Robert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof,
KBEThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 5 October 1951) is an
IrishThe Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band
The Boomtown RatsThe Boomtown Rats were an Irish punk rock band that had a series of Irish and UK hits between 1977 and 1985. They were led by vocalist Bob Geldof.-Biography:All six members were originally from Dún Laoghaire, Ireland...
in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the
punk rockPunk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
movement. The band had hits with his compositions "
Rat Trap"Rat Trap" was a single by The Boomtown Rats which reached #1 in the UK singles chart for two weeks in November 1978, the first single by a punk or new wave act to do so...
" and "I Don't Like Mondays". He co-wrote "
Do They Know It's Christmas?"Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a song written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984 to raise money for relief of the 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The original version was produced by Midge Ure and released by Band Aid on 29 November 1984....
", one of the
best-selling singles of all time. He starred as Pink in
Pink FloydPink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
's 1982 film
Pink Floyd The WallPink Floyd—The Wall is a 1982 British live-action/animated musical film directed by Alan Parker based on the 1979 Pink Floyd album The Wall. The screenplay was written by Pink Floyd vocalist and bassist Roger Waters. The film is highly metaphorical and is rich in symbolic imagery and sound...
.
Geldof is widely recognised for his
activismActivism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
, especially anti-poverty efforts concerning Africa. In 1984, he and
Midge UreJames "Midge" Ure, OBE is a Scottish guitarist, singer, keyboard player, and songwriter...
founded the charity supergroup
Band AidBand Aid was a charity supergroup featuring British and Irish musicians and recording artists. It was founded in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia by releasing the song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" for the Christmas market that year. The single...
to raise money for
famine reliefFamine relief is an organized effort to reduce starvation in a region in which there is famine. A famine is a phenomenon in which a large proportion of the population of a region or country are so undernourished that death by starvation becomes increasingly common...
in
EthiopiaEthiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
. They went on to organise the charity super-concert
Live AidLive Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom ...
the following year and the
Live 8Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and in South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 Conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland from 6–8 July 2005; they also coincided with the 20th anniversary of Live Aid...
concerts in 2005. Geldof currently serves as an adviser to the
ONE CampaignThe ONE Campaign is an international, nonpartisan, non-profit organization which aims to increase government funding for and effectiveness of international aid programs....
, founded by fellow Irish humanitarian Bono. A single father, Geldof has also been outspoken for the fathers' rights movement. Geldof has been nominated for the
Nobel Peace PrizeThe Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
, was granted an honorary
knighthoodThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
by Queen Elizabeth II, and is a recipient of the
Man of PeaceThe title Man of Peace was created in 1999 by the annual World Summit of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in Rome. The purpose of the award is to recognize individuals who have offered "an outstanding contribution to international social justice and peace"....
title which recognises individuals who have made "an outstanding contribution to international social justice and peace", among numerous other awards and nominations.
Early life
Geldof was born and raised in
Dún LaoghaireDún Laoghaire or Dún Laoire , sometimes anglicised as "Dunleary" , is a suburban seaside town in County Dublin, Ireland, about twelve kilometres south of Dublin city centre. It is the county town of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County and a major port of entry from Great Britain...
, Ireland, and attended
Blackrock CollegeBlackrock College is a Catholic voluntary secondary school for boys aged 14–18, located in Williamstown, Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland. The College was founded by French missionaries in 1860, to act as a school and civil service training centre. Set in of grounds, it has an illustrious...
. His father, Robert, (known as Rob) was the son of a Belgian immigrant, Zenon (sometimes mistakenly spelt Lenon) Geldof (born 1881), a hotel chef, and Amelia "Minnie" Falk, a Jewish Englishwoman (born 1873 in London). Zenon Geldof and Amelia Falk were married in 1906 in Westminster and also had two daughters, Cleo Zenobie Geldof (born 1906 in Grantham), and May Geldof (born 1909 in
Dublin). At the age of 41, Geldof's mother Evelyn complained of a headache and died shortly thereafter, having suffered a haemorrhage.
Geldof attended
Blackrock CollegeBlackrock College is a Catholic voluntary secondary school for boys aged 14–18, located in Williamstown, Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland. The College was founded by French missionaries in 1860, to act as a school and civil service training centre. Set in of grounds, it has an illustrious...
in
Dublin, whose Catholic ethos he disliked. He was bullied for his lack of rugby prowess and over his third forename, Zenon. After work as a slaughter man,
road navvyNavvy is a shorter form of navigator or navigational engineer and is particularly applied to describe the manual labourers working on major civil engineering projects...
and pea canner in
WisbechWisbech is a market town, inland port and civil parish with a population of 20,200 in the Fens of Cambridgeshire. The tidal River Nene runs through the centre of the town and is spanned by two bridges...
, he started as a music journalist in Vancouver, Canada, for the weekly publication Georgia Straight.
The Boomtown Rats
Upon returning to Ireland in 1975, he became the lead singer of the band The Boomtown Rats, a rock group closely linked with the
punkPunk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
movement.
In 1978,
The Boomtown RatsThe Boomtown Rats were an Irish punk rock band that had a series of Irish and UK hits between 1977 and 1985. They were led by vocalist Bob Geldof.-Biography:All six members were originally from Dún Laoghaire, Ireland...
had their first No. 1 single in the UK with "Rat Trap", which was the first
New WaveNew Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
chart-topper in Britain. In 1979, the group gained international renown with their second UK No. 1, "I Don't Like Mondays". This was equally successful, as well as controversial; Geldof wrote it in the aftermath of
Brenda Ann SpencerBrenda Ann Spencer is a convicted American murderer who carried out a shooting spree from her home in San Diego, California, on January 29, 1979. During the shooting spree, she killed two people and injured nine others at Cleveland Elementary School, which was located across the street from her home...
's attempted
massacreA school shooting is an incident in which gun violence occurs at an educational institution.-Definition:The term school shooting most commonly describes acts committed by either a student or intruders from outside the school campus...
at an elementary school across the street from her house in San Diego, California, at the beginning of 1979.
In 1980, The Boomtown Rats released the album
Mondo BongoMondo Bongo was The Boomtown Rats fourth album and included the hit singles: "Banana Republic", which had reached No. 3 in the UK charts in November 1980 and "The Elephants Graveyard " which made No...
. Its single "Up All Night" in 1981 was a hit in the U.S. and its video played on MTV with heavy rotation.
