Nottingham's LadBaby have announced details of the song they hope will give them their fifth consecutive Christmas number one. Social media star Mark Hoyle and his wife Roxanne - known as LadBaby Mum - have teamed up with MoneySavingExpert’s Martin Lewis to rework the Band Aid song Do They Know It’s Christmas? in an attempt to set a new chart record.
They are the first act to be allowed to rework the Band Aid song, getting permission from Bob Geldof, Midge Ure and the Band Aid Trust. They will release the track titled Food Aid on December 16, with half of the money raised going to food bank charity the Trussell Trust and the other half to the Band Aid Trust.
Geldof and co-writer Ure’s first version of Do They Know It’s Christmas? raised £8 million for famine relief in Ethiopia. They gathered a group of musicians together in 1984 for the charity single. It featured Geldof’s fellow Irishman Bono, George Michael, Duran Duran, Phil Collins and Bananarama, among many others.
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It helped inspire the Live Aid concerts in London and Philadelphia on July 13 1985, and the Sport Aid campaign in 1986, all of which raised millions more. LadBaby and Lewis, who appears on the track with a number of musical collaborators yet to be announced, are aiming to raise as much money as possible to help tackle hunger and poverty.
Married couple Mark and Roxanne teamed up with Grammy winner Amy Wadge, who has previously worked with Ed Sheeran and Sam Ryder, to rewrite the festive song. The Hoyles have raised more than £1.2 million for the Trussell Trust through their chart-topping endeavours and branded partnerships, but said they are committed to doing even more as the cost-of-living crisis worsens.
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Last year, they made chart history by securing the Christmas number one for a fourth consecutive year, becoming the first musicians to do so in the 70 years of the Official Christmas Chart. They scored the top chart spot with novelty track Sausage Rolls For Everyone featuring global superstars Sheeran and Sir Elton John.
If they get a fifth they will surpass The Beatles, who achieved four Christmas number ones in the 1960s. Speaking about this year’s attempt, they said: “We never intended to release a fifth Christmas single but as ambassadors of the Trussell Trust we were not prepared to sit back and do nothing in a year when people are struggling more than ever.
“The Trussell Trust, which supports more than 1,300 food bank centres, has told us that the cost-of-living emergency has created a tsunami of need, as people struggle to survive amidst the soaring costs of living.
“Working households, families and disabled people are all really struggling. So, a few months ago we approached Bob Geldof and Midge Ure and the Band Aid Trust to ask permission to rework the most iconic Christmas track of all time, Do They Know It’s Christmas?
“And we were truly honoured when they said yes.”
The couple said they knew they needed to enlist “an icon” to launch this year’s campaign, so chose Lewis, who they called “the people’s champion”. Lewis said: “When Mark and Roxanne contacted me out of the blue to ask if I’d join them in Food Aid I thought they’d confused me with someone else.
“The nearest I’ve ever got to thinking about a Christmas number one is going to the loo on Boxing Day after too much orange juice the day before. Yet once I knew they were serious, and it was for the Trussell Trust, a hugely important charity I’ve a history with, I decided to give it a go, and do it with gusto.”
He said this has been a “tough year for many” amid the cost-of-living crisis and things are not likely to get better, so the need to help people across the UK is “profound”. “Hopefully this LadBaby song and their lyrics will raise some cash and awareness,” Lewis added.
Last year, LadBaby surpassed The Beatles and Spice Girls, who are the only other acts to score a consecutive hat-trick of festive number ones.
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