Nearly 40 percent of the world’s population tuned into the Live Aid concerts on this day in 1985. The record-shattering event took place across two venues in Philadelphia and London, with several other associated concerts occurring in countries across the world. The initiative was created to fund aid to African nations during a 1983-1985 famine. And fundraise they did, to the tune of $100 million.
The shows ran for 16 hours in total and were linked by satellite, allowing viewers to watch both concerts on the same channel. The effort started with a song performed by a supergroup of the United Kingdom’s biggest pop stars, including Culture Club, Duran Duran, Phil Collins, U2, and many other musicians. The song, called “Do They Know It’s Christmas?,” raised $10 million and topped the charts in the U.K. and the United States. It inspired the still famous “We Are the World” song performed by a similarly star-studded roster of artists including Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Harry Belafonte, Bob Dylan, and … well, a lot more famous people. That song raised $44 million.
Riding on that success, Live Aid was organized in 10 weeks and featured over 75 acts by many of the most popular musicians on Earth. Forty countries held telethons for famine relief, raising enough to provide enough grain to end the immediate hunger crisis on the African continent.