Geldof quickly became known as a colourful interview. The Boomtown Rats' first appearance on Ireland's The Late Late ShowThe Late Late Show, sometimes referred to as The Late Late, or in some cases by the acronym LLS, is the world's longest-running chat show by the same broadcaster and the official flagship television programme of Irish broadcasting company RTÉ...
saw Geldof as deliberately brusque to host
Gay ByrneGabriel Mary "Gay" Byrne is a veteran Irish presenter of radio and television. His most notable role was first host of The Late Late Show over a 37-year period spanning 1962 until 1999...
and during his interview attacked Irish politicians and the Catholic Church which he blamed for many of the country's problems at the time, and responded to nuns in the audience that had tried to shout him down by saying they had "an easy life with no material worries in return for which they gave themselves body and soul to the church". He also criticised his old private school
Blackrock CollegeBlackrock College is a Catholic voluntary secondary school for boys aged 14–18, located in Williamstown, Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland. The College was founded by French missionaries in 1860, to act as a school and civil service training centre. Set in of grounds, it has an illustrious...
. The interview caused uproar across the country, making it impossible for the Boomtown Rats to play in Ireland again thereafter (apart from one gig at
Leixlip Castle-Politics:Since 1988 Leixlip has had a nine member Town Council , headed by a Cathaoirleach , which has control over many local matters, although it is limited in that it is not also a planning authority...
in 1980).
After Boomtown Rats
Geldof left the Boomtown Rats in 1986, to launch a solo career and publish his autobiography, Is That It?, which was a best-seller.
His first solo records sold reasonably well and spawned the hit singles "This Is The World Calling" (co-written with
Dave StewartDavid Allan Stewart , often known as Dave Stewart, is an English musician, songwriter and record producer, best known for his work with Eurythmics. He is usually credited as David A. Stewart, to avoid confusion with other musicians named "Dave Stewart".-Early life:Stewart was born in Sunderland,...
of
EurythmicsEurythmics were a British pop rock duo, formed in 1980, currently disbanded, but known to reunite from time to time. Consisting of members Annie Lennox and David A...
) and "The Great Song of Indifference". He also occasionally performed with other artists, such as
David GilmourDavid Jon Gilmour, CBE, D.M. is an English rock musician and multi-instrumentalist who is best known as the guitarist, one of the lead singers and main songwriters in the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has worked as a producer for a variety of...
of Pink Floyd and
Thin LizzyThin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Two of the founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist/vocalist Phil Lynott met while still in school. Lynott assumed the role of frontman and led them throughout their recording career of thirteen studio albums...
. A performance of "
Comfortably Numb"Comfortably Numb" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd, which first appears on the 1979 double album, The Wall. It was also released as a single in the same year with "Hey You" as the B-side. It is one of only three songs on the album for which writing credits are shared between Roger...
" with David Gilmour is documented in the 2002 DVD
David Gilmour in ConcertDavid Gilmour in Concert is a DVD of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour's solo concert at the Royal Festival Hall, London in June 2001, as part of the Robert Wyatt-curated Meltdown festival. It also features additional footage recorded during three concerts at the same venue in January 2002...
. In 1992, he performed at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert with the surviving members of
QueenQueen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
at the old Wembley Stadium, singing a song he had co-written with Mercury, called "Too Late God".
Geldof has also worked as a DJ for
XFMXfm is a brand of two commercial radio stations focused on alternative music, primarily indie pop, and owned by Global Radio.-History:Xfm was created in London in 1992 by Sammy Jacob, who later co-founded NME Radio in 2008. Xfm subsequently expanded to a network of four stations; there are...
radio. In 1998, he
erroneously announced Ian DuryIan Robins Dury was an English rock and roll singer, lyricist, bandleader and actor who initially rose to fame during the late 1970s, during the punk and New Wave era of rock music...
's death from cancer, possibly due to hoax information from a listener who was disgruntled at the station's change of ownership. The event caused music paper
NMEThe New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
(who had been involved in a running feud with Geldof since his Boomtown Rats days primarily due to his disparagement of
The ClashThe Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
) to call Geldof "the world's worst DJ".
Along with
U2U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
's
BonoPaul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
, he has devoted much time since 2000 to campaigning for
debt reliefDebt relief is the partial or total forgiveness of debt, or the slowing or stopping of debt growth, owed by individuals, corporations, or nations. From antiquity through the 19th century, it refers to domestic debts, in particular agricultural debts and freeing of debt slaves...
for developing countries. His commitments in this field, including the organisation of the Live 8 concerts, kept Geldof from producing any more musical output since 2001's Sex, Age & Death
album.
After Live 8, Geldof returned to his career as a musician by releasing a box set containing all of his solo albums entitled Great Songs of Indifference - The Anthology 1986–2001 in late 2005. Following that release, Geldof also toured, albeit with mixed success.
In July 2006 Geldof arrived at
MilanMilan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
's
Arena CivicaArena Civica is a multi-purpose stadium in Milan, Italy, which was opened on 18 August 1807 and is one of the city’s main examples of neoclassical architecture. During its history it has been used for many kinds of events, including the reconstruction of naval battles; William Frederick Cody ...
, a venue capable of holding 12,000 people, to play a scheduled concert to find that the organisers had not put the tickets on general sale and that only 45 people had shown up. Geldof refused to go on stage once he found out how small the attendance was. To offer some compensation for fans, Geldof stopped to sign autographs to those who had shown up. He then played a well-attended free "Storytellers" concert for
MTV ItalyMTV Italy is the Italian speaking version of the popular 24 hour music and youth entertainment channel. Unlike its counterparts elsewhere in Europe, MTV Italia is a national channel available free-to-air on terrestrial television since September 1, 1997 and available on digital terrestrial...
in Naples in October 2006.
Controversy
At one point during his charity work, Geldof swore on
CD:UKCD:UK was a British music television programme. Originally run in conjunction with SMTV Live, the programme was first aired on ITV on 29 August 1998 to rival the BBC's Live & Kicking and was the replacement for The Chart Show, which had been airing on the network for nine and a half years.In...
appearing to think he could get away with it, when he said 'Fuck the tape' whilst concluding his chat with
Cat DeeleyCatherine Elizabeth "Cat" Deeley is an English television presenter and model. Since 2006, Deeley has also been the host of So You Think You Can Dance in the United States, for which she received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition...
. At the NME awards in 2006, when accepting an award, Geldof referred to the host
Russell BrandRussell Edward Brand is an English comedian, actor, columnist, singer, author and radio/television presenter.Brand achieved mainstream fame in the UK in 2004 for his role as host of Big Brother spin-off, Big Brother's Big Mouth. His first major film role was in the 2007 film St Trinians...
as a '
cuntCunt is a vulgarism, primarily referring to the female genitalia, specifically the vulva, and including the cleft of Venus. The earliest citation of this usage in the 1972 Oxford English Dictionary, c 1230, refers to the London street known as Gropecunt Lane...
'. Brand responded by saying 'It's not surprising that Geldof is such an expert on famine: he has after all been dining out on "I Don't Like Mondays" for thirty years'.
In mid-July 2006, he infuriated many New Zealanders by criticising the New Zealand government's foreign aid contribution as 'shameful' and 'pathetic'.
