On This Day – November 25th

"Do They Know It's Christmas?" i written in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in reaction to television reports of the 1983-1985 famine in Ethiopia was first recorded in a single day on 25 November 1984 by Band Aid, a supergroup put together by Geldof and Ure and consisting mainly of the biggest British and Irish musical acts at the time.

While Ure was occupied creating the song's backing track in the studio, Geldof was busy contacting various British artists to ask them to appear for the recording session. His plan was to have the biggest names in British music at the time appear on the record, and few declined: Geldof later revealed that only three people had turned him down, although he refused to disclose who they were. Those he asked but who were unable to appear instead sent recorded messages of support that appeared on the single's B-side, including David Bowie and Paul McCartney.

Geldof kept a November appointment with BBC Radio 1 DJ Richard Skinner to appear on his show, but instead of discussing his new album (the original reason for his booking), he used the airtime to publicise the idea for the charity single, so by the time the musicians were recruited there was intense media interest in the subject.

Geldof and Ure arrived at Sarm West at around 8 am on Sunday 25 November with the media in attendance outside. With recording scheduled to begin at 10:30 am the artists began arriving. Geldof had arranged for the UK newspaper The Daily Mirror to have exclusive access inside the studio and ensured that a 'team photo' was taken by the newspaper's photographer Brian Aris before any recording got under way, knowing that it would be ready in time to appear in the following day's edition of the newspaper and help publicise the record. The photograph also appeared on the back cover of the single.

Ure played the backing track and guide vocals to the artists and then decided, as a way of getting all involved straightaway, to record the climax first. The artists were put in a huge group and sang the 'Feed the world, let them know it's Christmas time' refrain over and over again until it was complete. Having recorded the group, Ure chose Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet to be the first singer into the studio to record his solo part. Hadley admitted that this had been nerve-wracking, knowing that all his contemporaries were watching him. One by one the other assigned singers then did likewise, with Ure taping their efforts and then making notes on which segments would be cut into the final recording.

Le Bon, despite having already recorded his part at Ure's house, re-recorded it so he could be part of the moment. Sting also recorded his words again, this time to provide harmony vocals. Despite being lead singers themselves, both Geldof and Ure had already decided that they would not sing any solo lines, although both took part in the 'feed the world' finale. Ure later stated in his autobiography that he was constantly battling with Geldof and telling him to leave when he would come into the production booth and wrongly tell the artist behind the microphone what to sing.

Phil Collins arrived with his entire drum kit to record a live drum track on top of the already programmed drum machine. He set up the kit and then waited patiently until early evening until after all the vocals had been recorded. Ure was content with the first take that Collins performed, but the perfectionist Collins was unhappy with it and asked for a second take to be recorded, which he was satisfied with.

Although the majority of the artists who took part were the UK's biggest musical stars at the time, there were a few unusual participants. Members of the US group Kool & the Gang appeared on the record because they were signed to the same record label as the Boomtown Rats, and just happened to be visiting Phonogram's London offices on the day that Geldof walked in to pitch his idea for the charity single to the label.

Singer Marilyn, who had scored a couple of chart hits a year earlier but whose star had faded throughout 1984, saw the opportunity to reclaim the spotlight and turned up to the recording despite not being invited to take part, a fact overlooked by Geldof and Ure who felt any publicity was good publicity and the more stars they could get to appear on the record, the better. Actor Nigel Planer, who had reached number two earlier in the year with a cover version of "Hole in My Shoe" in the guise of his character Neil from the television comedy series The Young Ones, also showed up uninvited and in character as Neil to play up to the cameras, and after being tolerated for a while was sent away by Ure.

Geldof also asked Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt, the two frontmen of rock band Status Quo, to take part, knowing that although the group were from an entirely different musical era and background, their consistent chart success and fame would bring a certain amount of credibility to the project from the rock fraternity and ensure that the group's loyal following of fans (the "Quo Army") would buy the record in large numbers.

Ure's original idea was for Rossi and Parfitt to sing the "here's to you" harmonies in the song's bridge, but he had to shelve the idea because Parfitt could not hit the high notes. This section was eventually taken on by Weller, Sting and Glenn Gregory.

The single was released in the United Kingdom on 3 December and aided by considerable publicity it entered the UK Singles Chart at number one and stayed there for five weeks, becoming the Christmas number one of 1984.

The song was also a major success around the world, reaching number one in thirteen other countries outside the UK.

It led to various spin-off charity events such as Comic Relief and the Live Aid concert which would take place seven months later in July 1985 in both London and Philadephia.

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