Do They Know Its Christmas? is a song written in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in reaction to television reports of the 1983–85 famine in Ethiopia. It was first recorded in a single day on 25 November 1984 by Band Aid, a supergroup put together by Geldof and Ure and consisting mainly of the biggest British and Irish musical acts at the time. The single was released in the United Kingdom on 3 December 1984 and aided by considerable publicity it entered the UK Singles Chart at number one and stayed there for five weeks, becoming the Christmas number one of 1984. The record became the fastest selling single in UK chart history, selling a million copies in the first week alone and passing three million sales on the last day of 1984, on the way to becoming the biggest selling single of all time in the UK. It held this title until 1997 when it was overtaken by Elton Johns Candle in the Wind 1997, released in tribute to Princess Diana following her death. As of June 2014 the original version of Do They Know Its Christmas? has sold 3.75 million copies in the UK. The song was also a major success around the world, reaching number one in thirteen other countries outside the UK. In the US the single fell short of the top ten in the Billboard Hot 100 due to a lack of airplay, but it had sold an estimated 2.5 million copies in the US by January 1985. Worldwide the single had sold 11.7 million copies by 1989. Geldofs cautious hope was that the single would raise £70,000 for Ethiopia, but in the event Do They Know Its Christmas? raised £8 million within twelve months of release. The singles worldwide success in raising awareness and financial relief for the victims of the Ethiopian famine led the recording of several other charity singles in the UK and in other countries, such as We Are the World by USA for Africa. The song also led to various spin-off charity events, such as Comic Relief, and the Live Aid concert which would take place seven months later in July 1985. Do They Know Its Christmas? was re-recorded in 1989 by Band Aid II, in 2004 by Band Aid 20 and in 2014 by Band Aid 30. All the re-recordings were also charity records, the first two to provide money for famine relief, while the 2014 version was released to raise funds for the ongoing Ebola crisis in West Africa. All three of these versions also reached number one in the UK, and the 2004 version of the song was also a UK million seller, with 1.17 million copies sold
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 08:56:46 +0000
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