Winston PetersWinston Raymond Peters is a New Zealand politician and leader of New Zealand First, a political party he founded in 1993. Peters has had a turbulent political career since entering Parliament in 1978. He served as Minister of Maori Affairs in the Bolger National Party Government before being...
, the
Minister of Foreign AffairsThe Minister of Foreign Affairs is a major ministerial portfolio in the government of New Zealand.The current Minister of Foreign Affairs is Murray McCully, who was National Party Spokeperson of Foreign Affairs and Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs. There are also Associate Minister roles...
responded that Geldof failed to recognise the 'quality' of New Zealand aid as well as other New Zealand contributions.
During mid-November 2008, a local for-profit organisation Diversity@Work invited Geldof to Melbourne, to speak about the tragedy of Third World poverty and the failure of governments to combat the crisis. However, it was subsequently revealed that he was paid AU$100,000 for his one-off speech which included a luxury hotel room and first-class airfares. Criticism has been raised at the contradiction of demanding such fees to speak on world poverty and human misery.
Charity work
Geldof's first major charity involvement took place in September 1981, when he performed as a solo artist for
Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
's benefit show
The Secret Policeman's Other BallThe Secret Policeman's Other Ball was the fourth of the benefit shows staged by the British Section of Amnesty International to raise funds for its research and campaign work in the human rights field...
, at the invitation of Amnesty show producer Martin Lewis; he performed a solo version of "I Don't Like Mondays". Other rock artists had 'planted a seed' and appeared to have affected Geldof in a similar manner.
Band Aid
In 1984, Geldof responded to a BBC news report from
Michael BuerkMichael Duncan Buerk is a BBC journalist and newsreader, most famous for his reporting of the Ethiopian famine on 23 October 1984, which inspired the Band Aid charity record.-Early life:...
about the famine in Ethiopia by mobilising the pop world to do something about the images he had seen. With
Midge UreJames "Midge" Ure, OBE is a Scottish guitarist, singer, keyboard player, and songwriter...
of
UltravoxUltravox is a British New Wave rock band. They were one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the late 1970s/early 1980s. The band was particularly associated with the New Romantic and New Wave movements....
wrote "
Do They Know It's Christmas?"Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a song written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984 to raise money for relief of the 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The original version was produced by Midge Ure and released by Band Aid on 29 November 1984....
" in order to raise funds. The song was recorded by various artists under the name of
Band AidBand Aid was a charity supergroup featuring British and Irish musicians and recording artists. It was founded in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia by releasing the song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" for the Christmas market that year. The single...
.
In its first week of release the single became the UK's fastest seller of all time, entering the chart at number one and going on to sell over three million copies, making it the biggest-selling single in UK history up to that point, a title it held for almost 13 years. The single was also a major US hit, even though Christmas was long gone by the time it could be released in the States. "Do They Know It's Christmas?" returned to the UK chart a year later, reaching number three, and eventually it raised over £8 million.
Following this massive success preparations were started for the biggest rock concerts the world had ever seen, the following summer.
Live Aid
As Geldof began to learn more about the situation, he discovered that one of the main reasons why African nations were in such dire peril was because of repayments on loans that their countries had taken from Western banks. For every pound donated in aid, ten times as much would have to leave the country in loan repayments. It became obvious that one song was not enough.
On 13 July 1985, Geldof and Ure organised Live Aid, a huge event staged simultaneously at the Wembley Stadium in London and
John F. Kennedy StadiumJohn F. Kennedy Stadium was an open-air stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that stood from 1925 to 1992. The South Philadelphia stadium was situated on the east side of the far southern end of Broad Street at a location that is now part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex...
in Philadelphia. Thanks to an unprecedented decision by the BBC to clear its schedules for 16 hours of rock music, the event was also broadcast live in the UK on television and radio.
It was one of the most monumental stage shows in history, with Phil Collins flying on
ConcordeAérospatiale-BAC Concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner, a supersonic transport . It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation...
so that he could play at both Wembley and Philadelphia on the same day.
During the broadcast of Live Aid, Geldof shocked viewers into giving cash by not only twice mouthing profanities but also by slamming his fist on the table and ordering them not to go out to the pub but to stay in and watch the show.
Nearly seven hours into the concert in London, Geldof gave an infamous interview in which he used the word 'fuck'. The BBC presenter
David HepworthDavid Hepworth is a journalist and music writer responsible for the launch of many British magazines.Born in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, Hepworth attended the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield and Trent Park College of Education, Barnet...
, conducting the interview, had attempted to provide a list of addresses to which potential donations should be sent; Geldof interrupted him in mid-flow and shouted: "Fuck the address, let's get the [phone] numbers!" It has passed into folklore that he yelled at the audience, "Give us your fucking money!" although Geldof has stated that this phrase was never uttered. After the outburst, giving increased to £300 per second.
The harrowing video of dying, skeletal children that had been made by photo-journalists setting their films to the tune of "Drive" by
The CarsThe Cars are an American rock band that emerged from the early New Wave music scene in the late 1970s. The band consisted of lead singer and rhythm guitarist Ric Ocasek, lead singer and bassist Benjamin Orr, guitarist Elliot Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes and drummer David Robinson...
, contributed to the concert's success.
In total, Live Aid raised over
£The pound sign is the symbol for the pound sterling—the currency of the United Kingdom . The same symbol is used for similarly named currencies in some other countries and territories, such as the Irish pound, Gibraltar pound, Australian pound and the Italian lira...
150 million for famine relief. Geldof was subsequently knighted, at age 34, for his efforts. His autobiography, written soon after with
Paul VallelyPaul Vallely CMG is a leading British writer on Africa and development issues. He first coined, in his seminal 1990 book Bad Samaritans: First World Ethics and Third World Debt, the expression that campaigners needed to move "from charity to justice" – a slogan that was taken up by Jubilee 2000 and...
, was entitled Is That It?. This book achieved further fame for being featured on the GCSE examination syllabus in a following year.
Much of the money raised by Live Aid went to NGOs in Ethiopia, some of which were under the influence or control of the
DergThe Derg or Dergue was a Communist military junta that came to power in Ethiopia following the ousting of Haile Selassie I. Derg, which means "committee" or "council" in Ge'ez, is the short name of the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army, a committee of...
military junta. Some journalists have suggested that the Derg was able to use Live Aid and
OxfamOxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...
money to fund its enforced resettlement and "villagification" programmes, under which at least 3 million people are said to have been displaced and between 50,000 and 100,000 killed.
However in November 2010 the BBC formally apologized to Geldof for misleading implications in its stories on the subject of Band Aid, saying it had 'no evidence' that Band Aid money specifically went to buy weapons.
