1986) and " I Heard a Rumour ...