A host of U.K. music stars assembled at a studio in London on Saturday to record a new version of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”
One Direction, Ed Sheeran, Chris Martin, Rita Ora, Ellie Goulding and Sam Smith were among the lineup attending to sing the fourth edition of the Band Aid charity single, announced earlier in the week by Bob Geldof and this time aimed at combating the Ebola epidemic in Africa.
Bono, who on Wednesday was involved in an incident in which the rear hatch of his private jet fell off midflight, arrived late to the recording due to fog. Speaking on arrival, the U2 singer said he hoped to make such charity singles a thing of the past.
“We want to make Band Aid history,” he said. “If every country had the values of Great Britain and kept the promises they make at these big G8 meetings and the like, we wouldn’t have to be standing here.”
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Other artists featured in Band Aid 30, as the new group is being called in honor of the first single in 1984, include Elbow, Seal, Sinead O’Conner, Queen drummer Roger Taylor and Bastille, who canceled two U.S. arena gigs to attend. Dance acts Disclosure and Underworld are making remixes of the song.
“Do They Know It’s Christmas?” is being released for download on Monday. A CD edition, featuring a cover designed U.K. artist Tracey Emin, will come out three weeks later.
At the announcement made on Monday, Geldof revealed that Quincy Jones would be assembling a band for a U.S. follow-up to the megahit charity song “We Are the World.”