Commission for Africa
In January 2004, on a visit to friends in Ethiopia, Geldof came to believe that more people were at risk of starvation there than had died in the famine of 1984/85 which had prompted Live Aid. He rang the British Prime Minister
Tony BlairAnthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
from
Addis AbabaAddis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...
. According to the Live 8 programme notes by Geldof's biographer and friend,
Paul VallelyPaul Vallely CMG is a leading British writer on Africa and development issues. He first coined, in his seminal 1990 book Bad Samaritans: First World Ethics and Third World Debt, the expression that campaigners needed to move "from charity to justice" – a slogan that was taken up by Jubilee 2000 and...
, the Prime Minister responded: "Calm down Bob. . . And come and see me as soon as you get back. "
The result was the
Commission for AfricaThe Commission for Africa, also known as the Blair Commission for Africa, was an initiative established by the British government to examine and provide impetus for development in Africa. Initiated in Spring 2004, its objectives include the generation of new ideas for development and to deliver...
. Blair invited Geldof and 16 other Commissioners, the majority from Africa and many of them politicians in power, to undertake a year-long study of Africa's problems. They came up with two conclusions: that Africa needed to change, to improve its governance and combat corruption, and that the rich world needed to support that change in new ways. That meant doubling aid, delivering debt cancellation, and reforming trade rules. The Commission drew up a detailed plan of how that could be done. It reported in March 2005. In the months that followed it became clear that world leaders were not taking its recommendations seriously. To force the issue Geldof decided to create a new international lobby for Africa with eight simultaneous concerts around the world to put pressure on the G8. He called it
Live 8Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and in South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 Conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland from 6–8 July 2005; they also coincided with the 20th anniversary of Live Aid...
. The Commission's recommendations later became the blueprint for the
G8The Group of Eight is a forum, created by France in 1975, for the governments of seven major economies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In 1997, the group added Russia, thus becoming the G8...
Gleneagles African debt and aid package.
Africa Progress Panel
Geldof is a member of the
Africa Progress PanelThe Africa Progress Panel consists of a group of distinguished individuals chaired by Kofi Annan whose objective is to track and encourage progress in Africa, and to underscore shared responsibility between African leaders and their international partners for sustaining it.The APP was originally...
(APP), an independent authority on Africa deriving its origin from a key recommendation of the Commission for Africa. The Panel launched in April 2007 with the aim of focusing world leaders’ attention on delivering their commitments to the continent. The Panel launched a major report in London on Monday 16 June 2008 entitled Africa's Development: Promises and Prospects
.
DATA and the ONE Campaign
Bob Geldof worked closely with DATADebt, AIDS, Trade, Africa was a multinational non-government organization founded in January 2002 in London by U2's Bono along with Bobby Shriver and activists from the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt campaign....
(Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa), an organisation founded by U2's Bono in 2002 to promote debt-relief, third world trade and AIDS relief in Africa. It merged with the ONE CampaignThe ONE Campaign is an international, nonpartisan, non-profit organization which aims to increase government funding for and effectiveness of international aid programs....
in 2008, where Geldof also is very active. In June 2009, on behalf of the ONE Campaign, he co-edited a special edition of the Italian newspaper La StampaLa Stampa is one of the best-known, most influential and most widely sold Italian daily newspapers. Published in Turin, it is distributed in Italy and other European nations. The current owner is the Fiat Group.-History:...
with a view on 35th G8 summitThe 35th G8 summit took place in the city of L'Aquila, Abruzzo, on July 8–10, 2009. It was moved from the Sardinian seaside city of La Maddalena as part of an attempt to redistribute disaster funds after the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake.....
.
One Young World
Geldof has signed up to be one of the Counsellors at One Young WorldOne Young World is a global forum for young people of leadership calibre. It manifests the reality of common humanity and the shared existence of all the people in one world...
a non-profit organisation which hopes to bring together 1500 young global leaders of tomorrow from every country in the world.
Live 8 concerts
On 31 March 2005, Geldof and Ure announced the Live 8Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and in South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 Conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland from 6–8 July 2005; they also coincided with the 20th anniversary of Live Aid...
project, to raise awareness of issues that burden Africa, including government debt, trade barriers, hunger, and AIDS issues. Geldof organised six concerts on 2 July 2005 in large cities throughout the industrialised world. They featured musicians from different genres and locations around the world. The cities where Live 8 concerts were played were in industrialised countries, and drew huge crowds. The locations were LondonHyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
, ParisThe Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles....
, Berlin, RomeThe Circus Maximus is an ancient Roman chariot racing stadium and mass entertainment venue located in Rome, Italy. Situated in the valley between the Aventine and Palatine hills, it was the first and largest stadium in ancient Rome and its later Empire...
, PhiladelphiaThe Philadelphia Museum of Art is among the largest art museums in the United States. It is located at the west end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. The Museum was established in 1876 in conjunction with the Centennial Exposition of the same year...
, Barrie, Chibais a Japanese convention center outside Tokyo, located in the Mihama-ku ward of Chiba city, in the northwest corner of Chiba prefecture. Designed by Fumihiko Maki, it is easily accessible by Tokyo's commuter rail system. Makuhari is the name of the area, and Messe is a German word meaning "trade...
, JohannesburgThe Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown, Johannesburg in South Africa is a public space named after Mary "Pickhandle" Fitzgerald, who is considered to have been the first female trade unionist in the country....
, MoscowRed Square is a city square in Moscow, Russia. The square separates the Kremlin, the former royal citadel and currently the official residence of the President of Russia, from a historic merchant quarter known as Kitai-gorod...
, CornwallThe Eden Project is a visitor attraction in Cornwall in the United Kingdom, including the world's largest greenhouse. Inside the artificial biomes are plants that are collected from all around the world....
and EdinburghMurrayfield Stadium is a sports stadium located in the west end of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Its all-seater capacity was recently reduced from 67,800 to 67,130 to incorporate the largest permanent "big screen" in the country though it still remains the largest stadium in Scotland and one...
.
The concerts were free, and were scheduled just days before world leaders gathered in GleneaglesThe Gleneagles Hotel is a luxury hotel near Auchterarder, Perth and Kinross, Scotland.- History :The hotel was built by the former Caledonian Railway Company and opened in 1924, originally with its own railway station...
, for the G8The Group of Eight is a forum, created by France in 1975, for the governments of seven major economies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In 1997, the group added Russia, thus becoming the G8...
economic summit, on 6 July. Ure organised the 'final push' Live 8 concert at Edinburgh. 'The boys and girls with guitars will finally get to turn the world on its axis,' Geldof said in a statement. Pink Floyd's performance in London was its first since 1981 to include original bassist, Roger WatersGeorge Roger Waters is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter...
.
