Bob Geldof

Birthday: 5 October 1951, Dublin, Ireland

Birth Name: Robert Frederick Xenon Geldof

Height: 188 cm

Bob Geldof was frontman for the late '70s to mid '80s Irish punk rock band the Boomtown Rats. He also conceived and co-wrote Band Aid's tune "Do They Know It's Christmas?" with his friend, musician Midge Ure of Ultravox, which became the 1984 Christmas number one in the UK and the best-selling British pop single until that time. Band Aid later evolved into Live Aid (1985), the first international real-time concert, broadcast across the globe for two days. Band Aid and Live Aid (1985) were created to bring relief to the starving in Ethiopia. Geldof was knighted by the British Conservative government in 1986 for his achievement. Show less «

We believed rock and roll would last forever. Now I don't think it will. I think the diffuse nature ...Show more »

We believed rock and roll would last forever. Now I don't think it will. I think the diffuse nature of the medium means pop culture has won. We are pop culture. It's harder to identify the new and art has lost its ability to shock. Music is also trying too hard - there's a massive amount of stuff to reference, so why shouldn't I? Show less «

I think people respond well to the facts. The fact that a few miles away from Europe there is a cont...Show more »

I think people respond well to the facts. The fact that a few miles away from Europe there is a continent where the majority of the population go to bed hungry every night should resonate with all of us. It is in our interests too to look after our neighbors. I find that the best strategy is to make the public aware of the situation and what needs to be, and can be, done about it. Sometimes the politicians need a bit of an ear-bashing to help them on their way to these solutions (but if the voters told the politicians to sort it out I could pipe down a bit - it is in your power to shut me up!). Show less «

We need finally to move from charity (Band Aid, Live Aid) to political and economic justice. Charity...Show more »

We need finally to move from charity (Band Aid, Live Aid) to political and economic justice. Charity deals with the pain of poverty, the hunger, disease and conflict, but to finally end these things one must focus not on the symptoms of poverty but on its structures. Why does it exist? How does it exist? What can we do to stop it and its awful symptoms? That can only be addressed by political change. Show less «

Individual charity is essential, one human to another reaching over the impenetrable roar of politic...Show more »

Individual charity is essential, one human to another reaching over the impenetrable roar of political discourse to assist another in pain. Not to do this would kill us spiritually, but it will not deal with the structures of poverty that allow that pain to exist. Concerted, coherent, durable and massive political action can do that. Show less «

[on Live Aid (1985)] I was content. We had got every major British pop artist of the last quarter of...Show more »

[on Live Aid (1985)] I was content. We had got every major British pop artist of the last quarter of a century. Show less «

[About his foster daughter Tiger Lily, the daughter of Paula Yates and Michael Hutchence] "She calls...Show more »

[About his foster daughter Tiger Lily, the daughter of Paula Yates and Michael Hutchence] "She calls me Dad. We were shopping the other day and they played one of my songs then one of her dad's. She said, 'That's you, Dad'. Then she said, 'That's my real dad. My real dad's a better singer than you, Dad". I just said: 'Sheesh... Thanks". Show less «

[on David Bowie's suggestion that Live Aid should be an annual event] If he wants to give up six mon...Show more »

[on David Bowie's suggestion that Live Aid should be an annual event] If he wants to give up six months a year to do it, fair enough. Live Aid took me six months to organise. I can't afford the time to organise another one myself. Show less «

You've got all the baggage that comes with me: The Boomtown Rats, all the tabloid stuff... You've go...Show more »

You've got all the baggage that comes with me: The Boomtown Rats, all the tabloid stuff... You've got to get through an awful lot of stuff, then put it aside and say, "well, I'll have a listen, I'll give him a go". But bizarrely enough, people do buy my stuff, so I get to play great theatres all over the world. Except in the UK, where they don't give a crap. Show less «

I was interested in the blues, because Mick [Jagger] and Keith [Richards] used to say, "forget about...Show more »

I was interested in the blues, because Mick [Jagger] and Keith [Richards] used to say, "forget about us, go and listen to Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf". So I dutifully went to the record shop and said "have you heard of these people?" That someone could be called Howlin' Wolf. Wow. I listened to that music and I adored its primitivism. I joined the Irish Blues Appreciation Society. I was member 11. Out of 13. Show less «

[on David Bowie's endorsement of Band Aid] That's the seal of approval for the rock community. Bowie...Show more »

[on David Bowie's endorsement of Band Aid] That's the seal of approval for the rock community. Bowie says it cool. Must be then. It doesn't get much cooler than Bowie. Show less «

My sisters were complete Cliff and the Shadows nuts. They shared a bedroom, and they had Cliff and t...Show more »

My sisters were complete Cliff and the Shadows nuts. They shared a bedroom, and they had Cliff and the Shadows everywhere, all over the walls and ceiling. I thought he was a bit girly, but if you turned over to the B-sides, they were fairly hardcore. I really mean that. The guitar-playing was the first time I heard what we would now call rhythm and blues, and I liked that. Show less «

[About different motivations for taking up causes] "Bono as we all know, is in love with the world, ...Show more »

[About different motivations for taking up causes] "Bono as we all know, is in love with the world, he's enamoured by it. I'm enraged by it. He wants to give the world a great big hug, I want to punch its lights out." Show less «

[on "Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd] They had become conflated in my mind with this thing, whi...Show more »

[on "Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd] They had become conflated in my mind with this thing, which I had really thought was the death of music, prog rock and stuff like that. It was over-considered, middle class, intellectual English stuff. I didn't have it, uniquely amongst the planet I have to say, but it's only much later that I realized the scale of their achievement. What it is is a great record, that's what it is. It is absolutely one of the cardinal pillars of rock 'n' roll, in my view now. Show less «

Bob Geldof

Bob Geldof's FILMOGRAPHY

Bob Geldof'S roles

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