Secret behind Freddie Mercury's Live Aid performance and Gary Kemp's big regret

Daily Mirror

3 days ago

On July 13 1985 Prince Charles and Princess Diana officially opened Live Aid - Sir Bob Geldof and Midge Ure's organisational triumph, that saw some of the world's greatest musicians perform at Wembley and Philadelphia's JFK Stadium.
Broadcast to 1.9 billion people globally, performers like The Style Council's Dee C. Lee recall the thrilling, but nerve-wracking concert, that raised more than £114m for Ethiopian famine relief.
Fans assumed she was wearing shades because of the sun. In fact, she was so nervous that she threw up just before the band, led by her future husband Paul Weller, went on stage.
'Travelling to Wembley felt pretty much like travelling to perform at any festival, but once we got there, it all got very real very quick.' says Dee, 64.
'Before we went on, the nerves had properly kicked in, to the point I had thrown up just before walking out onto the stage. This explains why I had to perform in dark glasses, as my eye makeup had run. Not my normal practice!'
Speaking on BBC Sounds' Live Aid: Fans' Story, released today, Dee is celebrating that magic day's 40th anniversary.
She also sang on the Band Aid single, Do They Know It's Christmas? which raised around £8 million for the famine and was the precursor to the concert.
Dee - who went on to have two children, Nathanial and Leah, with Paul before their 1998 split - continues: 'Looking back, I'd felt I'd been part of something amazing, but I didn't realise how historic the day would become. I'm still very proud to have played a small part in it.'
The Style Council performed second on the bill after Status Quo, who had the perfect opener with Rockin' All Over The World, following a brief performance by the Coldstream Guard.
The Quo's Francis Rossi, 76, says: 'Nobody wanted to go on first. There were lots of egos. I remember asking our manager if anybody had decided yet.
'I said we would gladly go on first, because everybody was arguing. We thought we'd be out of there in 15 minutes and home and didn't think the whole thing would be anywhere near as important as it became.'
Spandau Ballet's Gary Kemp didn't anticipate the magnitude of the day either.
Had he done so, he says he wouldn't have chosen that moment to perform new track Virgin to the audience of 72,000 at Wembley and 89,000 at JFK Stadium watching via satellite, not to mention the billion plus viewers at home.
'I am slightly irritated by the fact that we chose that moment to do a new song,' admits Gary, 65.
'I can't believe that we did a new song out of the three we chose. We didn't do Gold, which frustrates me. We did True and Only When You Leave. We didn't fully get that people would be talking about it 40 years later."
The Who had not played together for years when they did Live Aid.
'I was quite excited to watch them,' says Gary, revealing how guitarist Pete Townshend allowed him to watch them perform from the side of the stage.
'At the end of the concert, Sting was handing out the hymn sheets of Do They Know It's Christmas and was very much the head boy of the situation.
'We all kind of did a sort of rehearsal backstage that sort of fell apart and then, of course, everyone ran on stage and tried to do their best. Some people were much better at getting to the front than others.'
Nik Kershaw, 67, was approached by Sir Bob about Live Aid in January 1985, when the Boomtown Rats singer spotted him at Heathrow Airport waiting for a flight.
'There was a whole bunch of us going off to a German TV show, and Bob was lurking in the terminal. I never figured out exactly why he was there,' he says.
Recalling the atmosphere at Live Aid being 'fraught and tense' until he finished his set, he continues: 'There was a whole load of us hanging out in the royal box. I remember Tony Hadley standing up in the front and saying, 'Does anyone want a beer?' And everybody, I mean, everybody, put their hand up, and he just slumped off and appeared about half an hour later with trays and trays and trays of beers. Good man, Tony.
'When Queen came on, it was an utterly joyous celebration of music. But there were other moments. I remember a particularly poignant moment when David Bowie came off stage a song early, so they could play the original 1984 Michael Burke news report in Ethiopia that started the whole thing off, and the whole place went quiet as everybody remembered what they were there for.'
When the show was over and they were all packing up to go home, Nik heard someone singing to himself ' Do They Know It's Christmas time'
'It was Mr. Bowie and I was completely and utterly star-struck,' he says.
Billy Ocean performed across the pond at Philadelphia's JFK Stadium.
'I was pleased they asked me to do it,' he says, 'I would have liked to have been one of the black artists in London. I would have been very offended if they hadn't asked me.
'I've always given Bob my respect ( for putting together Live Aid). I thank him for doing something like that for Africans."
Meanwhile, Queen's set, including Bohemian Rhapsody, Hammer To Fall, Radio Ga Ga, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions is widely regarded as the most famous single performance in popular music history . But it almost never happened.
Sir Bob reveals how Freddie Mercury called him, unsure about taking part.
Doing an impersonation of Freddie, Sir Bob 73, remembers the call, saying: 'The phone rang and he goes 'Is that you Bobsy?
'I said, 'Yes, and he said, 'So what's all this? It's wonderful what you're doing, but that's not really our thing, you know?'
'I said 'I get it, Fred, honestly, man. But if there was one stage in the world ever built for you, this is it.' And he said, 'Well, what do you mean?' And I said, 'Well, hello, darling! the world.'
'There was a pause, and then Freddie said, 'Yes, I think I know where you're coming from.' And then the next minute, Freddie went on and blasted the world. '
Legendary DJ Paul Gambaccini was backstage, recalling: 'Someone came up to me and said 'they are stealing the show!' You could feel the frisson.'
Meanwhile, Sir Bob adds: 'Freddie and Queen will always be remembered for Live Aid. It's not me bigging myself up, but they came from a space of exhaustion with each other, with their music and unsure where to go next. I think they thought, 'if we're gonna go we're gonna go out on a high - by telling people what we did.' These guys just wrapped it up in their blazing 15- 20 minutes.'
Freddie, who died from an AIDS related illness in 1991, called it 'a turning point in the history of Queen.'
Supported by drummer Roger Taylor, lead guitarist Brian May, drummer Roger Taylor and bass guitarist John Deacon, one of the world's greatest showmen ensured that we are still celebrating Live Aid 40 years later.