1.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
2.
Columbia Records
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Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, Inc. the United States division of Sony Corporation. It was founded in 1887, evolving from an enterprise named the American Graphophone Company. Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in the sound business. Columbia Records went on to release records by an array of singers, instrumentalists. It is one of Sony Musics three flagship record labels alongside RCA Records and Epic Records, rather, as above, it was connected to CBS, a broadcasting media company which had purchased the company in 1938, and had been co-founded in 1927 by Columbia Records itself. Though Arista Records was sold to Bertelsmann Music Group, it would become a sister label of Columbia Records through its mutual connection to Sony Music. The Columbia Phonograph Company was founded in 1887 by stenographer, lawyer and New Jersey native Edward Easton and it derived its name from the District of Columbia, where it was headquartered. At first it had a monopoly on sales and service of Edison phonographs and phonograph cylinders in Washington. As was the custom of some of the regional companies, Columbia produced many commercial cylinder recordings of its own. Columbias ties to Edison and the North American Phonograph Company were severed in 1894 with the North American Phonograph Companys breakup, thereafter it sold only records and phonographs of its own manufacture. In 1902, Columbia introduced the XP record, a brown wax record. According to Gracyk, the molded brown waxes may have sold to Sears for distribution. Columbia began selling records and phonographs in addition to the cylinder system in 1901, preceded only by their Toy Graphophone of 1899. For a decade, Columbia competed with both the Edison Phonograph Company cylinders and the Victor Talking Machine Company disc records as one of the top three names in American recorded sound. In order to add prestige to its catalog of artists. The firm also introduced the internal-horn Grafonola to compete with the extremely popular Victrola sold by the rival Victor Talking Machine Company, during this era, Columbia used the famous Magic Notes logo—a pair of sixteenth notes in a circle—both in the United States and overseas. Columbia was split into two companies, one to make records and one to make players, Columbia Phonograph was moved to Connecticut, and Ed Easton went with it. Eventually it was renamed the Dictaphone Corporation, in late 1923, Columbia went into receivership
3.
George Michael
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Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, known professionally as George Michael, was an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and philanthropist who rose to fame as a member of the music duo Wham. He was best known for his work in the 1980s and 1990s, including hit singles such as Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go and Last Christmas, and albums such as Faith and Listen Without Prejudice Vol.1. Up to the time of his death, Michael sold more than 115 million records worldwide and his breakthrough duo Wham. sold 28 million records between 1982 and 1986, and his debut solo album Faith sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. Michael achieved seven number one singles in the UK and eight number one songs on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, including Careless Whisper and Praying for Time. He ranks among the best-selling British acts of all time, Michael, who came out as gay in 1998, was an active LGBT rights campaigner and HIV/AIDS charity fundraiser. In 2004, the Radio Academy named Michael the most played artist on British radio during the period 1984–2004, the documentary A Different Story covered his career and personal life. Michaels first tour in 15 years, the worldwide 25 Live tour, in the early hours of 25 December 2016, Michael, aged 53, was found dead in bed at his Oxfordshire home. A coroners report attributed his death to natural causes, Michael was born in East Finchley on 25 June 1963. His father, Kyriacos Jack Panayiotou, a Greek Cypriot restaurateur, had emigrated to Britain in the 1950s, Michaels mother, Lesley Angold, was an English dancer, and his maternal grandmother was Jewish. Michael spent most of his childhood in Kingsbury, London, in the home his parents soon after his birth. His older sisters are Yioda and Melanie, while he was in his early teens, the family moved to Radlett. There, Michael attended Bushey Meads School in Bushey, where he befriended his future Wham. partner Andrew Ridgeley, the two had the same career ambition of being musicians. Michael busked on the London Underground, performing such as 39 by Queen. His involvement in the business began with his working as a DJ, playing at clubs and local schools around Bushey, Stanmore. This was followed by the formation of a ska band called The Executive, with Ridgeley, Ridgeleys brother Paul, Andrew Leaver. Michael formed the duo Wham. with Andrew Ridgeley in 1981, the bands first album Fantastic reached No.1 in the UK in 1983 and produced a series of top 10 singles including Young Guns, Wham Rap. and Club Tropicana. Their second album, Make It Big, reached No.1 on the charts in the US, Michael sang on the original Band Aid recording of Do They Know Its Christmas. And donated the profits from Last Christmas/Everything She Wants to charity and he also contributed background vocals to David Cassidys 1985 hit The Last Kiss, as well as Elton Johns 1985 successes Nikita and Wrap Her Up
4.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
5.
