Bob Geldof explains why he let LadBaby release Do They Know It’s Christmas

LadBaby clinched their fifth Christmas No1 in December, with their version of Do They Know It’s Christmas, which they titled Food Aid. 

And on Wednesday’s instalment of This Morning, Bob Geldoff, 71 – who wrote the iconic track with Midge Ure, 69, in 1984 – explained why he let the YouTubers use the track.

The rocker revealed that he permitted the project in order to help ‘people that are disgracefully going cold and hungry’ as he slammed the cost of living crisis. 

Bob said: ‘It’s probably the record that’s has the most number one’s ever. It just keeps generating and obviously that money keeps going to charity. It’s less of a song a more of its own thing. It’s history.’

‘The LadBaby thing, whatever you think of the production, that doesn’t matter. With LadBaby, it was for the many people that are disgracefully going cold and hungry in Great Britain in 2023.’

Why? On Wednesday’s instalment of This Morning, Bob Geldoff, 71 explained why he let the YouTubers LadBaby use the iconic track, which he wrote with Midge Ure, 69, in 1984 

Success! LadBaby clinched their fifth Christmas No1 in December, with their version of Do They Know It's Christmas, which they titled Food Aid

Success! LadBaby clinched their fifth Christmas No1 in December, with their version of Do They Know It’s Christmas, which they titled Food Aid 

The musician added of Do They Know It’s Christmas: ‘It has a life of it’s own now.’

LadBaby made chart history by securing the Christmas Number One for a fifth consecutive year surpassing a record set by The Beatles in the 1960s.

Social media star Mark Hoyle and his wife Roxanne, known as LadBaby Mum, claimed the top spot with their single Food Aid, a rework of the Band Aid song Do They Know It’s Christmas? 

In the run-up to Christmas, the track sold more than 65,000 units to become the fastest-selling single of 2022. 

Featuring a cameo from TV’s favourite financial expert, Martin Lewis, and a video starring celebrity look-alikes, the lyrics are about the cost-of-living crisis. 

Profits from the single were split equally between food bank charity the Trussell Trust and the Band Aid Trust. 

LadBaby previously reached the top of the festive chart with food-inspired tracks We Built This City (2018), I Love Sausage Rolls (2019), Don’t Stop Me Eatin’ (2020) and the Ed Sheeran and Sir Elton John-featuring Sausage Rolls For Everyone (2021). 

LadBaby Mark is a graphic designer and blogger from Nottingham, and together with his wife Roxanne rose to fame with their YouTube videos. 

The LadBaby version: Featuring a cameo from TV's favourite financial expert, Martin Lewis, and a video starring celebrity look-alikes, the lyrics are about the cost-of-living crisis

The LadBaby version: Featuring a cameo from TV’s favourite financial expert, Martin Lewis, and a video starring celebrity look-alikes, the lyrics are about the cost-of-living crisis

Elsewhere in his This Morning interview, Bob paid tribute to his late Boomtown Rats bandmate Garry Roberts, who died in November, aged 72. 

The Band Aid icon said: ‘The fans call him the legend. He said there were two things he wanted to do with his life, drive his motorbike and play his guitar and he did that, fast.

‘We’ve auditioned a million guitarists, and no one is going to live up to him. But we have found some people. We’ve got a bunch of festivals coming up and it’s odd [that he won’t be there].’

In November, the Irish rock group announced the tragic news in a statement which described Garry as ‘the guy who summed up the sense of who The Rats are’.

He had once again been performing with the group, which formed in Dublin in 1975 – fronted by lead singer Sir Bob Geldof, after a 27-year hiatus.

The founding members had all known one another since they were children, and said they’re feeling ‘strangely adrift without him tonight’. 

‘It is with a very heavy heart that the members of Boomtown Rats announce the death this morning of Garry Roberts,’ they said in a statement, describing him as an ‘old friend and great guitarist’.

‘A man who will be missed, a friend who will be remembered, a sound that will never been forgotten. 

Gone: Garry Roberts was one of Boomtown Rats' founding members and is said to have been instrumental in them settling on the band's name (Pictured in 1979)

Gone: Garry Roberts was one of Boomtown Rats’ founding members and is said to have been instrumental in them settling on the band’s name (Pictured in 1979)

Reunited: He had once again been performing with the group, which formed in Dublin in 1975 - fronted by lead singer Sir Bob Geldof , after a 27-year hiatus (Pictured together in 2013)

Reunited: He had once again been performing with the group, which formed in Dublin in 1975 – fronted by lead singer Sir Bob Geldof , after a 27-year hiatus (Pictured together in 2013)

‘The remaining members of the band, Pete, Bob and Simon – and Darren and Al – extend their deepest sympathy to his family and friends.’

Roberts is considered the founding member of Boomtown Rats after a particularly inspired performance ‘on a clear spring evening in 1975, in a pub in Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin’.

In the tribute, the group said: ‘For fans he was The Legend – and he was. For us he was Gazzer, the guy who summed up the sense of who The Rats are.

‘Safe travels Gaz. Thanks for everything mate.’

The original Boomtown Rats: Where are they now? 

Bob Geldof: Lead Singer

Geldof was the undeniable star of the group and lead vocalist. He went on to have a solo career after the band split, but reunited with three other bandmates in 2013.

He has been recognised for his activism – particularly his anti-poverty work in Africa – with an honorary knighthood.

The 71-year-old released new music with the Rats in 2017 and again in 2020. 

Johnnie Fingers: Keyboardist

After the group initially disbanded, Fingers moved to Tokyo, where he still resides. 

While Fingers does not perform anymore, he is still working in the entertainment industry, primarily producing and writing music for Japanese stars.

He turned down an offer to reunite with the band in 2013, and in 2016 launched legal proceedings against Geldof regarding his musical contribution to the band’s 1979 hit, I Don’t Like Mondays.

The matter was settled out of court in 2019.

Pete Briquette: Bassist

Briquette and Geldof remained close even during the years in which the band was apart, performing together in that time.

He rejoined the band in 2013 and lies in Acton, London, which is where some of recently released music came about.

He was the only member of the original group to frequently collaborate with Geldof during his solo career. 

Gerry Cott: Guitarist

Cott left The Boomtown Rats in 1982, prior to the band officially choosing to part ways.

He performed with Geldof in 2011, marking the first time they’d been on stage together in over 30 years.

After amassing fame in the band, Cott tried his hand as an animal trainer and supervisor on film and television sets. 

Simon Crowe: Drummer

After the group disbanded, Crowe lived in Devon and played with local folk groups.

He also stayed close with Roberts, and the pair would perform together.

Crowe rejoined The Boomtown Rats in 2013, and remains on the drums.  

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