Top acts sign up for second Band Aid

The BBC has reported that 80's singer Midge Ure has recruited a number of top stars to produce a new Band Aid charity Christmas single.

14:33 23 October 2004

The BBC has reported that 80's singer Midge Ure has recruited a number of top stars to produce a new Band Aid charity Christmas single.

Midge Ure, who helped Bob Geldof arrange the original Band Aid appeal 20 years ago, told the BBC that Noel Gallagher, Damon Albarn and Dido have all signed up for the project.

The artists will join other top acts including Coldplay, The Darkness and Keane to re-record the 1984 Band Aid smash hit Do They Know It's Christmas?

"It's a pretty big line-up," Midge Ure said. "Once you've got a handful of people like that, the rest of it will come. The phones are ringing off the hook right now."

The original Band Aid single was released in the mid-80's and featured artists such as Duran Duran and U2.

More than 3.5 million people snapped up the hit Christmas song, which raised money for the Ethiopia famine appeal.

The release of the original single was followed by Live Aid, a huge transatlantic concert that brought the world's leading music celebrities together in July 1985.

Welcoming the latest initiative, Save the Children director general Mike Aaronson stressed the need to give Ethiopia long-term development assistance.

"We really can't let this slow decline continue," he said. "So it's really tremendous that the music industry is on the case again, and let's hope that leads to another huge public mobilisation.