Band Aid (band) Band Aid (band) Band Aid is a charity supergroup featuring mainly British and Irish musicians and recording artists. It was founded in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for anti-famine efforts in Ethiopia by releasing the song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" for the Christmas market that year. On 25 November 1984, the song was recorded at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London, and was released in the UK four days later. The single surpassed the hopes of the producers to become the Christmas number one on that release. Three subsequent re-recordings of the song
Band Aid 20 Bono and Paul McCartney were the only artists from the original Band Aid to lend their voices to Band Aid 20. There was a reported dispute over the line 'Well tonight thank God it's them, instead of you', which Bono sang on the original version. Justin Hawkins, of The Darkness, laid down a version of the line, as did Robbie Williams, but Bono insisted on re-recording his version, which was eventually used on the record. Travis lead singer Fran Healy, who played guitar on the recording, said, "It's dead exciting. When [the 1984 version] was first recorded, I was 11