The curse of Band Aid: As charity single celebrates its fortieth anniversary, how the lives of the unique line-up have been affected by tragedy

They may have had every intention of ‘healing the world’ – but the original members of Band Aid were undoubtedly plagued by personal tragedies of their own. 

Yesterday, it was announced a new version of Do They Know It’s Christmas? will be released next week to celebrate the charity single’s 40th anniversary. 

Over the years, the iconic track – written by Sir Bob Geldof and Midge Ure – has been recorded on three separate occasions, most recently in 2014 with Ed Sheeran, One Direction and Zoella.

However, it’s the original 1984 version that never fails to dominate the radio waves every December – serving as a reminder of the heartbreaking circumstances that enveloped its stars in the years that followed. 

After his wife Paula Yates died of a drug overdose in 2000, Sir Bob Geldof’s 25-year-old daughter Peaches tragically suffered the same fate 14 years later.

Following the single’s release, George Michael – who lost his first love in the AIDS epidemic – spiralled further and further into drug addiction before his eventual death on Christmas Day in 2016. 

What’s more, Paul Young has suffered more than his fair share of heartache since 1984 – after his wife gave birth to another man’s son before her tragic death.

Here FEMAIL delves into the ‘Band Aid curse’ and how the original band members’ lives have been blighted by tragedy in the years since.

1. Phil Collins: Devastating spinal cord injury and three marriage break-downs

In a cruel twist of fate, Phil Collins – who is the mastermind behind some of the greatest drum solos in music history – is now unable to play his beloved instrument following a catastrophic spinal injury.

In 2009, the former Genesis band member revealed he can’t even hold his sticks after years of sitting in front of a drumkit. 

Phil had surgery to repair dislocated vertebrae in his upper neck, which occurred while drumming on the 2007 Genesis tour.

In a tragic turn of events, the operation caused him to lose feeling in his fingers and could only hold drum sticks if they were taped to his hands.

The 73-year-old said: ‘After playing drums for 50 years, I’ve had to stop. My vertebrae have been crushing my spinal cord because of the position I drum in. 

‘It comes from years of playing. I can’t even hold the sticks properly without it being painful, I even used to tape the sticks to my hands to get through.’ 

The following year, Phil stated he was suffering depression and had even debated suicide but stopped himself at the thought of his children. 

In 2017, Phil had to undergo back surgery after suffering a fall in his bathroom, which has left him with a series of mobility issues.

That same year, Phil revealed that he is a type 2 diabetic and had received treatment with a hyperbaric chamber after he developed an infected diabetic abscess on his foot. 

On top of his health woes, the rock legend has also had three failed marriages – the last of which resulted in a bitter and highly publicised divorce. 

Phil’s ex-wife Orianne Cevey previously said she was ‘trapped in a golden cage’ while the star fell into an alcohol-fuelled depression during their marriage, which ended in 2008.

However, the pair briefly reconciled in 2016 – with Orianne Collins telling the Mail on Sunday they were ‘profoundly and deeply in love’ once more.

2. Sir Bob Geldof: Devastating loss of mother, wife and daughter

Sir Bob Geldof catapulted to fame in the 1970s as the lead singer of The Boomtown Rats – and is now equally as famous for his charity work. 

But the musician – who co-founded Band Aid and the subsequent music festival Live Aid – has lived a life marred by tragedy.

At the age of six, Sir Geldof’s mother Evelyn died of a cerebral haemorrhage, a stroke that causes bleeding within the skull. She was just 41.

In 1976, the rock star began dating TV presenter Paula Yates, who is famous for hosting the music show The Tube in the 1980s.

After welcoming daughter Fifi Trixibelle, the couple married in 1986 and went on to have Peaches and Pixie.

However, Paula and Bob’s relationship became strained over the presenter’s infidelity. In the 2023 Channel 4 documentary Paula, singer Terence Trent D’Arby revealed he was once confronted by Geldof at his hotel in New York City, with the Boomtown Rats frontman asking him if he was ‘k******* my wife.’ 

In 1995, Paula hit headlines when she left her husband for Australian rock star Michael Hutchene – having interviewed him on the The Big Breakfast show the year before. 

