Latest news with #KevinArmstrong
BBC News
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Live Aid at 40: Memories of performing on stage with David Bowie
For the thousands who saw it live at Wembley and in Philadelphia, to the millions round the world watching on TV, Live Aid was an unforgettable for those on stage who helped create the magic, it continues to be a career and guitarist Kevin Armstrong, from Hastings, has had an extraordinary musical career playing stadiums and touring with the likes of Iggy Pop and that summer day in July 1985, when he joined David Bowie on stage, is one he will never forget. Kevin, who had worked with Bowie on his charity duet with Mick Jagger, Dancing in the Street, was asked by the singer to assemble a band for the Live Aid wonder he woke up that day with butterflies in his stomach."It was just excitement, it was just adrenaline, it was going to be a defining day for all of us," he met Bowie and the rest of the band at Battersea Heliport before flying to they arrived backstage they were able to get a glimpse of the said: "We could go up a ramp and sneak a peek around the corner and see what was happening."It was pretty daunting, it was the biggest, way the biggest crowd I had ever played to at that point... it was overwhelming, it really was." Accompanying Kevin on stage was backing singer Tessa Niles from Maidstone, who had worked with all manner of artists from The Police to Tina having worked with a series of stellar names, Tessa said that coming together with the band for Live Aid was an extraordinary said: "Walking towards the stage the sound of the crowd was electrifying - just something indescribable because I had never experienced anything like that before."I knew this was something out of the ordinary, this was something just incredible."Bowie and the band played a set of four songs, including hits Rebel Rebel and Heroes. Kevin said: "I was so full of adrenaline I was hopping up and down."I just couldn't help think of all the teachers who had told me to give up the guitar and go and work in a bank."When asked where it sat in his career experiences, Kevin was said: "Oh it's at the top, it really is, just because of the newness of the experience and the scale of it and the way it resonates through history. "Why are we still talking about it 40 years on? Because it was the biggest concert on the planet."Tessa added: "The realisation that it was bigger than anybody could have possibly anticipated was seeing the TV audience, because the 72,000 people inside Wembley was enough, but realising that this had been broadcasted to something like a third of humanity..."Live Aid was watched by approximately two billion people in more than 100 countries. To have had this experience at the age of 24 is the "gift that continues to give", Tessa added: "I recently saw the West End theatre production of Live Aid, Just For One Day, and it brought it home. "I went to see it with my two daughters and they both turned to me and said, 'Gosh mum we had no idea, we really didn't know it was this seismic.'"And they said how lucky we were to have experienced it - and that's just exactly how I feel."
CBC
30-05-2025
- General
- CBC
Elderly woman killed in Pickering, Ont., stabbing was welcoming to 'any stranger,' former pastor says
Social Sharing When Kevin Armstrong received an emergency alert after the deadly stabbing of an elderly woman in Pickering on Thursday, he thought he recognized the address listed in it. The pastor, who knew the victim from her three decades at his church, wondered at first if it could really be who he thought it was. His wife called the woman and left a voicemail, hopeful it wasn't true. "When we found out later on it was her, we were devastated. We were floored," he told CBC News. "She would have been welcoming to any person, any stranger coming up to her. She would have had her hands wide open to see what she could do to help them." CBC is not naming the victim at her family's request. The woman, who the community says was a retired kindergarten teacher in her 80s, was outside her home when she was repeatedly stabbed in an attack police describe as unprovoked, "sadistic and cowardly." A 14-year-old boy has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection to her death after an hours-long search that included the shelter in place alert for the nearby community. His protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Police have said they believe he was unknown to the woman. Armstrong said the circumstances surrounding of the woman's death are tragic. "She would be the first one to want to see this young man get help and the first one to forgive him," he said. 'You wouldn't find a better person' Armstrong said the woman was a member of the Forest Brook Community Church in Ajax, where he is a senior pastor. She was part of the church for many years before moving to St. Paul's Church with her husband, he said. Armstrong told CBC Toronto the woman's husband had mobility challenges and she was his primary caregiver. "This will be very hard for him," he said. Known to be generous, kind, friendly and witty, the woman was loved within their congregation, Armstrong said, adding she took part on their seniors' group and library committee. "You wouldn't find a better person," he said. Peoples Christian Academy, a private school in Markham, confirmed the woman was a kindergarten teacher there in the early 70s. Remembered for her sense of humour, Armstrong said the woman and her husband kept a scarecrow at the side of their fence. The couple would dress it up and decorate it — switching up the outfits for different seasons or holidays like Halloween and Christmas. "She did that for her neighbourhood so people walking by would see this scarecrow and [it would] bring a smile to their face," said Armstrong. "That was one of the things that was really special about her. She loved to have fun and she loved to play." Neighbours told CBC News the woman was an avid gardener and believed she was tending to her front yard when the stabbing happened. WATCH | What we know about the fatal stabbing in Pickering on Thursday: What we know so far about the fatal stabbing in Pickering, Ont. 5 hours ago Duration 4:10 Pickering Mayor Kevin Ashe confirmed the woman was in her 80s and said her death has struck a cord within the community. He said he spoke with her neighbours Thursday, who described her as a "very nice" woman, who walked her dogs in the neighbourhood and took care of her husband. "It's obviously ripped the family apart. So it is very, it's very, very dramatic and traumatic," he told CBC Radio's Metro Morning earlier Friday. Armstrong said his church has offered help to those grieving the woman's loss.
