Image Courtesy of Atlantic RecordsSome of Britain's biggest music acts are checking their egos at the door today: that's when they're all getting together to record a new version of the legendary Band Aid single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" The song, which was released 30 years ago this month to fight famine in Africa, is getting new lyrics to make it relevant to the Ebola crisis on that continent.
U2's Bono, and Coldplay's Chris Martin are among the stars participating. Roger Taylor of Queen, Adele, Sam Smith, One Direction, Olly Murs, Ed Sheeran, Ellie Goulding, Emeli Sande and Sinead O'Connor round out the lineup.
The rock band Foals was amongst the announced participants, however a spokesperson for the band told NME that the band will not take part, citing a scheduling conflict.
Bono is the only one participating who was featured on the original version of "Do They Know It's Christmas?"
Musician Midge Ure, who co-wrote the original song with Irish rocker Bob Geldof and is also working on the new version, tells Rolling Stone that when the song becomes available on Monday, you'll have to either buy it as a 99-cent download, or wait three weeks and purchase a CD version. Streaming music services will not have access to it until after the new year.
Noting the fact that this is an effort to raise money, Ure says, "All we can do is hope that Ed Sheeran and One Direction and everyone else plead with the fans not to stream this, not to download this for free."
"These kids know this song because they've heard it blasting out of radios every Christmas since they were born. What they now have to learn is why the song was done in the first place and why it's being done this time -- for slightly different but equally valid reasons," he adds.
For more information, visit BandAid30.com.
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