Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles.
One app.

Start reading

Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles. One news app.

Start reading

The Latest Breaking News from Band Aid

Wham!’s Last Christmas remains top of UK singles chart for another week

Duo’s festive record made history when it became Christmas No 1 two years in a row

The Guardian - UK

“He got a kidney infection, so he’s in hospital… That’s a bit of a drag, because he was going to be the lead guitarist”: The iconic charity rock song that missed out on its star guitarist due to illness – and why it could have sounded very different

Do They Know It’s Christmas? could have ended up with more guitars had fate not intervened

Guitar World

Wham!’s Last Christmas is Christmas No 1 for second year running

Duo’s Andrew Ridgeley celebrates success of song that is ‘almost as much a part of Christmas as mince pies, turkey and pigs in blankets’

The Guardian - UK

From analysis to the latest developments in health,
read the most diverse news in one place.

The charitable ‘gaze’ is a complicated thing

Letter: Paul McGilchrist responds to an article about Band Aid and recalls Josiah Wedgwood’s anti-slavery medallion

The Guardian - UK

Band Aid 40 enters UK Top 10 as Christmas No 1 race hots up

More than half of this week’s Top 40 is Christmas-themed, as classics by Wham! and Mariah Carey eye a potential No 1 position

The Guardian - UK

“They pick one crisis in one country and they paint the whole of Africa": Fuse ODG, the rapper behind Band Aid’s 40th anniversary controversy, releases his own We Know It's Christmas clapback track

First he persuaded Ed Sheeran to step away from the track. Now he’s made his own answer record to set the story straight

MusicRadar

Hunger: What's changed since Band Aid?

"Yet in terms of the global persistence of famine, things have not got better in the intervening 40 years"

Salon

Read news from The Economist, FT, and more,
with one subscription

A new Christmas single – but do they know it’s Ed Davey?

The bungee-jumping Lib Dem leader could be just the man to reinvigorate a genre beset by cynicism and creative inertia

The Guardian - UK

Band Aid 40 fails to reach UK Top 40 in opening week

All-star version of Do They Know It’s Christmas?, spliced together from previous versions, falls short of the No 1 success of those earlier hits

The Guardian - UK

Bob Geldof received emotional thank you from Ethiopian waiter for changing his life

Bob Geldof received an emotional thank you from an Ethiopian waiter whose life was changed by Band Aid.

BANG Premier

Ed Sheeran announces ‘biggest ever’ India tour

Grammy winner performed a sold-out show in Mumbai earlier this year

The Independent UK

Bob Geldof wants to 'have a talk' with Ed Sheeran

Bob Geldof plans to "have a talk" with Ed Sheeran following his criticism of the new Band Aid 40 release but insisted he thinks the 'Shape of You' singer is a "really good bloke".

BANG Premier

Liam Payne’s Vocals Have Been Used Posthumously On The Same Christmas Song Slammed By Ed Sheeran

“Had I had the choice, I would have respectfully declined,” Sheeran said of his involvement in the song.

Pedestrian.tv

Band Aid sang ‘feed the world’ 40 years ago – where is hunger still an issue today?

The 40th-anniversary remake of Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? charity hit was released on November 25. The new mix, which features vocals recycled from previous versions of the single, still includes the original track’s “feed the world” message and lyrics.

The Conversation

Get all your
news in one place.

100’s of premium titles.
One news app.

The Guardian - UK

The Long Wave: How Brazil is celebrating its Black heritage

Afro-Brazilians marked Black Consciousness Day as a national holiday for the first time, but the celebrations are facing resistance. Plus, a fertility ‘miracle’ rattles Nigeria and Kendrick Lamar’s surprise drop

The Independent UK

Ricky Gervais leaves Bob Geldof unimpressed after cracking joke about Band Aid star on One Show

BBC series’s host Angellica Bell placed her head in her hands after Gervais made the quip

Evening Standard

Bob Geldof says he will chat to Ed Sheeran after his criticism of Band Aid 40 charity single

The singer-songwriter said he didn’t give permission for his vocals to be used on the latest iteration of the classic song

The Independent UK

Bob Geldof says he’ll ‘chat’ to Ed Sheeran as listeners call Band Aid 40 song ‘awful’

‘The debate must be made and it means we can argue our point of view even more strongly’

Get all your
news in one place.

100’s of premium titles.
One news app.

BANG Premier

Mike Stock hits out at Bob Geldof for omitting Band Aid II from Do They Know It's Christmas? Ultimate Mix

Record producer Mike Stock has hit out at Bob Geldof for reducing 1989's Band Aid II to a "footnote" as it is not included in the new 40th anniversary 'Ultimate Mix' of 'Do They Know It's Christmas?'.

The Guardian - UK

‘Everyone was happy, but it became annoying’: Ethiopians look back on Band Aid

London cafe owner Yared Markos, 48, saw ‘aeroplanes, biscuits, sweets and cake all over Addis Ababa’ after song’s release

The Independent UK

Bob Geldof tells Band Aid 40 critics to ‘shut up’ as he declares charity single is ‘perfect’

Bob Geldof has defended the Band Aid 40 charity single release following backlash from several artists.

MusicRadar

“We were on our way to our Christmas party when Bob Geldof called us and said ‘It’s your turn’”: The story of Band Aid II, the Do They Know It’s Christmas? they tried to forget

With the 40th anniversary remix featuring nothing from 1989’s version, let’s take a deep dive into the big-selling charity single that no one remembers

Evening Standard

Band Aid stars hit out at Ed Sheeran over vocal permission complaint on charity single

Spandau Ballet’s Tony Hadley and the song’s producer, Trevor Horn, defended the intentions behind the charity single

The Independent UK

Live Aid promoter dismisses ‘woke do-gooders’ questioning Band Aid after Ed Sheeran statement

Harvey Goldsmith’s comments come after Sheeran said he had changed his stance on the charity single ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’

Evening Standard

Band Aid 40 branded 'horrific' by listeners as Bob Geldof breaks down in tears over 'work of art' charity song

Listeners said the charity single doesn’t have ‘a patch on the original’ after it aired on BBC Radio 2 Monday morning - but others have leapt to defence of song

1 2 3 4

People

From analysis to the latest developments in health,
read the most diverse news in one place.

Organisations

Read news from The Economist, FT, and more,
with one subscription

Places

Fourteen days free

Download the app

One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.