The Money Went to Charity

Read and listen. All the money went to charity

Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof was born on 5th October 1951 in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland. When he left school, Bob Geldof became a journalist and then became the lead singer of the band The Boomtown Rats. They had many hits, including Lookin’ After Number One, Rat Trap and I Don’t Like Mondays.

Then in 1984 there was a terrible famine in Ethiopia, and he had the brilliant idea of getting famous rock stars like Sting, Bono, and Paul McCartney together to form a group called Band Aid. All the profits from their single Do They Know It’s Christmas? went to help famine victims.

The following summer he organised the Live Aid gigs in London and Philadelphia, which millions of people all over the world watched on TV. Again, all the money they raised went to charity.

New Horizons Digital 2 • Unit 6 p.53 © Oxford University Press PHOTOCOPIABLE On 2nd July 2005, just before the G8 summit in Edinburgh, Bob Geldof organised Live 8 to try to make the world’s richest countries cancel every Third World country’s debts. There were free gigs in cities all over the world, with artists including Madonna, Elton John and Robbie Williams.

Geldof married British TV presenter Paula Yates in 1986 and they had three daughters, Fifi Trixibelle, Peaches and Pixie. After Yates and Geldof separated, all their daughters grew up with him. The Queen made him Sir Bob Geldof in 1986.

New Horizons Digital 2 • Unit 6 p.53 © Oxford University Press PHOTOCOPIABLE