Robert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof, is an Irish singer-songwriter, author, political activist and occasional actor, and co-wrote "Do They Know It's Christmas?", a song written in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in reaction to television reports of the 1983–85 famine, in which country?
Do They Know It's Christmas? "Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a song written in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in reaction to television reports of the 1983–85 famine in Ethiopia. It 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. The single was released in the United Kingdom on 3 December 1984 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 record became the fastest selling single in UK chart history, selling a million copies in the first week alone and passing 3 million on the last day of 1984, on the way to becoming the biggest selling single of all time in the UK. It held this title until 1997 when it was overtaken by Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997", released in tribute to Princess Diana following her death. The original version of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" has sold 3.8 million copies in the UK to date.
Liam Reilly Liam Reilly (born 29 January 1955, Dundalk) is an Irish singer/songwriter and a former member of the group Bagatelle. Bagatelle were formed in 1978 by drummer Walter (Wally) McConville along with bass player Ken O'Brien and guitarist John Doyle. In 1980 while recording the band's debut album, Reilly had received and offer from Gus Dudgeon (Elton John's producer, who has since died) to begin a solo career in return for leaving the other band members to their own devices. However Reilly refused and insisted on sticking by the other members as they had done the same for him until that point. After leaving the group in the mid-1980s he moved to Savannah, Georgia and began a solo career. In this time he recorded an album called "Savannah Serenade" which featured much of Reilly's keyboards and vocals. In 1988 he was a finalist in the Irish heats of the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Lifeline". Reilly came back to arrive second in the event in 1990 with "Somewhere in Europe". He performed this at the Eurovision Song Contest 1990 staged in Zagreb and was placed joint second out of the 22 entries. As a composer, Reilly returned to Eurovision in Rome in 1991 where his song "Could It Be That I'm In Love", performed by Kim Jackson, was placed equal tenth.