The celebrity couple welcomed daughter Tiger Lily Hutchence in July 1996. The following year, Michael was found dead in a Sydney hotel room. 

A coroner found Michael had killed himself while depressed and under the influence of alcohol and drugs but there was never a public inquest into the INXS frontman’s death.

Paula Yates claimed her lover likely died accidentally while choking himself for sexual pleasure, as the pair had engaged in similar sex games.

Tragically, Paula died in 2000 at her Notting Hill home after an accidental heroin overdose. 

Four-year-old Tiger Lily raised the alarm when she told Paula’s friend – who had called the house – that she was unable to wake her mother.

After the death of both her parents, Tiger Lily was formally adopted by her three sisters’ father. 

In 2014, Sir Geldof’s second daughter Peaches died of a drugs overdose ten times bigger than the one that killed her mother.

Peaches left behind her two sons Astala, three, and Phaedra, two, and husband Thomas Cohen. 

On the night of her death, the mother-of-two had been looking after their baby son Phaedra, who was reportedly left alone for up to 17 hours following her overdose.

The coroner at the time said the television presenter, model and journalist had been trying to wean herself off drugs and was clean five months before her death.

But her husband Thomas Cohen, a 23-year-old musician, told the hearing she relapsed in February and was hiding heroin in the loft of their £1million home in Wroxham, Kent.

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Fotheringham, who led the investigation, told the inquest: ‘There is no indication that Peaches intended to take her own life or harm herself in any way as she was reported to be of happy disposition and planning for the future with friends and family.’ 

Months after Peaches’ death, Sir Geldof told Lorraine Kelly the loss of his daughter was proving to be ‘intolerable’ and that he wanted grandchildren to grow up away from the ‘soap opera’ of his family. 

The following year, the musician admitted that he had ‘half-expected’ Peaches’ death and that she is ‘with him every second of the day’. 

3. George Michael: ‘Never got over’ loss of first love

He famously struggled with his sexuality during his four decades in the spotlight – admitting that he felt ‘fraudulent’ remaining in the closet for so long.

But if George Michael hadn’t lost his first love in the AIDs epidemic, the late star’s life could have played out drastically differently.

The documentary Freedom – which the star was working on just 48 hours before he died – reveals how the haunted singer never got over the death of Anselmo Feleppa.

Michael was 27 when he saw Brazilian designer Anselmo in the audience of the Rock in Rio concert and asked staff to introduce them.

George had become the world’s biggest selling artist in 1988 after he went solo and released debut album Faith.

In a personal interview just three months before his death on Christmas Day, the star recalled: ‘At the front of 160,000 people there was this guy over at the right-hand side of the stage that just fixed me with this look.

‘He caught my attention so much that I had to stop going to that corner of the stage, because I was distracted.

‘He was so cute. I was so distracted by him . I stayed away from that corner because otherwise I thought I was going to get really distracted and forget the words. The moment I looked at him I got the feeling he was going to be a part of my life.’

‘Everything had changed. I was happier than I’d ever been in my life.

‘Anselmo was the first time I think I really loved someone selflessly. It was kind of knee-jerk. I felt immediately that everything had changed.’

‘It’s still very hard for me to explain how finding a companion at that stage in my life changed me. And such a beautiful companion and such an amazing person.’

The singer also said that Anselmo helped him come to terms with his sexuality, saying: ‘It’s very hard to be proud of your own sexuality when it hasn’t brought you any joy. Once it’s associated with joy and love it’s easy to be proud of who you are.

‘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.’

The singer, who was notoriously private about his private life, said he was ‘frightened’ after Anselmo went for a HIV test – knowing the results could mean they both suffered from the infection.

His fear began when Anselmo developed flu which would not go away and was advised to take a test while they were both at George’s LA home.

He said: ‘He went to the doctors over Christmas, it was the most frightening time of my life.

‘I was terrified of losing him. He was my saviour. Finding a companion at that time in my life changed me

‘Then when my mum got cancer, I felt so bloody picked on by God. I took it very badly, very badly indeed. I’ve never felt that kind of depression.’

The star also opened up about the heartbreaking anxiety that began to plague his life after his partner and mother died in the space of five years.

He said: ‘From the day I found out about my partner, to the day I can say I was on the mend from my mother, it was just constant fear. It was either fear of death or fear of the next bereavement.’

