Subj : Today in musical history
To : All
From : Sean Dennis
Date : Thu Jul 13 2006 10:44 am
Hello, All.
LIVE AID CONCERT:
July 13, 1985
On July 13, 1985, at Wembley Stadium in London, Prince Charles and Princess
Diana officially open Live Aid, a worldwide rock concert organized to raise
money for the relief of famine-stricken Africans. Continued at JFK Stadium in
Philadelphia and at other arenas around the world, the 16-hour "superconcert"
was globally linked by satellite to more than a billion viewers in 110 nations.
In a triumph of technology and good will, the event raised more than $125
million in famine relief for Africa.Live Aid was the brainchild of Bob Geldof,
the singer of an Irish rock group called the Boomtown Rats. In 1984, Geldof
traveled to Ethiopia after hearing news reports of a horrific famine that had
killed hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians and threatened to kill millions
more.
After returning to London, he called Britain's and Ireland's top pop artists
together to record a single to benefit Ethiopian famine relief. "Do They Know
It's Christmas?" was written by Geldof and Ultravox singer Midge Ure and
performed by "Band Aid," an ensemble that featured Culture Club, Duran Duran,
Phil Collins, U2, Wham!, and others. It was the best-selling single in Britain
to that date and raised more than $10 million."Do They Know It's Christmas?"
was also a No. 1 hit in the United States and inspired U.S. pop artists to come
together and perform "We Are the World," a song written by Michael Jackson and
Lionel Ritchie. "USA for Africa," as the U.S. ensemble was known, featured
Jackson, Ritchie, Geldof, Harry Belafonte, Bob Dylan, Cyndi Lauper, Paul Simon,
Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner, Stevie Wonder, and many others. The single went
to the top of the charts and eventually raised $44 million.
With the crisis continuing in Ethiopia, and the neighboring Sudan also stricken
with famine, Geldof proposed Live Aid, an ambitious global charity concert
aimed at raising more funds and increasing awareness of the plight of many
Africans. Organized in just 10 weeks, Live Aid was staged on Saturday, July 13,
1985. More than 75 acts performed, including Elton John, Madonna, Santana, Run
DMC, Sade, Sting, Bryan Adams, the Beach Boys, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Queen,
Duran Duran, U2, the Who, Tom Petty, Neil Young, and Eric Clapton. The majority
of these artists performed at either Wembley Stadium in London, where a crowd
of 70,000 turned out, or at Philadelphia's JFK Stadium, where 100,000 watched.
Thirteen satellites beamed a live television broadcast of the event to more
than one billion viewers in 110 countries. More than 40 of these nations held
telethons for African famine relief during the broadcast. A memorable moment
of the concert was Phil Collins' performance in Philadelphia after flying by
Concorde from London, where he performed at Wembley earlier in the day. He
later played drums in a reunion of the surviving members of Led Zeppelin.
Beatle Paul McCartney and the Who's Pete Townsend held Bob Geldof aloft on
their shoulders during the London finale, which featured a collective
performance of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" Six hours later, the U.S. concert
ended with "We Are the World".
Live Aid eventually raised $127 million in famine relief for African nations,
and the publicity it generated encouraged Western nations to make available
enough surplus grain to end the immediate hunger crisis in Africa. Geldof was
later knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his efforts.
In early July 2005, Geldof staged a series of Live 8 concerts in 11 countries
around the world to help raise awareness of global poverty. Organizers, led by
Geldof, purposely scheduled the concert days before the annual G8 summit in an
effort to increase political pressure on G8 nations to address issues facing
the extremely poor around the world. Live 8 claims that an estimated 3 billion
people watched 1,000 musicians perform in 11 shows, which were broadcast on 182
television networks and by 2,000 radio stations. Unlike Live Aid, Live 8 was
intentionally not billed as a fundraiser-Geldof's slogan was "We don't want
your money, we want your voice".
Perhaps in part because of the spotlight brought to such issues by Live 8, the
G8 subsequently voted to cancel the debt of 18 of the worlds poorest nations,
make AIDS drugs more accessible, and double levels of annual aid to Africa, to
$50 billion by 2010.
Later,
Sean
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