This Irish musician activist was born on 5 October 1951, today on this very day we are going look back to see the life of Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof, renowned as Bob Geldof, though the 71 years old Pop star says “I have the point of view that there’s no rear view mirror in this car,”. Evergreen star singer never been nostalgic.
He was born and brought up in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland. He became slaughterman, a road navvy and pea canner,before got a perfect job as a music journalist for a Canadian news & entertainment weekly, The Georgia Straight in Vancouver. He hosted a children programme there.
Bob Geldof returned to Ireland in 1975 & became lead singer of the Boomtown Rats. Their first single, “Lookin’ After No. 1”, came out in August 1977, enlisted in Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart. A Tonic for the Troops, the next album with 3 hits “Like Clockwork”, “She’s So Modern” and “Rat Trap”. The “Rat Trap” was became the song to topped UK chart by any Irish band. This album was recorded and released for US by Columbia Records. In 1979, “I Don’t Like Mondays”, also topped UK chart. Worldwide it was counted within top ten & also reached US Billboard Hot 100. Mondo Bongo in 1980 “Up All Night” was a huge hit in the U.S. In 1986, Geldof left the Boomtown Rats. The band’s fame and notability have been overshadowed by the charity work of lead Bob Geldof.
“This Is The World Calling” & “The Great Song of Indifference” were his first two solo numbers. In 1992, he performed at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert with the surviving members of Queen at the old Wembley Stadium. Various other performance he attained with other artists, such as David Gilmour and Thin Lizzy. He worked as a DJ for XFM radio.
He did a lot of charity work. Organised Live 8 concerts. He was campaigner behind Live Aid, one of the biggest global fundraising initiatives of all time. In 1984 he wrote the Christmas charity single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” with Midge Ure for the famine in Ethiopia.The song was recorded by various artists under the name of Band Aid. The single went on to sell more than 3 million copies and was at the time the fastest selling UK single ever. In 1985, Geldof and Ure organised Live Aid, a huge event for 16 long hours performance staged simultaneously at the Wembley Stadium in London and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia. BBC broadcasted these 16 hours of rock music. In November 2014, for Ebola Virus victims of West Africa he recreated “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” new charity single as Band Aid 30. He became the right recipient of the honor given by the Elizabeth II as an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1986.