George said on Christmas Day 1991 he was sat with his family waiting to find out if Anselmo had AIDS. He was in the UK while Anselmo was in Los Angeles.

Anselmo did not deliver the heartbreaking news until the New Year when he flew to London to break it to George.

In the documentary, which shows home movie footage of the couple, George said: ‘I was absolutely devastated to find out he had a terminal illness… just devastated.’

Tragically Anselmo died aged just 33 in March 1993 after he returned to Brazil for a blood transfusion and suffered a brain haemorrhage.

The news was broken to George by a friend who called him in LA. George said: ‘Then it all goes blurry for a long time. He still, 23 years later, brings a tear to my eye, he was my saviour.’

Five years after Anselmo died, George came out as gay in an interview with CNN and campaigned for HIV/AIDS charities.

In his later years, George struggled with depression and drug addiction and died of heart disease in 2016.

The star’s boyfriend Fadi Fawaz says he discovered the Wham singer unconscious in bed on Christmas morning in his Oxfordshire home.

4.  Midge Ure: Alcoholism Struggles

Back in 1984, Midge Ure teamed up with Sir Bob Geldof to create Band Aid – and co-wrote the single Do They Know It’s Christmas? with the Boomtown Rats singer.

The song is the second-highest selling record in UK chart history and was re-released in 2004 and 2014 with new artists.

Although he found incredible success with Band Aid, the Scottish musician has been open about his struggles with alcohol in the past.

The song-writer’s heavy drinking spiralled into addiction after his father’s death in 2001 and he claims that dealing with trauma can push anyone over the edge. 

Speaking to BBC Radio Manchester in 2014, Midge said: ‘It is the very, very, very fine line between being able to deal with that stuff and just falling over, and 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.’

As well as having hits with Ultravox, Ure also enjoyed success in the 1980s alongside Steve Strange in the band Visage.

The star, who has four daughters, one by first wife Annabel Giles and three by his second, Sheridan Forbes, revealed previously that he will always be tempted to drink but the thought of his family’s pain stops him.

He said: ‘The horrible thing about addiction is you think it is only harming you, but it is not. Am I ever tempted to drink again? You always are, it is the monkey on your shoulder. But what stops me doing it is my family.’ 

5. Paul Young: Wife had son with another man before brain cancer death

When Paul Young signed up for Band Aid, he was riding high as a solo artist – having recently split from the band, the Q-Tips.

In 1983, Paul met his wife Stacey Smith while filming the video to his 1983 hit Come Back And Stay.

The couple had always had a volatile relationship, separating for a period when Stacey went on to date stuntman Eddie Kidd. 

In 1987, Stacey and Paul married and welcomed daughter Levi later that year, followed by Layla in 1994 and Grady in 1996.

After almost 20 years of marriage, Paul and Stacey separated briefly in 2006 when she admitted to having an affair with Israeli businessman Ilan Slazenger.

At the time, Paul’s career was in free-fall and he lost his fortune in a disastrous property deal. 

At one stage, as a former Celebrity MasterChef and Hell’s Kitchen contestant, he even obligingly worked as a cook in the restaurant run by his estranged wife and her new lover. 

During her separation from Paul, Stacey fell pregnant with Ilan’s baby. Despite this, the 80s pop star reconciled with his wife and adopted her son Jude.

‘The break-up wasn’t easy’, he said at the time, while refusing to apportion blame or to show even the slightest bitterness. ‘Stacey was my mate when we got married, so why shouldn’t she still be my mate?’ 

Following their reconciliation, Paul told Loose Women that they are like any other ‘blended family’ and that Jude’s biological father is ’50 per cent in’.

In 2016, the couple celebrated their 30-year anniversary – which coincided with Paul’s 60th birthday. 

That same year, Stacey was diagnosed with brain cancer and tragically died two years later.

Announcing his wife’s passing on X, Paul said at the time: ‘She died peacefully at our home surrounded by family, friends and her four children Levi, Layla, Grady and Jude.’ 

Speaking about her death on This Morning in 2018, Paul said: ‘We just made the best of it for those two years. And as a family, we agreed that we [he and his children] wanted to get working and do something positive.