Criticism of Band Aid/Live Aid
In 1985 singer MorrisseySteven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...
was heavily critical of the song Do They Know It's Christmas?"Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a song written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984 to raise money for relief of the 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The original version was produced by Midge Ure and released by Band Aid on 29 November 1984....
:
'I'm not afraid to say that I think Band Aid was diabolical. Or to say that I think Bob Geldof is a nauseating character. Many people find that very unsettling, but I'll say it as loud as anyone wants me to. In the first instance the record itself was absolutely tuneless. One can have great concern for the people of Ethiopia, but it's another thing to inflict daily torture on the people of England. It was an awful record considering the mass of talent involved. And it wasn't done shyly it was the most self-righteous platform ever in the history of popular music.'
In 1986, the anarchist band ChumbawambaChumbawamba is a British musical group who have, over a career spanning nearly three decades, played punk rock, pop-influenced music, world music, and folk music...
released the album Pictures of Starving Children Sell RecordsPictures of Starving Children Sell Records was the first full-length album by anarcho-punk band Chumbawamba, released in 1986 on Agit-Prop Records...
, as well as an EP entitled "We Are the World", jointly recorded with US band A State of MindA State of Mind was an anarcho-punk/ band that existed between 1982-1987A State of Mind was founded in 1982 in Philadelphia by Robbie , Allison Raine and Kevin .ASOM moved to the Bay Area in 1983 and lived with Crucifix in an artist warehouse commonly referred to as “New Method”...
, both of which were intended as anti-capitalist critiques of the Band Aid/Live AidLive Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom ...
phenomenon. They argued that "Do They Know It's Christmas?" was primarily a cosmetic spectacle, designed to draw attention away from the real political causes of world hunger.
A cartoon in Private Eye showed two emaciated Ethiopians, with one of them saying "We're having a famine, in aid of fading rock stars."
Criticism of Live 8
Although part of the campaign "Make Poverty HistoryMake Poverty History is the name of a campaign that exists in a number of countries, including Australia, Canada, Denmark , Finland, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Romania, the United Arab Emirates, Great Britain and Ireland...
" (MPH), Live 8 was then accused of hijacking MPH by planning its concerts on the same day as the giant MPH march in EdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, which was said to be the biggest social justice march in Scottish history.
Geldof was also criticised for the lack of African acts performing at Live 8. Geldof responded that only the biggest-selling artists would attract the huge audience required to capture the attention of the world in the run-up to the G8 meeting. Geldof added that there was insufficient public interest in African music among the concert's target markets in Europe and the United States. Including African artists at the expense of recognised artists would have been tokenistIn the arts, employment, and politics, tokenism is a policy or practice of limited inclusion or artistic and/or political representation of members of a traditionally marginalized group, usually creating a false appearance of inclusive practices rather than discrimination, intentional or not...
, he said, and would have undermined the effect of the concert.
In the lead-up to the G8 summit, Geldof, who had been a member of Tony Blair's Commission for Africa on which the Gleneagles recommendations were largely based, labelled critics of the summit 'a disgrace'. Some leading African campaigners have asked Geldof to stand down from the global anti-poverty movement, and the New InternationalistNew Internationalist is a magazine from New Internationalist Publications, a co-operative-run publisher based in Oxford, England. It has editorial and sales offices in Toronto, Canada; Adelaide, Australia; Christchurch, New Zealand; and New York, USA....
(between January and February 2006) said 'It would be long overdue if he did.'
There were also accusations that Live 8 gave unqualified support to the personal and political agendas of Tony BlairAnthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
and Gordon BrownJames Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
, particularly in the lead up to an election. Though many felt that it was the British politicians who had accepted Geldof's agenda, rather than the other way round, this led to accusations that Geldof had compromised his cause. In contrast with the media support given to Live Aid, Live 8 was subject to criticism by some sections of the media.
The promises made for Africa at the Gleneagles summit, were widely praised: "the greatest summit for Africa ever" (Kofi AnnanKofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...
), "an important, if incomplete, boost to the development prospects of the poorest countries" economist (Jeffrey SachsJeffrey David Sachs is an American economist and Director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University. One of the youngest economics professors in the history of Harvard University, Sachs became known for his role as an adviser to Eastern European and developing country governments in the...
) or "a major breakthrough on debt" (Kevin Wakins, until recently head of research at Oxfam). But many aid agencies pronounced their disappointment with the outcome, feeling that the strict conditions imposed on African countries for accepting debt relief left them little better off than before. Some critics have claimed that Live 8 had been more about rehabilitating the careers of ageing rock stars, including Geldof himself, than it was about the poor people of Africa. Geldof himself has made no attempt to revive his music career, although, as the New Internationalist points out, since becoming prominent in the salvation of Africa, "Geldof has re-released the entire back catalogue of the Boomtown Rats."
OasisOasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...
's Noel GallagherNoel Thomas David Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, formerly the lead guitarist, backing vocalist and principal songwriter of the English rock band Oasis. He is currently fronting his solo project, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.Raised in Burnage, Manchester with his...
became one of the more vocal sceptics about the impact of Live 8, citing his belief that rock stars have less influence over world leaders than popular culture may believe. His explanation was:
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but are they hoping that one of these guys from the G8 is on a quick 15-minute break at Gleneagles and sees Annie Lennox singing "Sweet Dreams" and thinks, 'Fuck me, she might have a point there, you know?' And Keane doing "Somewhere Only We Know" and some Japanese businessman going, 'Aw, look at him… we should really fucking drop that debt, you know.' It's not going to happen, is it?"
Other humanitarian initiatives
In 2009 joined the project "Soldiers of Peace", a movie against all wars and for a global peace.
Businessman
By 1992 Bob Geldof had established himself as a businessman through co-ownership of the TV production company Planet 24Planet 24 was a television production company. It produced The Big Breakfast and The Word had an animation division Impossible TV. Bob Geldof and Tony Boland founded Planet Pictures which merged with 24 Hour Productions headed by Charlie Parsons and Waheed, later Lord Alli...
, which pioneered early morning television with The Big BreakfastThe Big Breakfast was a British light entertainment television show shown on Channel 4 and S4C each weekday morning from 28 September 1992 until 29 March 2002 during which period 2,482 shows were produced. The Big Breakfast was produced by Planet 24, the production company co-owned by former...
. Planet 24 was sold to Carlton TV in 1999. TV production company Ten AlpsTen Alps Plc is a UK-based media company, founded in 1999 by Alex Connock and Bob Geldof.The plc is now run by Peter Bertram and Nitil Patel...
was founded the next day by Geldof and business partner Alex ConnockAlex Connock TV/digital entrepreneur & academic. Founded TV/digital company in 2011. Visiting Fellow Oxford University's Reuters Institute. Previously co-founded with Bob Geldof TV/digital content company Ten Alps 1999-2011....
. In April 2011 a new entertainment formats company, Pretend, was launched.
