Live Aid - Bob Geldof -Midge Ure - Social Studies

Live Aid

Bob Geldof

Bob Geldof is an Irish singer-songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. Who even though had has a rough life, still pulls through with a positive mindset and a strong will to help others. Geldof rose to fame as the singer of the Boomtown Rats and is known for organising the international Live Aid and Live 8 events. Bob Geldof was raised as a catholic, he attended Blackrock College. After school, he began work as a music journalist in Vancouver for Georgia Straight. In 1975, however, he returned to Ireland and became the singer in The Boomtown Rats. In 1984, Bob Geldof and Midge Ure (of Ultravox) wrote the song 'Do they know It's Christmas' in order to raise funds to ease the famine in Ethiopia. The next year, Ure and Geldof undertook the organisation of Live Aid: a massive, two-part event, performed simultaneously in Philadelphia and London. The event was television in full in the UK on BBC radio and television. The concert raise over €150 million. At the age of 34, Geldof was knighted, as a mark of respect for his efforts.

Midge Ure

Midge Ure (born James Ure on October 10, 1953 in Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, Scotland) is a rock and roll guitarist, singer and songwriter from Scotland, who had particular success in the 1970s and 1980s. Born to a working-class family in Cambuslang, Ure attended Rutherglen Academy until he was 15 years old. For the first 10 years of his life he lived in a one-bedroom tenement flat on Cambuslang with his brothers, sister and parents, later moving to a new house. in 1984, Ure co-wrote the Band Aid hit, "Do they know it's Christmas?" with Bob Geldof. In 2005, he organised Live 8 concerts with Bob Geldof with the aim of pressing G8 leaders into taking action to end world poverty.

"Do they know it's Christmas"

Geldof got the idea for "Do they know it's Christmas"? in October of that year, when he was watching the BBC in England and grew concerned at the plight of Ethiopians experiencing a severe famine. Geldof believed he could raise money through music. In the 1980s, there was a huge famine. Between 1983 and 1985, an estimated 1 million deaths were caused by the hunger crisis. Due to a civil war which lasted from 1974 to 1991 and a drought in 1981, crops were destroyed and there was a lack of food.

Audience/Purpose: - people who like pop or rock

- People who believe in the cause (famine relief)

Purpose of the song: -Raise/spread awareness about an issue

- to raise funds for the victims of the famine

Theme: - suffering faced during a difficult time

- Hope

- helping

Content of the song: - They lyrics talk about how while many people have basic needs (clean water/food) there is still suffering in other parts of the world that we don't hear about.

Connection to the 1980s / Background:

- A famine that affected Ethiopia was the inspiration or cause of the song

-Written in response or as a reaction to the Ethiopian Famine of 1983 - 1985

- All profits made from the song went to the famine relief charities

- The song led to a trend in music for a cause (activist music)

Live Aid

With the crisis continuing in Ethiopia, and the neighbouring Sudan also stricken with famine, Geldof proposed Live Aid, and ambitious global charity concert aimed at raising more funds and increasing awareness of the plight of many Africans. Organised in just 10 weeks, Live Aid was staged on Saturday, 13th July 1985. More than 75 acts performed in London and the US. At Wembley Stadium in London Prince Charles and Princess Diana officially opened Live Aid. Continued at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia (where Joan Baez famously kicked it off by telling the crowd "this is your Woodstock, and it's long overdue") and at other arenas around the world. The 16hr 'superconcert' was globally linked by satellite to more than a billion viewers in 110 nations.