Watford
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Watford is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated 17 miles northwest of central London and inside the circumference of the M25 motorway. It is not to be confused with Watford, Northamptonshire which is 55 miles to the north, the town developed on the River Colne on land belonging to St Albans Abbey until the 16th century. During the 12th century a charter was granted allowing a market, the town grew modestly, assisted by travellers passing through to Berkhamsted Castle and the royal palace at Kings Langley. A big house was built at Cassiobury in the 16th century and this was partly rebuilt in the 17th century and another substantial house was built nearby at The Grove. Two brewers Benskins and Sedgwicks flourished in the town until their closure in the late 20th century, Hertfordshire County Council designates Watford, along with Stevenage, to be its major sub-regional centre. Several head offices are based in Watford, both the 2006 World Golf Championship and the 2013 Bilderberg Conference took place at The Grove. Watford was created as a district under the Local Government Act 1894. The borough had 90,301 inhabitants at the time of the 2011 census, the borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District. Watford Borough Council is the authority with the Mayor of Watford as its head, one of only 18 directly elected mayors in England. Dorothy Thornhill has been the mayor since the elected system was set up in May 2002 and is both the first Liberal Democrat and the first female directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. Watford elects one Member of Parliament for the Watford constituency, prior to the establishment of this constituency in 1885 the area was part of the three-seat constituency of Hertfordshire. There is evidence of some limited prehistoric occupation around the Watford area, with a few Celtic and Roman finds, watfords High Street follows the line of this route on the northern side of the ford. The town was located on the first dry ground above the edges of the River Colne. The name Watford may have arisen from the Old English for waet, or wath, St Albans Abbey claimed rights to the manor of Cashio, which included Watford, dating from a grant by King Offa in AD793. The name Watford is first mentioned in an Anglo-Saxon charter of 1007, where Watforda is one of the marking the boundary of Oxanhaege. It is not mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, when area was part of St Albans Abbeys manor of cashio. In the 12th century the Abbey was granted a charter allowing it to hold a market here, the town grew modestly, assisted by travellers passing through to Berkhamsted Castle and the royal palace at Kings Langley. A big house was built at Cassiobury in the 16th century and this was partly rebuilt in the 17th century and another substantial house was built nearby at The Grove
6.
Duran Duran
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Duran Duran are an English new wave and synthpop band formed in Birmingham in 1978. The band grew from alternative sensations in 1982 to mainstream pop stars by 1984, by the end of the decade, membership and music style changes challenged the band before a resurgence in the early 1990s. The group were a band in the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US. They have placed 14 singles in the top 10 of the UK Singles Chart and 21 in the Billboard Hot 100, when they first emerged, they were generally considered part of the New Romantic scene, along with bands such as Spandau Ballet. Soon they would shed this image, using fashion and marketing to build a more refined and they were also awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The video age catapulted Duran Duran into the mainstream with the introduction of the 24-hour music channel MTV, many of their videos were shot on 35 mm film, which gave a much more polished look than was standard at the time. They also collaborated with film directors to take the quality a step further. In 1984, the band were early innovators with video technology in their stadium shows. These five members featured the most commercially successful line-up, the reunion of the original five members in the early 2000s created a stir among the bands fans and music media. Andy Taylor left the once again in mid-2006, and guitarist Dom Brown has since been working with the band as a session player. John Taylor and Nick Rhodes formed Duran Duran in Birmingham, England in 1978, at the club they were doing jobs such as John working the door and with Nick deejaying for £10 a night. They began rehearsing and regularly playing at the venue, There were many nearby nightclubs, and the one significant one, where bands such as The Sex Pistols and The Clash played gigs, was called Barbarellas. They would go on to name the band after a character from Barbarella, the character, played by Milo OShea, is named Dr. Durand Durand. The bands first singer was Stephen Duffy, Simon Colley soon joined Taylor, Rhodes and Duffy. Colley was the original bass player, as John Taylor was the guitarist at this point. This was the first complete line-up of the band played live shows. For drums and percussion, a drum machine belonging to Rhodes was used. Colley left the prior to the addition of Andy Taylor
7.