As of 2009, he has been patron of the Exeter Entrepreneurs Society, at the University of ExeterThe University of Exeter is a public university in South West England. It belongs to the 1994 Group, an association of 19 of the United Kingdom's smaller research-intensive universities....
.
Political views
Bob Geldof adopted an anti-euro stance by appearing in an advertisement against the single currency, in 2002. Geldof also criticised the European Union (EU) in 2004 for what he called its 'pathetic' response to EthiopiaEthiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
's food crisis, although one MEPA Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
has claimed he is "misinformed".
During a visit to Ethiopia, Geldof also praised President George W. BushGeorge Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
's proposal to fight AIDSAcquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
in Africa. This proposal has received criticism from some aid groups due to its heavy emphasis on Christian moralityMorality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...
and sexual abstinenceCelibacy is a personal commitment to avoiding sexual relations, in particular a vow from marriage. Typically celibacy involves avoiding all romantic relationships of any kind. An individual may choose celibacy for religious reasons, such as is the case for priests in some religions, for reasons of...
.
Geldof has recently spoken out about environmental issues, taking some positions that may be considered unusual compared to many other prominent artists and performers, such as advocating for the increased use of nuclear powerNuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
, saying that, "In the UK, we'll soon have to scramble for more nuclear power. On this issue, I don't care what anyone says: we're going to go with it, big-time. We may mess around with wind and waves and other renewable energy sources, trying to make them sustainable, but they're not. They're Mickey Mouse."
Geldof has also called for the industrial development of developing nations such as China and India to be taken into account when negotiating greenhouse gas emissions targets, and has suggested that the developed world has a role to play in assisting these nations to roll out non-fossil energy systems.
Some on the political leftIn politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
have charged Geldof with hypocrisy, due to his lack of support for causes such as the UK miners' strike (1984-1985) and the anti-war movement. In 2006, Geldof told a business conference that "Back in the 1970s there was no chance for a boy with an idea. Everything was stitched up by the unions."
From January 2002, until sometime in 2005, Geldof listened very closely to Father's Rights campaigners, and it was reported that he had sacks of mail arriving at his door on a daily basis from fathers who were denied justice from the British family courts. He was noted as saying, "I am heartbroken. I just cannot believe what happens to people, what is done to them in the name of the law. You only have to open your eyes to see what I call the 'Sad Dads on Sundays Syndrome'". He has also called for The Children Act to be repealed and his latest statement to Father's Rights campaigners was, "It's not in my nature to shut up".
In December 2005, Geldof agreed to give advice on global poverty to the Conservative PartyThe Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
. He stated, however, that he was uninterested in party politics, and would continue to 'shake hands with the devil on my left and the devil on my right,' in order to achieve results.
In April 2008 Geldof hit the news again when a survey showed that nearly a quarter of British people confused passages from the Bible with speeches made by the famous activist.
Awards and honours
Geldof has received many awards for his fund-raising work, including an honorary knighthoodThe British honours system is a means of rewarding individuals' personal bravery, achievement, or service to the United Kingdom and the British Overseas Territories...
(as Knight Commander of the Order of the British EmpireThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
) from Queen Elizabeth II, in 1986. Geldof is entitled to use the post-nominal letters "KBE", but as he is not a citizen of a Commonwealth realmA Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state within the Commonwealth of Nations that has Elizabeth II as its monarch and head of state. The sixteen current realms have a combined land area of 18.8 million km² , and a population of 134 million, of which all, except about two million, live in the six...
, he is precluded from using the title "Sir". Regardless, the nickname 'Sir Bob' has stuck, and media reports will frequently (but erroneously) refer to him as 'Sir Bob Geldof' as if that were his correct title.
In 1986 Geldof was made a Freeman of the Borough of Swale, in north KentKent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, England. Geldof had for some years been resident in the borough, at Davington Priory, FavershamFaversham is a market town and civil parish in the Swale borough of Kent, England. The parish of Faversham grew up around an ancient sea port on Faversham Creek and was the birthplace of the explosives industry in England.-History:...
, and is still living there as of 2009. He received his award during a special meeting of the Swale Borough Council from the Mayor, Councillor Richard Moreton and Mayoress Rose Moreton.
In 2005 he received the prestigious Beacon Fellowship Prize for his leadership role in alleviating poverty, famine and genocide, especially in the Third World, and his advocacy for the rights of fathers.
In 2005 Geldof was awarded the Honorary Patronage of the Trinity College Dublin University Philosophical Society and was a winner of the North-South PrizeThe North–South Prize is awarded annually by the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe to two public figures who are recognised for their deep commitment, outstanding achievements and hope they have generated in the field of protection of human rights, the defence of pluralist democracy and...
.
In a list compiled by the magazine New StatesmanNew Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
, in 2006, he was voted third in the list of 'Heroes of our time'.
In 2005, Bob Geldof received the Free Your Mind Award"Free Your Mind" is the name of a Grammy Award-nominated hit single released by the American all-female R&B group En Vogue. Released on September 24, 1992 "Free Your Mind" is the third single released from En Vogue's critically acclaimed album Funky Divas...
at the MTV Europe Music Awards.
In 2005, Bob Geldof received a Man of Peace AwardThe title Man of Peace was created in 1999 by the annual World Summit of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in Rome. The purpose of the award is to recognize individuals who have offered "an outstanding contribution to international social justice and peace"....
.
In 2006 he was awarded the Freedom of Dublin CityThe Freedom of the City of Dublin is an award bestowed by the people of Dublin on a person nominated by the Lord Mayor. It is usually awarded for contributions made to the life of the city, as an honour given to certain visiting dignitaries. This award is rarely given; only 74 people have been...
.
In 2006, Bob Geldof was the recipient of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Moral Courage Award by Holocaust Museum HoustonThe Holocaust Museum Houston, is located in Houston, Texas and was opened in 1996. The museum is located in the Houston Museum District.The museum is the fourth largest Holocaust memorial museum in the United States. The museum's mission is to make people aware of the dangers which prejudice,...
.
In 2007, Bob Geldof was made an Honorary Fellow at the Royal College of Surgeons in IrelandThe Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland , is a Dublin-based medical institution, situated on St. Stephen's Green. The college is one of the five Recognised Colleges of the National University of Ireland...
. In the same year Richard Curtis presented Bob Geldof the "Cinema for Peace Pioneer Award" honouring him for his achievements.
In 2006 and 2008, Bob Geldof was a nominee for the Nobel Peace PrizeThe Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
.
In 2008 he received the Nichols-Chancellor's Medal from Vanderbilt UniversityVanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
for his humanitarian efforts, as well as an honorary degree in music from the University of East LondonThe University of East London is a university located in the London Borough of Newham, East London, England, based at two campuses in Stratford and Docklands areas...
, serving on both occasions as the keynote speaker for the 2008 graduating class.
