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11/22/2024 08:53:57 am

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Band Aid 30: Chris Martin, Bono, One Direction Pool Talents For Ebola Charity Song

Bob Geldof

(Photo : Reuters/Kevin Coombs) Musician Bob Geldof speaks at the Microsoft future decoded conference at the ExCel centre in London November 10, 2014.

One Direction and a handful of other singers joined rocker Bob Geldof on Saturday to record a new version of the Band Aid charity song in order to raise funds to combat Ebola in Africa.

The song they recorded, "Do they know it's Christmas" was first recorded 30 years ago after Bob rallied a group of other stars to come together under the group name Band Aid in order to help the people affected of famine in Africa.

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Geldof however, made some changes to the song to reflect the current Ebola crisis.

"The record, it is a song, it is a track, but more so it is an event and the aim now is to turn it into phenomenon like it was when we first did this in the 1980's" Geldof told the BBC who interviewed him outside the Notting Hill recording studio when he arrived. He also announced that British finance minister; George Osborne had agreed to forego the usual tax that came with record sales. "It very much reminds of the 80's. Everyone is bleary, I remember George Osborne saying that pop stars are not very good in the morning." Geldof continued.

The original song was penned and recorded in 1984, raised $11 million and featured some of the most famous bands and singers at the time, including U2, George Michael and David Bowie. Since then the song has been re-recorded twice, first in 1989 and then in 2004.

Geldof had announced his plans earlier this week after The United Nations contacted him, saying that they needed his help to fight Ebola.

Ebola has killed more than 5,000 people since it re-appeared earlier this year. Most of the deaths were from the highly affected areas of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. 

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