Original 'cursed' Band Aid stars 40 years on from drug addiction and health battles to tragic deaths

Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas? has been re-released to celebrate the song's 40th anniversary.

The original 1984 version was created when Sir Bob Geldof and Midge Ure used their contacts to create a supergroup of artists ranging from Bono to George Michael, raising £8 million for Ethiopia in just 12 months. In 1989 Band Aid II added Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and Cliff Richard into the mix, topping the UK Singles Chart for three weeks.

And in 2004, Band Aid 20, released in honour of the single's 20th anniversary, spent four weeks at number one before 2014, when One Direction and Sam Smith were among the artists to gather together for Band Aid 30. Now Band Aid 40 has been released to celebrate the track's 40th year anniversary, featuring an all-star cast taken from the 1984, 2004 and 2014 recordings for an "ultimate" version.

Though singer Ed Sheeran isn't happy to have been selected, writing on Instagram: "My approval wasn't sought on this new Band Aid 40 release and had I had the choice I would have respectfully declined the use of my vocals. A decade on and my understanding of the narrative associated with this has changed."

In recent years, charity initiatives such as Band Aid have been criticised for their portrayal of Africa, with critics accusing them of being dehumanising and damaging to Africans. Despite the controversy the original 1984 single remains a Christmas classic, regularly featuring on the radio waves each December.

And while the song's famous lyric tells of a wish to "heal the world", many of the original line-up of stars experienced tragedy in their own lives...

Bob Geldof

Acclaimed musician and philanthropist Bob has experienced a great deal of heartache. The 73-year-old star lost his mum Evelyn when he was just six years old after she died of a cerebral haemorrhage, a stroke which causes bleeding on the brain.

The Boomtown Rats singer married TV presenter Paula Yates and had two daughters, Peaches and Pixie but in 1995 Paula famously left him for his fellow Band Aid singer, Inxs star Michael Hutchence. Michael died by suicide aged 37 in 1997 and three years later, Paula, 41, passed away from an accidental heroin overdose.

Bob adopted the couple's daughter Tiger Lily before he lost his second daughter Peaches to a drug overdose in 2014. Peaches, 25, left behind two young sons and speaking months after her passing, Bob expressed a wish for his grandsons to grow up away from the "soap opera" of the Geldof name.

"For 40 years, for good or ill, the family has been part of the national soap opera and I never expected that, and a lot of people think they know us and in some ways they do know parts of us," he told Lorraine Kelly, describing his grief over losing his daughter as "intolerable". "I don't want them becoming wrapped up in the Geldof life. It's great in some respects, it's appalling in other times and things."

Paul Young

Paul, 68, met his wife Stacey Smith while filming the video to his 1983 hit Come Back And Stay, a year before Band Aid. They married in 1987 and went on to have three children, Levi, Layla and Grady. But in 2006, after being married for almost 20 years, the couple separated when Stacey admitted to having an affair with an Israeli businessman called Ilan Slazenger.

At this point, the beleaguered singer had lost his fortune due to a bad property deal and at one stage, he even worked as a cook in a restaurant run by Stacey and Ilan who had a son together, Jude. Paul and Stacey later reconciled and he welcomed Jude into their family.

Despite their rollercoaster relationship, the couple celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary in 2016, the same year Paul turned 60. But just two years later, Stacey died from brain cancer aged 52.

"We just made the best of it for those two years," the star later told ITV's This Morning. "She was really happy for me when things started to pick up again." Paul married second wife Lorna, 53, earlier this year. "She keeps me on the level," he told the Irish Independent. "We might just disappear together."

George Michael

George was one of the biggest stars to feature on the original Band Aid track, as the former Wham! singer became the world's biggest selling artist. The singer famously struggled with his sexuality for decades, coming out as gay in 1998 when he was arrested for public lewdness in Los Angeles.

The documentary Freedom told how George had lost his first love Anselmo Feleppa to AIDs and decades later, the singer said his loss still made him cry. "Anselmo was the first time I think I really loved someone selflessly," he said. "It was kind of knee-jerk. I felt immediately that everything had changed.

"'The first time you actually believe that someone loves you, that's a wonderful moment in your life and it was a wonderful six months. I was absolutely devastated to find out he had a terminal illness... just devastated."

Anselmo was 33 when he died from a brain haemorrhage in 1993 and George went onto campaign for HIV and AIDS charities. The star struggled with depression and drug addiction and died from heart disease in 2016, aged 53.

Midge Ure

Band Aid co-founder Midge, 71, suffered from alcohol addiction when his heavy drinking spiralled following the loss of his father in 2001. He told BBC Radio Manchester in 2014: "I kind of fell over for a little bit. And I was just quite shocked at how easy it was – to turn, for that to happen to anybody.

"And that’s not just me, you know, we’re all under huge amounts of pressure financially, socially, emotionally, all of that, so I think we’re all potentially very fragile.’

Rick Parfitt

Status Quo's Rick fell into sex, drugs and rock'n'roll "big time" during the height of band's fame, enjoying benders that lasted for days. The star drank whisky and red wine for breakfast, smoked 30 cigarettes for day and was once so drunk on Top Of The Pops he fell off stage, taking the drummer with him.

The star estimated he spent £1.9 million on hard drugs at the height of his fame. He died from sepsis on Christmas Eve 2016, aged 68.

Marilyn

Best known for his 1983 hit Calling Your Name, singer Marilyn, whose real name is Peter Robinson, was a heroin addict for 20 years. The 62-year-old told the Mirror in 2014: "After Band Aid lots of things went wrong in my life and I had a nervous breakdown. I sold my jewellery and everything I owned and was living off income support, £50 quid or whatever a week, and doing as many drugs as I could get my hands on."

In 1995, Boy George had alleged in his autobiography that Marilyn had been in a relationship with Gavin Rossdale, the Bush singer who later married No Doubt's Gwen Stefani. Gavin confirmed this in 2012 and Marilyn later said: "He was the love of my life. We were together five years, but it felt like 40. He was just becoming successful in America. I agreed to lie against every grain of my being."

Phil Collins

Genesis band member turned solo star Phil, one of the world's most successful musicians, now struggles to hold a drum stick thanks to a devastating spine injury. It followed an operation to repair dislocated vertebrae in his upper neck, which occurred while drumming on the 2007 Genesis tour, which caused the star to lose feeling in his fingers.

Now 73, Phil suffered from depression after the injury and has suffered from further health complications, undergoing back surgery in 2017 following a fall in his bathroom, which has affected his mobility. The rock legend is also a type 2 diabetic.

Sting

Sting described himself as an "unhappy child" but he was still floored when his parents Audrey and Ernest died from cancer within months of each other four years after Band Aid. The Police frontman told the Irish Times in 2003: "I think I underestimated the importance of the mourning process. I thought I'd said goodbye to them, which was important, but the actual interring of the remains and the sharing of that with the family, I didn't take that seriously."

Martin Kemp

Spandau Ballet's Martin, 63, underwent radiotherapy and surgery in the 1990s to treat two brain tumours. "The first tumour was the size of a squashed grapefruit and doctors could cut my skull to get to it," he told the Daily Mail in 2009. "What was terrifying was the second tumour - doctors avoided talking about it. I was very worried about the little guy in the middle of my head."

Thankfully, Martin's wife Shirlie stepped in to find a pioneering form of treatment. "She found a doctor who said it could be attacked with radiation, with an early form of Gamma Knife technology," said the star. "Within six months of treatment there were signs it was dying and today there is nothing left of it."

2024 Ultimate Mix by Band Aid 40 is available to stream