30 years on from the original release of Do They Know It’s Christmas? 1984, Band Aid have released their 4th version of the song. Originally Band Aid released the song to raise money towards the poverty in Ethiopia, Africa. For the 30th Anniversary of Band Aid, we have put together the collection of all four Band Aid Christmas Songs from the past 30 years with a brief history of what they were for and the meaning behind each one.
Band Aid – 1984
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In 1984 Bob Geldof and Midge Ure got together with a collection of other music artists from that time, such as Phil Collins, Bono and David Bowie, to create Band Aid. Band Aid released Do They Know It’s Christmas? into the charts to raise money towards fighting poverty in Ethiopia in Africa.
Band Aid II – 1989
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Five years on from the original Band Aid in 1984, Band Aid II reformed by Bob Geldof, to raise even more awareness and money towards helping fight poverty in Africa. Band Aid II consisted of a reformed group of music artists that were popular of that time such as Bananarama, Jason Donavon and Kylie Minogue. Unfortunately the 2nd version of Do They Know It’s Christmas? was not as successful as the original release in 1984, however still raised a considerable amount of money.
Band Aid 20 – 2004
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Twenty years on from the original release of Do They Know It’s Christmas? back in 1984, Bob Geldof and Midge Ure got together and Band Aid 20 was reformed in 2004. Again money raised for selling the latest Do They Know It’s Christmas? went towards the poverty in Ethiopia and the surrounding areas in Africa that also suffered from poverty. Band Aid 20 was reformed yet again with all of the popular music artists from that time such as Dido, Christ Martin and the familiar face of Bono from U2 who appeared in the original recording of this song in 1984.
Band Aid 30 – 2014
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Band Aid 30 have released their 4th version of Do They Know It’s Christmas? for Christmas 2014. All money raised from the selling of this Christmas song will go towards helping the Ebola crisis in West Africa. The Ebola crisis has been world wide news since March 2014 and has had a serious outbreak since it was first discovered nearly 40 years ago in 1976. Since it’s outbreak in 2014 over 5,000 people have died from the disease and the number of reported cases is over 14,000. It is said that by the end of November there could be over 20,000 cases of people suffering from Ebola. The money raised from selling the Band Aid 30 song will help towards this crisis.
Band Aid 30 features all the popular artists of 2014 such as Ed Sheeren, Paloma Faith and Rita Ora as well as a few familiar faces such as Bono, Seal and Sinead O’Connor.
To find out more about Band Aid 30 click here. To support Band Aid 30 and to make a donation please click here. All money will go to a good cause and will help support the Ebola crisis in West Africa.
