Live Aid 85: how much money was raised that day?

How much money was raised for Live Aid 85? According to official figures, approximately 127 million dollars! All these funds went to help the hungry in Africa. Live Aid 85 is a legendary event in the history of music, which took place on July 13, 1985 ... At Wembley Stadium in London, a worldwide rock concert - organized to raise money to help starving Africans - was opened by Prince Charles and Princess Diana. At the John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, USA, singer Joan Baez opened this iconic event with the words: "This is your Woodstock!" The number of viewers who followed what was happening live was over a billion! The event was a triumph of technology and goodwill, and the event raised over $125 million…

Profit from singles

Live Aid is the brainchild of Bob Geldof, lead singer of the Irish rock band Boomtown Rats. In 1984, Geldof traveled to Ethiopia after hearing news reports of a devastating famine that had claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians (and threatened to kill millions more...) Returning to London, he called together top UK and Irish pop artists to record a single to help the famine-stricken in Ethiopia. As a result, the hit "Do They Know It's Christmas?" performed by Band Aid featuring Culture Club, Duran Duran, Phil Collins, U2, Wham! and others… At that time it was the best-selling single in Britain, which collected more than 10 million dollars!

"Do They Know It's Christmas?" also hit number one in the United States and inspired American pop artists to come together and perform the song "We Are the World" written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie: the American ensemble consisted of Jackson, Richie, Geldof, Harry Belafonte, Bob Dylan, Cindy Lauper, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner, Stevie Wonder and many more.

The single climbed to the top of the charts and eventually grossed $44 million.

Think broader...

As the crisis in Ethiopia continued and neighboring Sudan was also suffering from famine, Geldof offered to host Live Aid, an ambitious global charity concert to raise additional funds and raise awareness of the plight of many Africans... Organized in just 10 weeks, Live Aid was featured in live on Saturday 13 July 1985 with over 75 members (including Elton John, Queen, Madonna, Santana, Run DMC, Sade, Sting, Bryan Adams, The Beach Boys, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Duran Duran, U2 , The Who, Eric Clapton and others). Most of these artists performed either at Wembley Stadium in London, where 70,000 people attended, or at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, where 100,000 people attended. Thirteen satellites broadcast live TV coverage of the event to over a billion viewers in 110 countries! At the time of the broadcast, more than 40 of these countries were holding telethons to help the famine in Africa.

A memorable performance, of course, was the performance of the Queen group, and in particular their frontman Freddie Mercury, who simply blew everyone away with his bright performance ... It is worth noting that this was quite unexpected for the public, because the group was losing its momentum in the early 1980s ... And Here, as part of a charity show, they offered the public an unforgettable 20-minute performance! From "Bohemian Rhapsody" to "We Will Rock You" to "We Are the Champions", Queen captivated the audience with an unforgettable journey through their biggest hits led by Mercury...

Another highlight was Phil Collins' performance in Philadelphia, after flying the Concorde from London, where he performed on the same day! He later performed at a Led Zeppelin reunion.

And iconic Beatle Paul McCartney and The Who frontman Pete Townsend carried Bob Geldof on their shoulders during the London final, which featured the aforementioned "Do They Know It's Christmas?" Six hours later, the US concert ended with "We Are the World".

So how much money was raised?

The charity concert, which we decided to recall today, raised approximately $127 million! The publicity this show generated prompted Western countries to provide enough surplus grain to end the hunger crisis in Africa. Geldof was later knighted for his efforts...

In early July 2005, Geldof organized a series of "Live 8" concerts in 11 countries around the world to raise awareness of global poverty... The organizers, led by Geldof, deliberately scheduled the concert a few days before the annual G8 summit in order to increase political pressure on countries of the G8 to address the problems faced by the world's extremely poor. Some 3 billion people are said to have watched 1,000 musicians perform in 11 shows broadcast on 182 TV channels and 2,000 radio stations! Unlike Live Aid, Live 8 was deliberately not advertised as a fundraiser! Geldof's slogan was:

"We don't need your money, we need your vote!"

Perhaps in part because Live 8 brought attention to such issues, the G8 subsequently voted to cancel the debt of 18 of the world's poorest countries! And the annual aid to Africa has been doubled to $50 billion...