‘That’s what she was proudest of. She was really happy for me when things started to pick up again. [We are a close family] we see each other all the time.’

Earlier this year, Paul tied the knot with fiancée Lorna Young – but his children were notably absent from the celebrations. 

A friend told MailOnline that Paul’s children would have found it ‘too painful’ to see him marry again and are still ‘hurting’ from their loss. 

The insider said: ‘The children are still in deep grief from their mum.

‘They would have found it too painful to watch him marry again so they stayed away.

‘Attending such a big event where all eyes would be on them when they’re still in mourning would have been too much. Both Paul and Lorna understood the decision.’

6. Sting: Lost both parents in a year

Four years after Band Aid, Sting suffered a huge personal loss of his own when his parents Audrey and Ernest both died of cancer within months of each other.

The Police frontman decided not to attend either of their funerals in Tyne and Wear on the outskirts of Northumberland to avoid drawing any publicity.

In various interviews, the singer has hinted at his strained relationship with his parents.

Describing his ‘difficult’ dynamic with his father, Sting wrote in a lyric collection in 2007: ‘His death hit me harder than I’d imagined possible.’

In his memoir Broken Music, the musician explained how his mother married his father – who was a ‘dashing soldier fresh out of the army’ – when she was a teenager.

He then went on to detail how she had an affair with one of his milkman father’s employees and caught them in the act when leaving early for school one day.

He wrote: ‘I have seen nothing but I run and behind me I hear the front door slam. My mother doesn’t find me when she comes up to my room.

‘I wonder if I am to blame, and have no one to reassure me that I’m not.’

Speaking to the Irish Times in 2003, the star admitted: ‘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. 

‘I thought, I’ll just get on with work. I was deeply afraid. Running away is what I’ve always done.’

The following year, the singer hinted about his unhappy childhood in an interview the Sunday Independent.

He said: ‘I think my life has progressed from being a very unhappy child – I felt like I was in the wrong place – to where I am now. I am happier now than I’ve ever been.

‘I’m not smug, but I’m happy. I was driven to succeed and to get attention years ago, and to be the best, and win.’ 

 7. Rick Parfitt: Died of sepsis after being treated ‘awfully’ by Status Quo

At the height of Status Quo’s fame, Rick Parfitt quaffed whisky and red wine for breakfast, smoked 30 cigarettes a day, owned ten Porsches – despite a drink-drive conviction.

During one of the band’s 106 appearances on Top Of The Pops, the singer-songwriter was so inebriated he fell off the stage – famously taking the drummer with him.

‘Throughout the 70s and 80s I was a bit of an ogre. I fell into the sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll big time,’ he once said, telling how he’d often disappear on ‘benders’ that lasted for days.

‘It was almost like being out of a movie, where you’d wake up and all the facial hair had gone and the claws had been drawn back, and you’re this normal person for a very short space of time until you decide to drink the potion again.’

On top of this, he also estimated to have spent £1.7m on hard drugs during the height of his fame. 

On Christmas Eve 2016, the rock star died at a hospital in Marbella after contracting sepsis.

His son Parfitt Jr layer claimed the Status Quo member had been treated ‘awfully’ by his bandmates in his final months. 

Addressing the issue of a lack of recognition during the band’s comeback concert in Estonia four months later, Parfitt Jr Tweeted it ‘speaks volumes’.

He continued: ‘Dad was treated awfully. You don’t know what I know.’

Simon Porter, Status Quo’s manager told MailOnline at the time: ‘The band and I were extremely surprised and disappointed to hear about comments made online suggesting that the much-missed Rick Parfitt had been treated unfairly by the band in that period of time between him being forced to stand down from touring work and his tragic death late last year.’

8. Marilyn: Descended into heroin addiction after losing ‘love of his life’ Gavin Rossdale

After being asked to be one of 40 artists to feature in Band Aid, Marilyn – whose real name is Peter Robinson – could have reached all new levels of success. 

Instead, the singer – who is best known for the 1983 hit Calling Your Name – hit rock bottom and spend the next 20 years addicted to heroin.

In an interview with The Mirror in 2014, the former celebrity said: ‘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 1986, Marilyn appeared at Marylebone Magistrates Court over heroin charges – but these were eventually dismissed over lack of evidence.