He received an honorary degree of Master of ArtsA Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
from the University of KentThe University of Kent, previously the University of Kent at Canterbury, is a public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom...
in 1985. In 2007 he was awarded an honorary degree in Civil Law from Newcastle University. The University held a special honorary degree ceremony to honour key figures in the campaign against world poverty.
In 2009, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from ROTAReach Out To Asia is a Qatari-based non-profit organization that empowers local communities by providing access to quality primary and secondary education to children affected by crisis across Asia...
.
In 2011 he received an honorary doctorate of philosophy from Ben-Gurion University of the NegevBen-Gurion University of the Negev is a university in Beersheba, Israel, established in 1969. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has a current enrollment of 17,400 students, and is one of Israel's fastest growing universities....
in Israel, for his "decades of charity work for humanitarian causes".
In July 2011, Geldof was the star in the reasonably priced car on BBC2's Top Gear programme. His lap time was confirmed as 1:48.1, placing him as the 14th fastest driver.
Personal life
Geldof's longtime girlfriend and later wife was Paula YatesPaula Elizabeth Yates was a British television presenter and writer, best known for her work on two television programmes, The Tube and The Big Breakfast.-Early life:...
. Yates was a rock journalist, presenter of the cutting-edge music show The TubeThe Tube was an innovative United Kingdom pop/rock music television programme, which ran for five seasons, from 5 November 1982 until 1987...
, and later notorious for her in-bed interviews on the show The Big BreakfastThe Big Breakfast was a British light entertainment television show shown on Channel 4 and S4C each weekday morning from 28 September 1992 until 29 March 2002 during which period 2,482 shows were produced. The Big Breakfast was produced by Planet 24, the production company co-owned by former...
. Geldof met Yates when she became an obsessed fan of the Boomtown Rats during the band's early days. They got together as a couple in 1976 when Yates travelled by aeroplane to Paris to surprise him when the band was playing there.
Before they married, the couple had a daughter, Fifi Trixibelle Geldof, born 31 March 1983 (and while Geldof was still conducting an affair with the young Claire KingClaire King is a popular English actress, best known for playing the roles of Kim Tate in the ITV Soap Opera Emmerdale from 1989 to 1999 and Karen Betts in Bad Girls from 2000 to 2004.-Biography:...
). She was named Fifi after Bob's aunt Fifi, and Trixibelle because Paula wanted a belle in the family. After 10 years together, Bob and Paula married in June 1986 in Las VegasThe Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
, with Simon Le BonSimon John Charles Le Bon is an English musician, best known as the lead singer, lyricist and musician of the band Duran Duran and its offshoot, Arcadia.-Early life:...
(of Duran DuranDuran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
) acting as Geldof's best man. The couple later had two more daughters, Peaches Honeyblossom GeldofPeaches Honeyblossom Geldof is a British journalist, television presenter and model.-Background:Geldof was born in London in 1989, the second daughter of Bob Geldof and Paula Yates. She is the granddaughter of Hughie Green. Her sisters are Fifi Trixibelle Geldof and Pixie Geldof...
(known as Peaches Geldof) on 13 March 1989, and Little Pixie GeldofLittle Pixie Geldof is a British model and socialite, most recently modelling for Debenhams.She is the youngest daughter of Bob Geldof and Paula Yates. Her sisters are Fifi Trixibelle Geldof and Peaches Honeyblossom Geldof...
(known as Pixie Geldof) on 17 September 1990. Pixie is said to be named after a celebrity daughter character from the cartoon Celeb in the satirical magazine Private EyePrivate Eye is a fortnightly British satirical and current affairs magazine, edited by Ian Hislop.Since its first publication in 1961, Private Eye has been a prominent critic and lampooner of public figures and entities that it deemed guilty of any of the sins of incompetence, inefficiency,...
, itself a lampoon of the names the Geldofs gave to their other children. Geldof has stated that his children find his music 'crap' and him an 'embarrassment'.
In 1995, Yates left Geldof for Michael HutchenceMichael Kelland John Hutchence was an Australian musician and actor. He was the founding lead singer-songwriter of rock band :INXS from 1977 to his death in 1997, a period of twenty years. Hutchence was a member of short-lived pop rock group Max Q and recorded solo material which was released...
, the lead singer of INXSINXS are an Australian rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. Mainstays are Garry Gary Beers on bass guitar, Andrew Farriss on guitar/keyboards, Jon Farriss on drums, Tim Farriss on lead guitar and Kirk Pengilly on guitar/sax...
, whom she had met several years previously when she interviewed him on The Tube (TV series)The Tube was an innovative United Kingdom pop/rock music television programme, which ran for five seasons, from 5 November 1982 until 1987...
, and again in 1994 when she interviewed Hutchence again for The Big BreakfastThe Big Breakfast was a British light entertainment television show shown on Channel 4 and S4C each weekday morning from 28 September 1992 until 29 March 2002 during which period 2,482 shows were produced. The Big Breakfast was produced by Planet 24, the production company co-owned by former...
. Geldof and Yates divorced in May 1996 and Yates moved in with Hutchence. Yates and Hutchence had a daughter, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily, born 22 July 1996. Hutchence later committed suicide and was found hanged in a hotel room on 22 November 1997. Geldof soon after went to court and obtained full custody of his own three daughters and has since become an outspoken advocate of fathers' rightsThe fathers' rights movement is a movement whose members are primarily interested in issues related to family law, including child custody and child support that affect fathers and their children. Many of its members are fathers who desire to share the parenting of their children equally with their...
. After Paula Yates's death from a drug and alcohol overdose in 2000, and with the approval of Hutchence's parents, Geldof became the legal guardian of Tiger Lily, believing it best that she be raised with her three half-sisters. In 2007, Geldof formally adopted her, changing her name to Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence Geldof although she simply goes by the name of Tiger Hutchence-Geldof.
Geldof currently resides in BatterseaBattersea is an area of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is an inner-city district of South London, situated on the south side of the River Thames, 2.9 miles south-west of Charing Cross. Battersea spans from Fairfield in the west to Queenstown in the east...
, South London with his partner, French actress Jeanne Marine, and Tiger.
His father died on 26 August 2010 at the age of 96.
Wealth
Geldof's wealth was estimated by Broadcast magazine in 2001 to be £30 million, a position of 18th in a list of UK broadcasters. He co-founded production company Ten AlpsTen Alps Plc is a UK-based media company, founded in 1999 by Alex Connock and Bob Geldof.The plc is now run by Peter Bertram and Nitil Patel...
with Alex ConnockAlex Connock TV/digital entrepreneur & academic. Founded TV/digital company in 2011. Visiting Fellow Oxford University's Reuters Institute. Previously co-founded with Bob Geldof TV/digital content company Ten Alps 1999-2011....
