Today in History:July 13th LIVE AID CONCERT: July 13, 1985 On July 13, 1985, at Wembley Stadium in London, Prince Charles and PrincessDiana officially open Live Aid, a worldwide rock concert organized to raisemoney for the relief of famine-stricken Africans. Continued at JFK Stadium inPhiladelphia and at other arenas around the world, the 16-hour "superconcert"was globally linked by satellite to more than a billion viewers in 110 nations.In a triumph of technology and good will, the event raised more than $125million in famine relief for Africa.Live Aid was the brainchild of Bob Geldof,the singer of an Irish rock group called the Boomtown Rats. In 1984, Geldoftraveled to Ethiopia after hearing news reports of a horrific famine that hadkilled hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians and threatened to kill millions more.After returning to London, he called Britain's and Ireland's top pop artiststogether to record a single to benefit Ethiopian famine relief. "Do They KnowIt's Christmas?" was written by Geldof and Ultravox singer Midge Ure andperformed by "Band Aid," an ensemble that featured Culture Club, Duran Duran,Phil Collins, U2, Wham!, and others. It was the best-selling single in Britainto that date and raised more than $10 million."Do They Know It's Christmas?" wasalso a No. 1 hit in the United States and inspired U.S. pop artists to cometogether and perform "We Are the World," a song written by Michael Jackson andLionel Ritchie. "USA for Africa," as the U.S. ensemble was known, featuredJackson, Ritchie, Geldof, Harry Belafonte, Bob Dylan, Cyndi Lauper, Paul Simon,Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner, Stevie Wonder, and many others. The single wentto the top of the charts and eventually raised $44 million.With the crisiscontinuing in Ethiopia, and the neighboring Sudan also stricken with famine,Geldof proposed Live Aid, an ambitious global charity concert aimed at raisingmore funds and increasing awareness of the plight of many Africans. Organized injust 10 weeks, Live Aid was staged on Saturday, July 13, 1985. More than 75 actsperformed, including Elton John, Madonna, Santana, Run DMC, Sade, Sting, BryanAdams, the Beach Boys, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Queen, Duran Duran, U2, theWho, Tom Petty, Neil Young, and Eric Clapton. The majority of these artistsperformed at either Wembley Stadium in London, where a crowd of 70,000 turnedout, or at Philadelphia's JFK Stadium, where 100,000 watched. Thirteensatellites beamed a live television broadcast of the event to more than onebillion viewers in 110 countries. More than 40 of these nations held telethonsfor African famine relief during the broadcast.A memorable moment of the concertwas Phil Collins' performance in Philadelphia after flying by Concorde fromLondon, where he performed at Wembley earlier in the day. He later played drumsin a reunion of the surviving members of Led Zeppelin. Beatle Paul McCartney andthe Who's Pete Townsend held Bob Geldof aloft on their shoulders during theLondon finale, which featured a collective performance of "Do They Know It'sChristmas?" Six hours later, the U.S. concert ended with "We Are the World."LiveAid eventually raised $127 million in famine relief for African nations, and thepublicity it generated encouraged Western nations to make available enoughsurplus grain to end the immediate hunger crisis in Africa. Geldof was laterknighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his efforts.In early July 2005, Geldof stageda series of “Live 8� concerts in 11 countries around the world to help raiseawareness of global poverty. Organizers, led by Geldof, purposely scheduled theconcert days before the annual G8 summit in an effort to increase politicalpressure on G8 nations to address issues facing the extremely poor around theworld. Live 8 claims that an estimated 3 billion people watched 1,000 musiciansperform in 11 shows, which were broadcast on 182 television networks and by2,000 radio stations. Unlike Live Aid, Live 8 was intentionally not billed as afundraiser—-Geldof’s slogan was “We don’t want your money, we want your voice.�Perhaps in part because of the spotlight brought to such issues by Live 8, theG8 subsequently voted to cancel the debt of 18 of the world’s poorest nations,make AIDS drugs more accessible, and double levels of annual aid to Africa, to$50 billion by 2010. ------------------------------------------------------------------ MORE GENERAL INTEREST 1793 Charlotte Corday assassinates Marat1943 Largest tank battle in history ends1960 Kennedy nominated for presidency http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=general&month=10272959&day=10272978 AUTOMOTIVE 1995 Chrysler dealership opens in Hanoi http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=automotive&month=10272959&day=10272978 CIVIL WAR 1861 Battle of Corrick's Ford, western Virginia http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=civil&month=10272959&day=10272978 COLD WAR1948 Democratic Party platform defends Roosevelt-Truman foreign policieshttp://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=coldwar&month=10272959&day=10272978 CRIME1881 Billy the Kid is shot to deathhttp://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=crime&month=10272959&day=10272978 DISASTER1951 Record-breaking floods hit Kansashttp://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=disaster&month=10272959&day=10272978 ENTERTAINMENT1985 Live Aid draws 1.5 billion viewershttp://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=entertainment&month=10272959&day=10272978 LITERARY1798 Wordsworth visits Tintern Abbeyhttp://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=literary&month=10272959&day=10272978 OLD WEST1866 Construction begins on Fort Phil Kearnyhttp://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=oldwest&month=10272959&day=10272978 PRESIDENTIAL1985 Reagan’s doctors discover possibly cancerous colon polyphttp://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=presidential&month=10272959&day=10272978 VIETNAM WAR1968 Rockefeller announces new peace proposalhttp://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=vietnamwar&month=10272959&day=10272978 WALL STREET1998 GM airbags backfirehttp://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=wallstreet&month=10272959&day=10272978 WORLD WAR I1914 Austrian investigation into archduke’s assassination concludeshttp://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=worldwari&month=10272959&day=10272978 WORLD WAR II1944 Soviet General Konev establishes a new western border for the USSRhttp://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=worldwarii&month=10272959&day=10272978