Stars line up for Band Aid III
But no Michael, McCartney or Bowie for hit song remake
Friday, October 22, 2004 Posted: 12:01 PM EDT (1601 GMT)

LONDON, England -- Noel Gallagher, Damon Albarn, Jamelia, Coldplay, The Darkness and Travis have been lined up to sing in a new version of Band Aid's original mega-hit "Do They Know it's Christmas?" British media reports say.

Bob Geldof and Ultravox singer Midge Ure are teaming up to re-record the song 20 years after the original topped charts around the world, with proceeds going to famine relief in Ethiopia and Sudan.

"Sworn enemies" Gallagher and Albarn have buried the hatchet to sign up for Band Aid III, The Sun newspaper reported Friday.

Blur's Albarn, 36, and Oasis star Gallagher, 37, will join Coldplay's Chris Martin, Travis's Fran Healy, Jamelia and The Darkness to re-record Band Aid's 1984 hit, the tabloid said.

Other big names being lined up include Dido and Robbie Williams. Ure, who co-wrote the charity song with Geldof, 53 -- is masterminding the track. It is likely to be recorded at a London studio on November 14.

Ure, 51, told The Sun: "Noel said he's going to do it and I heard Damon is going to do it as well, but as one of the Gorillaz. Katie ... has offered her services

"So whether he's going to actually be in the studio or whether it's going to be a cartoon character, I don't know. But they're both going to do it."

The track will be produced by Radiohead guru Nigel Godrich, while Ure wants U2 frontman Bono to sing his original line: "Tonight thank God it's them instead of you."

Ure said The Darkness star Justin Hawkins asked to sing the famous lyric -- but that he would prefer Bono to have the honor.

"I'm still waiting to hear back from Robbie Williams and Keane. But it now seems to have really taken off and people are desperate to be part of it. It's a great idea -- the 20th anniversary of something quite magnificent."

Jamelia told The Sun: "I was absolutely thrilled to be asked to be part of it. It's important for my generation to realize we can try to change things.

"I was only aged three the first time around so I'm really pleased I can help to bring awareness to a generation that missed it."

Geldof and Ure created Band Aid, a supergroup of 40 artists, in 1984 and with the hit single raised over £10 million ($18.25m).

A spokesman for Coldplay told the UK's Press Association that the band had been approached by Ure and were awaiting further development on the project.

Many of the original acts -- including George Michael, Paul McCartney and David Bowie -- will appear on the new record.

Ure told Sky News: "They did it the first time around. We've got to get new guys on board, a bunch of people who were far too young the first time.

"My dream line-up has acts like Radiohead, The Darkness, Noel Gallagher, Robbie Williams, Keane and Coldplay. Can you imagine the harmony at the end of the song with The Darkness on guitar? It will be fantastic."

Ure said he was racing against time to get the song recorded in the next couple of weeks.

"I didn't know anything about this until Friday evening when I spoke to Bob. I told him, 'it's a great idea, let's go and do it.' "I spent all day yesterday and today phoning people up and saying 'it's going to happen.'

"It's got to be done very soon, in the next couple of weeks, so we can get it turned around and out there in time for Christmas," he said.

The line-up is to go by the name Band Aid III -- the song was re-recorded in 1989 with acts like Rick Astley, Luke Goss, Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan making up Band Aid II.

Originally posted by BadlyDrawnBoy
loved the original

Originally posted by uli2000
Noel Gallagher and Damon Albarn in the same recording studio? I though they hated each other? Maybe it was just the British press trying to sell some records in the mid 90's.

Originally posted by Burnt Alive
Noel Gallagher hates everyone.

And it's not going to be Damon Albarn, it' gonna be that guy from the Gorillaz.

Originally posted by movieking
When was Band Aid II? I must have missed that. I think that I remember something about it but not much. Any details?

Originally posted by RoyalTea
I've always wondered how you can sing a song about starving people in Africa can include the line

"Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you"

Originally posted by GuessWho
Ummm.... you didn't get to the news story's last paragraph, did you?

Originally posted by Coral
All these people, and they can't come up with something new?

Originally posted by Burnt Alive
Why?

Originally posted by Numanoid
For charity. With this number of popular artists involved, it WILL make money. Money which will go to charity. What's the problem?

Originally posted by Burnt Alive
The problem is it should be a completely new song instead of a word-for-word "reworking" of the original.

Originally posted by Numanoid
Why?

Band Aid hit by bickering Bono
By Matthew Bayley and Clemmie Moodie, Daily Mail
15 November 2004

It was meant to be a re-creation of one of pop's finest moments, where the cream of the British music scene came together in the name of charity.

Instead it turned into a egofuelled squabble between one of rock's elder statesmen and a flashy would-be young pretender.

The 20th anniversary of Band Aid was hit by an alleged row involving U2's lead singer Bono and Justin Hawkins of The Darkness over the new recording of Do They Know It's Christmas?

Hawkins had been given the task of singing one of the most famous lines - 'Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you' - originally sung by Bono, who did not attend yesterday's recording.

Insiders said Hawkins did so with aplomb, leaving Bono's contribution to the project, which he had recorded in Ireland, apparently in doubt.

But last night an angry Bono was said to be on his way to the UK to re-record the line, after his management insisted his version had to be included, even if it was only the performance from 1984.

'Bono's people say he definitely has to do that line,' said one insider. 'Justin's version was brilliant, but they are adamant.'

Hawkins said last night: 'I did it and I did it better than him. So, his management kicked up a stink. It obviously means a lot to him. It's a valuable line for him, he needs it, so I think he's going to fly back and try again to beat me.

'If not, they're going to use the original one he did when he was my age.'

It is not the only controversy prompted by the new recording. Sir Paul McCartney, who plays bass guitar on the song, was banned from singing because he was too old, and artist Damien Hirst's CD cover had to be scrapped because it was too disturbing.

Yesterday only Band Aid founders Sir Bob Geldof and Midge Ure were present from the 1984 line-up as a new generation of pop stars recorded the song at Sir George Martin's studio in Hampstead, North London.

Among them were Will Young, Jamelia, Ms Dynamite, Rachel Stevens, Natasha Bedingfield, the Sugababes, Busted, Katie Melua, Damon Albarn, Lemar, Coldplay's Chris Martin and Travis singer Fran Healy. Robbie Williams and Did had aleardy recorded their lyrics.

Sir Bob - whose daughter Pixie was wearing the 'Feed The World' T-shirt her father wore at the 1984 recording session - was keen to impress upon the young stars the importance of what they were doing.

He is said to have reduced many of them to tears by showing them a video of the Ethiopian famine 20 years ago.

Band Aid 20, which will raise money for famine relief in the Darfur region of Sudan, will be released on November 29 and is expected to be the Christmas number one single.

The original song, which featured stars including George Michael and Duran Duran, raised £8million.

Some of the stars on the new version were not even born when the original was made. Soul singer Joss Stone, 17, admitted she had never heard of Geldof - and later referred to him as Bob Gandalf.