Freddie Mercury
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Freddie Mercury was a British singer, songwriter and record producer, known as the lead vocalist and co-principal songwriter of the rock band Queen. He also became known for his flamboyant stage persona and four-octave vocal range, Mercury wrote and composed numerous hits for Queen, occasionally served as a producer and guest musician for other artists, and concurrently led a solo career while performing with Queen. Mercury died in 1991 at age 45 due to complications from AIDS, in 1992 Mercury was posthumously awarded the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music, and had a tribute concert held at Wembley Stadium, London. In 2002, he was placed at number 58 in the BBCs poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, Mercury was born in the British protectorate of Sultanate of Zanzibar, East Africa. His parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara, were Parsis from the Gujarat region of the province of Bombay Presidency in British India. The family surname is derived from the town of Bulsar in southern Gujarat, as Parsis, Mercury and his family practised the Zoroastrian religion. The Bulsara family had moved to Zanzibar so that his father could continue his job as a cashier at the British Colonial Office and he had a younger sister, Kashmira. Mercury spent most of his childhood in India and began taking lessons at the age of seven. In 1954, at the age of eight, Mercury was sent to study at St. Peters School, at the age of 12, he formed a school band, The Hectics, and covered rock and roll artists such as Cliff Richard and Little Richard. The only music he listened to, and played, was Western pop music, a friend from the time recalls that he had an uncanny ability to listen to the radio and replay what he heard on piano. It was also at St. Peters where he began to call himself Freddie, at the age of 17, Mercury and his family fled from Zanzibar for safety reasons due to the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution, in which thousands of Arabs and Indians were killed. The family moved into a house at 22 Gladstone Avenue, Feltham, Middlesex. Mercury enrolled at Isleworth Polytechnic in West London where he studied art and he ultimately earned a diploma in Art and Graphic Design at Ealing Art College, later using these skills to design the Queen heraldic arms. A British citizen at birth, Mercury remained so for the rest of his life, following graduation, Mercury joined a series of bands and sold second-hand clothes in the Kensington Market in London with girlfriend Mary Austin. He also held a job at Heathrow Airport, friends from the time remember him as a quiet and shy young man who showed a great deal of interest in music. In 1969 he joined the Liverpool-based band Ibex, later renamed Wreckage and he lived briefly in a flat above the Liverpool pub, The Dovedale Towers. When this band failed to take off, he joined a band called Sour Milk Sea. However, by early 1970 this group had broken up as well, in April 1970 Mercury joined guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor who had previously been in a band called Smile
8.
Do They Know It's Christmas?
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Is a song written in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in reaction to television reports of the 1983–85 famine in Ethiopia. It was first recorded in a day on 25 November 1984 by Band Aid. It held this title until 1997 when it was overtaken by Elton Johns Candle in the Wind 1997, the original version of Do They Know Its Christmas. Has sold 3.79 million copies in the UK to date, the song was also a major success around the world, reaching number one in thirteen other countries outside the UK. In the US, the single short of the top ten in the Billboard Hot 100 due to a lack of airplay. Worldwide the single had sold 11.7 million copies by 1989, Geldofs cautious hope was that the single would raise £70,000 for Ethiopia, but in the event Do They Know Its Christmas. Raised £8 million within twelve months of release, the song also led to various spin-off charity events, such as Comic Relief, and the Live Aid concert which would take place seven months later in July 1985. Was re-recorded three times, in 1989,2004, and 2014, all the re-recordings were also charity records, the 1989 and 2004 versions also provide money for famine relief, while the 2014 version was used to raise funds for the Ebola crisis in West Africa. All three of these versions reached number one in the UK, and the 2004 version of the song was also a UK million seller. The song was inspired by a series of reports that Michael Buerk made for BBC television news programmes, the Boomtown Rats singer Bob Geldof and his wife, television presenter Paula Yates, watched the report broadcast on 23 October 1984 and were deeply affected by it. On 2 November Yates travelled from the home in London to the Tyne Tees studio in Newcastle upon Tyne where she was presenting the weekly live music show The Tube. Among the acts performing on that weeks programme were Ultravox, promoting their greatest hits album The Collection, ultravoxs front man Midge Ure happened to be chatting to Yates in the dressing room after the show when Geldof called her. On discovering that she was with Ure, an old friend of Geldofs, he asked to speak to Ure, following their meeting, Geldof immediately set about recruiting other well known musicians to participate on the record. Geldof said, I then rang Sting and he said, yeah, count me in, the same day I was passing by this antique shop and who is standing in there but Gary Kemp, just about to go off on tour to Japan. He said he was mad for it as well and to wait 10 days till they got back in the country, I thought, Christ, we have got the real top boys here, all the big names in pop are suddenly ready and willing to do this. I knew then that we were off, and I just decided to go for all the rest of the faces and started to ring everyone up, asking them to do it. Geldof and Ures biggest problem was to be able to come up with a song that could be recorded and released in time for Christmas, Geldof came to Ures house the next day and together they worked on the tune with Geldof on his acoustic guitar. Midge, reliable as ever, sent down this tune which is the sort of Christmassy bit at the end and we married the two together
9.
