Band Aid tackles Ebola with new video and Geldof message
Rocker Bob Geldof reminded Brits of the ever-present threat of killer disease Ebola as he debuted the video for the latest Band Aid single on Sunday night (16Nov14).
The Live Aid hero and his sidekick Midge Ure gathered stars like One Direction, Rita Ora and U2's Bono and reworked their 30-year-old Do They Know It's Christmas? charity hit on Saturday (15Nov14) - and a day later Geldof premiered the song's video on U.K. talent show X Factor.
The video began with a stirring scene of an Ebola-stricken woman
being stretchered out of her home.
Geldof appeared on the show and urged people to buy the record and
help raise funds for the fight against Ebola, which has claimed the
lives of more than 4,800 people in West Africa.
The Boomtown Rats frontman said, "The reason they (stars) came
yesterday... is because this thing could arrive on a plane here any
time.
"Ebola has created mothers not able to touch their baby and
husbands and wives not able to touch each other in the last
moments. This is the most inhuman disease out there, but we can
stop it and we will stop it... We are going to stop this
thing."
The first Band Aid single, released in 1984, was recorded to raise
funds to tackle the 1984 Ethiopian famine.
The new track is the favorite to land this year's (14) coveted
Christmas number one spot on the U.K. charts.