In 1995, fellow Band Aid member Boy George alleged in his autobiography Take It Like a Man that Marilyn had been in a relationship with Gavin Rossdale.

Although Gavin denied this, Marilyn later dedicated his 2003 single Hold on Tight to him.

In 2012, Gavin Rossdale admitted he had had an affair with Marilyn and tried to deny it to avoid the ‘glare’ of the media.

He told the Evening Standard: ‘I think at the outset there was a sort of fear – that was right at the beginning of Bush, and I didn’t want it to be part of it. 

‘It felt like a cheap shot, so I was like, “I’m not getting involved.”‘

Marilyn later said of their relationship: ‘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.’ 

9. Martin Kemp: ’10 years to live’ 

When he was asked to be in Band Aid, Martin Kemp was one-sixth of one of the UK’s most popular bands.

Spandau Ballet continued making music until 1990 – when they split during a public feud over song-writing royalties. 

Five years later, Martin Kemp’s life changed forever when he had to undergo radiotherapy and surgery to treat two brain tumours.

He told the Daily Mail in 2009: ‘The first tumour was the size of a squashed grapefruit and doctors could cut my skull to get to it. 

‘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.’

Although doctors were concerned the second tumour was growing, Martin’s wife Shirlie – whom he shares Roman and Harley with – was worried about the dangers of undergoing surgery. 

He explained: ‘She found a doctor who said it could be attacked with radiation, with an early form of Gamma Knife technology.

‘Within six months of treatment there were signs it was dying and today there is nothing left of it.’

However, Martin told his son Roman that his diagnosis left him ‘resigned to the fact that I was going to die’.

Speaking on Roman’s podcast FFS! My Dad is Martin Kemp, the star’s son asked how much longer he thinks he’ll live.

Martin replied: ‘I’ll be really honest with you, 10 years.’ 

He explained: ‘I don’t know how long I’ve got left but I will tell you, since I was the age of 34, when I went through all of that brain tumour scare, I spent two years of my life thinking I was going to die.

‘And I think, after that, everything else, every day, every year, every month that I’ve lived, every experience that I’ve had has been a bonus.

‘I was practically resigned to the fact that I was going to die, but I was quite happy with my lot, because I had lived the most incredible experiences.’

Martin reiterated: ‘By the time I was 34 and I thought I was going to die, I spent two years thinking about it, I was quite happy, I thought: “If I go, do you know what? What a life” and that was back then. So, every year that I live, every month that I’m alive now is like a bonus.’

He told his son he ‘would be happy if I got to 80, that gives me 18 years!’

Do They Know It’s Christmas? has become one of the most iconic tracks in pop history, after being originally created by Sir Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in a bid to raise funds for anti-famine efforts in Ethiopia.

To mark the occasion, producer Trevor Horn has taken the three recordings and, through extraordinary music production techniques, blended all the voices of those separate generations into one seamless track.

Unveiled on 25th November, on Band Aid – 2024 Ultimate Mix will see a young Sting sing alongside a young Ed Sheeran, a young Boy George with a young Sam Smith, a young George Michael beside a young Harry Styles. 

The young Bono with an older Bono, Chris Martin with Guy Garvey, the Sugababes and Bananarama, Seal and Sinead O’Connor, Rita Ora and Robbie Williams, Kool and the Gang and Underworld. 

Other stars set to feature include Paul McCartney, Sting, John Taylor, Phil Collins, Roger Taylor, Paul Weller, Damon Albarn, Midge Ure, Johnny Greenwood, Gary Kemp and Justin Hawkins. 

The song will be unveiled on Monday November 25 with plays across UK breakfast time radio that morning and the video will then be unveiled that evening.

Band Aid’s first version offered a snapshot of some of the 1980s’ biggest stars, with names including George Michael, Boy George, Spandau Ballet and Banarama all featuring.

A second recording of the track was released in 2004, and featured Noughties favourites such as Busted, Robbie Williams, Daniel Bedingfield, Snow Patrol and The Sugababes.

In 2014, the last version of Band Aid was released, and despite featuring names such as One Direction, Olly Murs, Paloma Faith and Rita Ora, though lyrics were changed to reflect its effort to raise funds for the Ebola outbreak in Africa.