Live Aid 1985

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Can't you believe its already been fourty years since Live Aid in 1985? 

Live Aid was a benefit concert to help with the famine relief in Ethiopia in 1983-1985. During the time, two music legends from the United Kingdom, Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, wanted to do a charity concert to help fund the country of Ethiopia, and during that time, there were recurred droughts, food scarcity and ongoing government policies that relocated families and routed relief elsewhere, according to the World Vision website.

Freddie Mercury performing at Live Aid
The Ethiopian Famine unfortunately killed approximately 7.75 million people (out of the 1985 Ethiopia population, 38 to 40 million or 1/5 Population of Ethiopia) 300,000 to 1.2 million dead. According to the report from 'The Ethiopian Revolution: War in the horn in Africa' from Gebru Tareke (Ethiopian Historian).

To the events leading to the Live Aid concerts, Bob wanted to create a new charity after the success of 'Do They Know Its Christmas' the year before. That featured artists like, U2 (Bono), Duran Duran and even Phil Collins and his drums. 

Phil Collins during a performance in Pennsylvania 

According to the 'Playing For Change' website, on the morning of July 13, 1985, a 16-hour musical event in London and Philadelphia to help out with the concerts, as people glued into their TV's watching the concert play out. 

This became one of the biggest charities in the world. 

More than 75 different musicians from around the world came to perform in the span for 16-hours, people like Rolling Stones, Tina Turner, U2, etc.

Even Phil Collins took his flight from Wembley Stadium (UK) to Philadelphia via his private jet, Concordia. 

At one point, Bob Geldof asked the BBC on how much they raised. They told him 1.2 M with angered him to try to boost donations, he went to the former BBC reporter because they were thinking of potential clients in neighbourhoods they wanted to donate, and Bob interrupted him with profanities. After the exchange, the donations increased to 300 pounds per second. 

Teddy Pendergrass; who sang 'Close The Door', 'Love TKO', and was part of the band, 'Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes'. He suffered from a car crash before coming back on the stage during the festival. At the end, he suffered from spinal cord injury, and never walked again. 
He also performed alongside Ashford & Simpson, and came out in a wheelchair with a roaring applause. 

Some of the performances were recorded live, check it out below!

Ashford & Simpson with Teddy Pendergrass performing




Madonna performing during Live Aid.









Overall, the entire charity concert raised more than 150 pounds or over $120 Million dollars (adjusted for inflation, $37B, 46B pounds) for the famine relief for Ethiopia. 


References:





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