Why Paula Yates was the secret force behind Live Aid and why Bob Geldof's phone call with a pop star helped raise £74m

The Irish Sun

3 days ago

THE world will always remember 1985's Live Aid as the global fundraiser organised by Bob Geldof.
But the truth was, he could not have pulled off the mega rock concert without his then-girlfriend,
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Paula Yates was the secret force behind Live Aid
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Paula and Bob Geldof began a romantic relationship in 1976
Credit: Shutterstock Editorial
Four decades on from the historic event, a new documentary reveals how
In Live Aid At 40, which airs next week, Sir Bob says it was really Paula who brought together the likes of Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet to boost the appeal, which ended up raising about £150million for the starving in Ethiopia.
She had access to big-name celebs through Channel 4's Eighties music show, The Tube, which she hosted with
My wife had befriended all these new guys
with beautiful suits and hair. I asked who was on her show and she put Midge Ure on the phone
Bob
On the BBC Two programme Bob, who married Paula in 1986, recalls: 'All I had the power to do was write tunes. But the Boomtown Rats were not guaranteed to have hits any more. All these new guys had come along with beautiful suits and coiffed hair.
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'And I understood this new thing because my wife had befriended all these people on the show that she was host of, The Tube.
'So I called Paula and I asked who was on the show that night and she said, 'Ultravox'. I said, 'Put Midge Ure on' and he just said, 'What do you want to do?'.'
That was the moment which led to the cream of British music coming together on November 25, 1984, to record Band Aid's Do they Know It's Christmas?, which then led to Live Aid on July 13, 1985.
'Lot of male egos'
The global event saw Madonna, U2, David Bowie,
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They were broadcast worldwide in a bid to encourage donations to combat the Ethiopian famine.
But fundraising to help victims was actually an idea dreamt up by Paula — who was just 25 — in the family home she shared with Bob, then 33, and their two-year-old daughter Fifi.
Critics of Bob Geldof are WRONG - Band Aid saved my life and thousands more
He can still vividly recall the moment they watched the evening news and witnessed Michael Buerk's now-famous 1984 news report on the humanitarian crisis.
She couldn't stand watching the Ethiopia news.
She put a bowl on the table with a note saying put £1 or £5 in here. I thought: That's not adequate
Bob
In the three-part documentary, Sir Bob says: 'My partner Paula couldn't stand watching it, she didn't want our child to watch it. She clearly associated what she was seeing with our child. She just grabbed her and went upstairs, but I stayed, transfixed.
'I came down the next morning and there was a green bowl on the table in the kitchen, and Paula had put a note in there saying, 'Anyone who comes to this house must put a pound or five pounds into this bowl'. I thought, 'That's not adequate'.'
This saw Bob team up with Midge to write Do They Know It's Christmas?, with a little help from pals such as Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet, who Bob pressured to sign up.
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Paula hosted The Tube with Jools Holland
Credit: Shutterstock Editorial
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Paula and Bob join Prince Charles and Princess Diana to watch 1985 mega concert at Wembley
Credit: Alamy
In the documentary, Gary recalls: 'He came running in — his presence is huge, he takes over — and he said this report was from Ethiopia where the famine is huge and out of control and it broke my heart, and it broke Paula's heart.'
Paula was also credited with holding things together when the Band Aid track was recorded — a day which could easily have been derailed by rivalries among the mostly male line-up of rock and pop superstars.
As U2's Bono says in the programme: 'There was a lot of male egos in the room, not enough women.'
Bringing together so many huge artists from the day — some of whom had sniped at one another in the past — could have ended with fighting and stars storming out.
Gary says: 'Paula Yates was really the lovely glue, carrying her child around, Fifi, and their dog, Growler. They're a great family.'
Midge adds: 'Everybody knew Paula, we all knew Bob through Paula.
'She was funny and witty and highly intelligent, and she kept everyone entertained, walking around chatting to them.'
The glowing praise for the TV host is in stark contrast to the dark clouds that overshadowed her life in later years, when her marriage to Sir Bob imploded.
After a decade together, they had wed in Las Vegas, with Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran as best man.
They went on to have two more children — Peaches in 1989 and Pixie in 1990.
But in 1995, Paula interviewed
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The jubilant Live Aid crowd
Credit: Getty
