HEALTH-EBOLA/BAND AID Band Aid 30 stars arrive to record new single for Ebola crisis

Record ID: 565674

  • Title: HEALTH-EBOLA/BAND AID Band Aid 30 stars arrive to record new single for Ebola crisis
  • Date: 15th November 2014
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (NOVEMBER 15, 2014) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** MEDIA AND FANS IN FRONT OF RECORDING STUDIO IN WEST LONDON ONE DIRECTION MEMBER, HARRY STYLES, ARRIVING ONE DIRECTION MEMBER, LIAM PAYNE, ARRIVING ONE DIRECTION MEMBER, NIALL HORAN, ARRIVING AND STOPPING TO TALK TO MEDIA, SAYING (English): "IT'S A PRIVILEGE TO BE HERE." ONE DIRECTION MEMBERS, ZAYN MALIK, AND, LOUIS TOMLINSON, ARRIVING VARIOUS OF FANS CRYING AFTER ARRIVAL OF HARRY STYLES VARIOUS OF BRITISH SINGER, RITA ORA, ARRIVING BRITISH SINGER, ELLIE GOULDING, ARRIVING AND SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS MEMBER OF QUEEN, ROGER TAYLOR, ARRIVING BRITISH SINGER-SONGWRITER, JESSIE WARE, ARRIVING BOB GELDOF ARRIVING (SOUNDBITE) (English) BOB GELDOF, SAYING: "So buy it. Don't go... it's not available on Spotify until after Christmas. Youtube has a donate button. But if you do Youtube it, hit the donate button. I mean it's really important. The only reason that, you know, 1D are here on their first... on their one day off is because they want to help. The only reason Ed (Sheeran) is flying from a gig last night in Germany and flying out again. The only reason Bono was doing, giving up a television in Los Angeles and flying in this morning, the only reason Sam (Smith) is here is because they want to do it. That's the most they can do, so they most you can do on this is buy as many of this track as you possibly can. Buy, that's the key issue. Buy this song, we will stop the virus. We will certainly help to stop it." BRITISH SINGER-SONGWRITER, ED SHEERAN, ARRIVING ELBOW SINGER, GUY GARVEY, ARRIVING VARIOUS OF U2'S, BONO, ARRIVING (SOUNDBITE) (English) BONO, SAYING: "I wish in a way we didn't have to do this. And there will come a time when we won't and that will be great. And it will be great to not see the same old faces. This is... I am excited about today is sort of Star Trek, The Next Generation. I like it. I'd be happy to just stand in the background and wave actually." BONO SPEAKING TO MEDIA BRITISH DIRECTOR AND SCREENWRITER, RICHARD CURTIS, ARRIVING (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR AND SCREENWRITER, RICHARD CURTIS, SAYING: "In fact this is the most important generation. Because the chances of ending extreme poverty are high in the next 15 years. And it's really important that this generation finds their own way to support this and do things on their own I think." GELDOF TALKING TO MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) BOB GELDOF, SAYING: "Fifteen minutes ago I spoke to the chancellor (George Osborne) who said, "Forget it, we're not taking the tax". And so you know just in the spirit of the thing they're leading, but I spoke to the UN and the truth of the matter is that they need 20 times now the resources that are in the three affected countries. Twenty times - not the money but the resources, the people, the medicines, the hospitals. They need 20 times that. So. this record is an attempt to try and bridge that. Certainly to push it, so we're doing Band Aid Germany, Band Aid France. Band Aid Germany because frankly the Germans aren't doing enough. They're the economic superpower of Europe, they're not stepping up to the line." BRITISH MUSICIAN, MIDGE URE, TALKING TO MEDIA BRITISH MUSICIAN AND ACTRESS, PALOMA FAITH, ARRIVING BRITISH MUSICIAN, EMELI SANDE, ARRIVING AND BRIEFLY STOPPING TO TALK TO MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (English) EMELI SANDE, SAYING: "Wonderful, it's the first time I will have met a lot of people so yes, it's just really exciting." BRITISH MUSICIAN, CHRIS MARTIN OF COLDPLAY, ARRIVING BRITISH MUSICIAN, OLLY MURS, ARRIVING GELDOF ENTERING RECORDING STUDIO
  • Embargoed: 30th November 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA6F0VXEI6LAUX6X2CA9M0MN9MT
  • Story Text: The single, "Do They Know It's Christmas?", was first recorded 30 years ago after musician and philanthropist Bob Geldof inspired a host of stars to come together under the Band Aid name to help those affected by famine in Ethiopia.
    Three decades later, Boy band One Direction and U2 lead singer Bono joined some of the biggest names in British pop and rock music on Saturday (November 15), to record a new version of the Band Aid charity song to raise money to combat Ebola in West Africa.
    The song has been given a makeover, with words to the original version which he co-wrote with Midge Ure changed to reflect the current crisis.
    "So buy it. It's not available on Spotify until after Christmas," Geldof said. "Youtube has a donate button. But if you do Youtube it, hit the donate button. I mean it's really important. The only reason that, you know, 1D are here on their one day off is because they want to help.
    "The only reason Ed (Sheeran) is flying from a gig last night in Germany and flying out again. The only reason Bono was doing, giving up a television in Los Angeles and flying in this morning, the only reason Sam (Smith) is here is because they want to do it. That's the most they can do, so they most you can do on this is buy as many of this track as you possibly can. Buy, that's the key issue. Buy this song, we will stop the virus. We will certainly help to stop it," he added.
    Geldof said he had spoken to British finance minister George Osborne who had agreed to forego the usual tax owed to the government from sales of the record.
    "I spoke to the chancellor (George Osborne) who said, "Forget it, we're not taking the tax". And so you know just in the spirit of the thing they're leading, but I spoke to the UN and the truth of the matter is that they need 20 times now the resources that are in the three affected countries," said Geldof, who was frontman for Irish new wave band The Boomtown Rats. "Twenty times - not the money but the resources, the people, the medicines, the hospitals. They need 20 times. So. this record is an attempt to try and bridge that. Certainly to push it, so we're doing Band Aid Germany, Band Aid France. Band Aid Germany because frankly the Germans aren't doing enough. They're the economic superpower of Europe, they're not stepping up to the line," he said.
    The original song from 1984, which raised 8 million pounds ($11 million), featured some of the era's biggest acts including U2's Bono, George Michael and David Bowie.
    It has been re-recorded twice in 1989 and 2004.
    Bono will be joined this time by Robert Plant, frontman of rock band Led Zeppelin, Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin and singers Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith.
    "I wish in a way we didn't have to do this," Bono said. "And there will come a time when we won't and that will be great. And it will be great to not see the same old faces. This is... I am excited about today is sort of Star Trek, The Next Generation. I like it. I'd be happy to just stand in the background and wave actually," he said.
    British musician, Emile Sande, said: "It's the first time I will have met a lot of people so yes, it's just really exciting."
    Geldof earlier this week said he decided to remake the single after the United Nations contacted him, saying help was urgently needed to prevent the disease from spreading beyond West Africa.
    Ebola has killed more than 5,000 people since it broke out in West Africa earlier this year according to the World Health Organization, mostly in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
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