A new ‘2024 Ultimate Mix’ version of Band Aid’s ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ will arrive later this month in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the charity Christmas single.
The new mix of the song, produced by Trevor Horn, brings together all of the voices from three versions of the track, recorded in 1984, 2004 and 2014.
It will be premiered on breakfast radio on the morning of November 25, before the music video is unveiled that evening. The visuals were directed by Oliver Murray, who also worked on the video for The Beatles’ ‘Now And Then’ and will feature the late David Bowie introducing the song’s stars, as well as newsreader Michael Buerk’s BBC report on the song.
The artwork was created by Sir Peter Blake, who designed the cover for the original ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’. The new artwork will be unveiled in due course.
Per a press release, listeners will hear the younger versions of legendary musicians sing alongside the younger counterparts of more modern pop stars – as well as a young Bono singing alongside an older version of himself as he was involved in all three versions of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’
The track combines the voices of stars including Sting, Ed Sheeran, Boy George, Sam Smith, George Michael, Harry Styles, Chris Martin, Elbow‘s Guy Garvey, Sugababes, Bananarama, Seal, Sinéad O’Connor, Rita Ora, Robbie Williams, Kool and the Gang, Underworld and more. They perform with a house band comprising of Paul McCartney, Sting, Duran Duran‘s John Taylor (bass), Phil Collins, Roger Taylor, Danny Goffey (drums), Thom Yorke (piano), Paul Weller, Damon Albarn, Midge Ure, Johnny Greenwood, Gary Kemp and Justin Hawkins (guitar).
Check out the trailer below:
Masterminded by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, Band Aid first brought a host of huge British pop stars together 40 years ago to raise money for the Ethiopian famine and sold a million copies in its first week. At the time, it was the fastest-selling single in UK chart history and raised £8million for famine relief efforts. It was followed up by Band Aid II five years later.
Band Aid 20 in 2004 raised funds for the humanitarian crisis in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region. The 30th anniversary version, meanwhile, was released in aid of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