. Output includes education TV site Schoolsworld, which hosts 3500 videos from the former government Teachers TVTeachers TV was a website and former free-to-air Distance education television channel which provided video and support materials for those who work in education in the UK, including teachers, school leaders, governors, teacher trainers, student teachers and support staff.Its aims included raising...
project.
In 2007, his two UK properties were owned by companies based in the British Virgin IslandsThe Virgin Islands, often called the British Virgin Islands , is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union, located in the Caribbean to the east of Puerto Rico. The islands make up part of the Virgin Islands archipelago, the remaining islands constituting the U.S...
.
Discography
For more information on Bob Geldof's solo recordings see Bob Geldof discography
For Bob Geldof's recordings with The Boomtown Rats see The Boomtown Rats discographyThe discography of Irish punk rock group The Boomtown Rats, a list of albums and singles released in their history between 1977 and 1985, and also a list of their compilation albums...
Solo albums
| Year |
Title |
Peak chart positions |
| UK The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
|
AUS MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top...
|
AUT The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...
|
GER The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...
|
IRE The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically...
|
NL MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top...
|
NOR VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by...
|
SWE Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association ....
|
SWI The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75...
|
US The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
|
| 1986 |
Deep in the Heart of Nowhere Deep in the Heart of Nowhere is ex-Boomtown Rats lead singer Bob Geldof's first solo studio album. It was released in 1986 with the main single being 'This Is the World Calling' and 'Love Like a Rocket' being a later single...
- Released: November 1986
- Label: Mercury
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
(UK) / AtlanticAtlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
(US) |
79 |
— |
— |
27 |
— |
— |
3 |
18 |
15 |
130 |
| 1990 |
The Vegetarians of Love The Vegetarians of Love is ex-Boomtown Rats lead singer Bob Geldof's second solo studio album released in 1990. "The Vegetarians of Love" is also the name of the band of musicians Geldof recorded the album with. It includes Pete Briquette from Geldof's previous band The Boomtown Rats, who also...
Released: July 1990
Label: Mercury |
21 |
43 |
27 |
15 |
— |
37 |
— |
— |
20 |
— |
| 1993 |
The Happy Club The Happy Club is ex-Boomtown Rats lead singer Bob Geldof's third solo studio album.- UK / International version :All songs were written by Bob Geldof, except where noted.# "Room 19" – 5:14# "Attitude Chicken" – 4:36# "The Soft Soil" – 7:29...
Released: 1993
Label: Mercury (UK) / Atlantic (US) |
— |
— |
— |
60 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
39 |
— |
| 2001 |
Sex, Age & Death Sex, Age & Death is ex-Boomtown Rats lead singer Bob Geldof's fourth solo studio album.-Track listing:All songs were written by Bob Geldof, except where noted.# "One for Me" – 4:59# "$6,000,000 Loser" – 4:23...
Released: October 2001
Label: Eagle RecordsEagle Records is a leading independent record label, a division of Edel Records. Also exists as Eagle Rock Entertainment.In the United Kingdom the label's managing director is Lindsay Brown, former manager of Van Halen, while in the United States the head is Mike Carden, formerly of CMC...
|
134 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
| 2011 |
How To Compose Popular Songs That Will Sell How to Compose Popular Songs That Will Sell is the fifth solo studio album from Irish singer, Bob Geldof. It was released on 7 February 2011. How to Compose Popular Songs That Will Sell is Geldof's first album since 2001's Sex, Age & Death, and marks his return to the Mercury Records label. The...
Released: 7 February 2011
Label: Mercury |
89 |
— |
— |
— |
87 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
| "—" denotes a release that did not chart. |
Compilation albums
| Year |
Title |
Peak chart positions |
| UK The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
|
| 1994 |
Loudmouth – The Best of Bob Geldof & The Boomtown Rats
- includes solo recordings and The Boomtown Rats songs
- Released: July 1994
- Label: Vertigo
Vertigo Records today is a UK-based record label operated by Universal Music UK.-History:Vertigo Records was the name Philips Records chose in the late 1960s for its record sub-label to counter the progressive labels of its rivals EMI with Harvest Records and Decca Records with Deram...
|
10 |
| 2005 |
Great Songs of Indifference: The Anthology 1986-2001
Box Set including the first 4 solo albums
Released: 2005
Label: Mercury |
— |
| "—" denotes a release that did not chart. |
Singles
| Year |
Title |
Chart positions |
Album |
| UK The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
|
AUS The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...
|
GER The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...
|
IRE The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured...
|
NL MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top...
|
NOR VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by...
|
SWE Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association ....
|
SWI The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75...
|
US The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
|
| 1986 |
"This Is the World Calling" |
25 |
— |
28 |
2 |
29 |
1 |
10 |
18 |
82
[A] |
Deep in the Heart of Nowhere |
| 1987 |
"Love Like a Rocket" |
61 |
— |
— |
21 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
| "Heartless Heart" |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
| "I Cry Too" |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
| "In the Pouring Rain" |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
| 1990 |
"The Great Song of Indifference" |
15 |
— |
20 |
7 |
16 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
Vegetarians of Love |
| "Love or Something" |
86 |
— |
55 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
—
[B] |
| "A Gospel Song" |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
| 1992 |
"Room 19 (Sha La La La Lee)" |
— |
— |
53 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
Happy Club |
| "My Hippy Angel" |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
| 1993 |
"The Happy Club" |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
| "Yeah, Definitely" |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
| 1994 |
"Crazy" |
65 |
— |
72 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
Loudmouth – The Best of Bob Geldof & The Boomtown Rats |
| 1996 |
"Rat Trap "Rat Trap" was a single by The Boomtown Rats which reached #1 in the UK singles chart for two weeks in November 1978, the first single by a punk or new wave act to do so...
"
(DustinDustin the Turkey is a puppet, "television presenter" and star of RTÉ television's The Den since 1989. A turkey with a strong Dublin accent, Dustin is voiced by John Morrison, brother of Ciaran Morrison who was one of the creators of Zig and Zag. Dustin first appeared on The Den with Zig and Zag in...
& GeldofRobert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof, KBE is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement. The band had hits with his...
) |
— |
— |
— |
1 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
|
| 2002 |
"Pale White Girls" |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
Sex Age & Death |
| 2011 |
"Silly Pretty Thing" |
146 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
How To Compose Popular Songs That Will Sell |
| "Here's To You" |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
Notes
- A^ "This Is the World Calling" also charted at #23 on Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks
Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks is a ranking in Billboard magazine of the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations, a category that includes stations that play primarily rock music. Modern rock tracks are counted in the Alternative Songs chart.This chart began with the March 21, 1981, issue...
Chart.
- B^ "Love or Something" charted at #24 on Billboard Modern Rock Tracks
Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...
Chart.