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Co-organiser Midge Ure performs on the day
Credit: Getty
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Bob at launch of Just For One Day - The Live Aid Musical, in May
Credit: Getty
That finished her marriage to Bob and led to her having a child, Tiger Lily, with the singer in 1996.
Then, in 1997, he took his own life in a Sydney hotel room aged 37.
Three years later, Paula died aged 41 of a heroin overdose at her home in Notting Hill, London.
'Wonderful spirit'
Tragically Peaches, her daughter with Sir Bob, died the same way, aged 25, in 2014.
But with the passing of time, the new BBC documentary provides a clearer look back at the day the world was changed by the unlikely force of rock and pop music.
Do They Know It's Christmas? was a huge success, shooting straight to No1 and staying there for five weeks, which saw it sell three million copies in the UK alone.
Bob laughs as he recalls convincing Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government to effectively wave the VAT on sales.
'BOB THOUGHT QUEEN WERE ROCK DINOSAURS'
QUEEN'S mesmerising set at Live Aid was one of the concert's most memorable performances – but it almost never happened.
Bob Geldof did not rate Freddie Mercury and Co and had to be convinced to add them to the bill because he simply 'didn't want them'.
Drummer Roger Taylor explained: 'Bob came from the post-punk explosion, so he had pretensions of being a bit punk, so he must have thought we were dinosaurs.'
However, after 'packing a few bangers in our set', Queen managed to somehow crank up the volume at Wembley to unparalleled levels.
Their epic contribution, which included the songs Bohemian Rhapsody, Radio Ga Ga and We Are the Champions, soon changed Bob's tune.
Forty years on years on, he says: 'I just thought it was over-blown operatic, you know 'we use the studio as an instrument', oh f*** off.
'Subsequently, of course, we all have to admit that we thought the songs were great.
'So with age, we're allowed to admit it.'
Then another huge boost came when musicians across the Atlantic decided to record their own fundraiser for Africa in the form of We Are The World on January 28, 1985.
The track was written by
In the documentary, Bob recalls receiving a surprise phone call from a man who was instrumental in the US project.
He says: 'The phone rings and it's just, 'Is that Bob Geldof?'. It's this husky, gravelly voice that's very slow and I go, 'Yep, who's that?'. And he says, 'It's Harry Belafonte . . . and here's Michael'.
'He goes, 'Hi Bob!' and, like, Paula's sitting on the sofa and I'm saying to her, 'It's Michael Jackson!'. And she gets up and sort of runs around excitedly. Anyway, he says, 'Will you come out and help us?'.'
Bob flew to LA, where he effectively gave a pep talk to stars including Michael and Lionel, plus Diana Ross, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper and Tina Turner.
As a result of these huge names, the single sold a staggering 20million copies.
More importantly, it forged a trans-Atlantic drive to do more.
That led to the launch of Live Aid in London and the US, which was also joined by performances around the world.
It soon became apparent just what a success it had been.
Interviewed on the night, the ever-positive Paula was asked if she had doubted Bob could pull off the feat.
'No, I never did,' she replied. 'Right from when he first decided, I thought that it would work.
'When they did the record, there was such a wonderful spirit around it. People did want to do it for free. So I thought the concert would happen.'
Live Aid At 40: When Rock 'n' Roll Took On The World is on BBC Two at 9pm on July 6.
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David Bowie at Live Aid
Credit: Getty
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The historic event birthed Band Aid's Do they Know It's Christmas?
Credit: Alamy
'DIDN'T DO HOMEWORK ON THEIR TITLE SONG'
BAND AID's festive track Do They Know It's Christmas? raised more than £8million for Ethiopia within a year of its release. But it was not a hit with everyone.
Despite its huge financial success – and the fact it featured an impressive collection of artists brought together by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure – some Ethiopians were offended by it.
Two leading government figures admitted the song – which came after Michael Buerk highlighted the plight of starving Ethiopians in a 1984 news report – left them a bit miffed due to inaccuracies in its lyrics.
Dawit Giorgis, former Minister for Aid for Ethiopia, told the documentary: 'We didn't like the title, Do They Know It's Christmas? It's the wrong title because they just didn't do their homework.
'Ethiopians are the oldest Christians in the world, so that offended us a little bit.'
His deputy, Berhane Deressa, was equally bemused, questioning why the song referenced the country's perceived lack of water with the lyric, 'the only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears'.
He said: 'The country is that poor there is no rain?
'It supplies its neighbours with rivers that go into the Nile. Writing things like that isn't going to be right.'