Glee Cast Records "Do They Know It's Christmas?" Charity Song

By Karen Bliss 12/12/11 | www.samaritanmag.com

Glee

 

Oh joy, oh glee.  The cast of the hit television show Glee has recorded its own version of Band Aid’s 1984 hit “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” with 100 percent of the net monies from its sale going to The Band Aid Trust (www.bandaid.org.uk). 

The song, which was co-written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in aid of famine relief in Ethiopia and Sudan, appears on Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album Volume 2, as well as a separate single, available digitally.

The song is part of the Glee Christmas episode which airs tomorrow (December 13) at p.m. (ET).

The Band Aid Trust, a registered British charity since 1985, has raised in excess of $190 million through various international fundraisers, including the original British “Do They Know It’s Christmas,” — which included vocal contributions from more than 40 top artists at the time, such as Duran Duran, George Michael, Sting, Spandau Ballet and Culture Club — and a pair of Live Aid concerts on July 13, 1985 in London, England and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Trust has support countless projects designed to make a lasting difference in Ethiopia, Somalia and surrounding countries in East Africa:  building schools, hospitals and wells;  food security, sanitation, livelihood diversification and income generating activities, training for teachers, doctors and nurses, assistance for those living with HIV/AIDS, and more.

In 2011, Band Aid contributed $5.5 million to support emergency projects in Ethiopia and Somalia in response to the current food crisis in East Africa.

“The reverberations of this little song continue down the long 26 years since Midge Ure and I wrote it,” Geldof said in a statement.

“It could not be more timely now that Glee with its vast global audience of young people re-introduce it to a whole new constituency who are probably unaware of the great tragedy unfolding amongst the hungry, poor and dying of Somalia as a result of drought and a bitter and pointless civil war. This song was made specifically with that intent.

“Band Aid would like to thank from the bottom of its heart all the producers and actors of Glee who have gone beyond their normal brief of entertainment and entered into the spirit and understanding of that recording and its artists 26 years ago and its many subsequent iterations, by opening their web-site to the topic of poverty and the poor and linking it through to the Band Aid and the ONE campaign sites. This is entertainment with purpose.

“This is putting what you do and who you are to a focused concern and in so doing alter the lives of many thousands of otherwise voiceless people. This is beyond acting or singing or producing, lighting or directing. This is engaging. Out of the blue, what an unlooked for and exhilarating Christmas present not just for the hungry, hurt and poor but for all of us at Band Aid, ONE and the many, many artists of Live Aid and Live 8. Glee...thanks.”

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