Simon Le Bon was shocked when he realised Band Aid’s mega-hit Do They Know It’s Christmas? wasn’t going to be a song for just him.
The track features a supergroup put together by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, consisting mainly of the most popular British and Irish musical acts at the time.
Alongside Simon and Duran Duran, the chart-topper also features Spandau Ballet, Culture Club and Bananarama, among others, but their inclusion came as a surprise to the singer, who’d already recorded a demo of the single.
He told Gary Barlow’s We Write The Songs podcast (via The Sun): “I went to the studio to make the demo and I sang the whole song.
“So when we turned up on the actual recording day, I thought, ‘What are all of these people doing here?
“Are they just here for the chorus? Why’s Bono singing my part?’ It was a surprise. But it was amazing being there. I soon realised it wasn’t all about me.”
Do They Know It’s Christmas? has been re-recorded three times – in 1989, 2004 and 2014 – with each version raising funds for charity. The 1989 and 2004 versions also provided money for famine relief, while the 2014 version was used to raise funds for the Ebola crisis in West Africa.
All three of these versions also reached number one in the UK