Queen (band)
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Queen are a British rock band that formed in London in 1970. Their classic line-up was Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, before forming Queen, Brian May and Roger Taylor had played together in a band named Smile. Freddie Mercury was a fan of Smile and encouraged them to experiment with elaborate stage. Mercury joined the band in 1970, suggested Queen as a new band name, John Deacon was recruited before the band recorded their eponymous debut album in 1973. The latter featured Bohemian Rhapsody, which stayed at one in the UK for nine weeks. The bands 1977 album News of the World contained We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions, by the early 1980s, Queen were one of the biggest stadium rock bands in the world. Their performance at the 1985 Live Aid concert has been ranked among the greatest in history by various music publications. In 1991, Mercury died of bronchopneumonia, a complication of AIDS, since then, May and Taylor have performed under the name of Queen with Paul Rodgers and Adam Lambert as vocalists on several tours. The band have released a total of 18 number-one albums,18 number-one singles, estimates of their record sales generally range from 150 million to 300 million records, making them one of the worlds best-selling music artists. Queen received the Outstanding Contribution to British Music Award from the British Phonographic Industry in 1990 and they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. In 1968, guitarist Brian May, a student at Londons Imperial College, may placed an advertisement on a college notice board for a Mitch Mitchell/Ginger Baker type drummer, Roger Taylor, a young dental student, auditioned and got the job. While attending Ealing Art College, Tim Staffell became friends with Farrokh Bulsara, Bulsara felt that he and the band had the same tastes and soon became a keen fan of Smile. In 1970, after Staffell left to join the band Humpy Bong, the band had a number of bass players during this period who did not fit with the bands chemistry. It was not until February 1971 that they settled on John Deacon and they recorded four of their own songs, Liar, Keep Yourself Alive, The Night Comes Down and Jesus, for a demo tape, no record companies were interested. It was also around this time Freddie changed his surname to Mercury, inspired by the line Mother Mercury, on 2 July 1971, Queen played their first show in the classic line-up of Mercury, May, Taylor and Deacon at a Surrey college outside London. Having attended art college, Mercury also designed Queens logo, called the Queen crest, the logo combines the zodiac signs of all four members, two lions for Leo, a crab for Cancer, and two fairies for Virgo. The lions embrace a stylised letter Q, the crab rests atop the letter with flames rising directly above it, There is also a crown inside the Q and the whole logo is over-shadowed by an enormous phoenix. The whole symbol bears a resemblance to the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom
10.
Pop music
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Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form in the United States and United Kingdom during the mid 1950s. The terms popular music and pop music are used interchangeably, although the former describes all music that is popular. Pop and rock were synonymous terms until the late 1960s, when they were used in opposition from each other. Although pop music is seen as just the singles charts, it is not the sum of all chart music. Pop music is eclectic, and often borrows elements from other such as urban, dance, rock, Latin. Identifying factors include generally short to medium-length songs written in a format, as well as the common use of repeated choruses, melodic tunes. David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop music as a body of music which is distinguishable from popular, jazz, according to Pete Seeger, pop music is professional music which draws upon both folk music and fine arts music. Although pop music is seen as just the singles charts, it is not the sum of all chart music, the music charts contain songs from a variety of sources, including classical, jazz, rock, and novelty songs. Pop music, as a genre, is seen as existing and developing separately, pop music continuously evolves along with the terms definition. The term pop song was first recorded as being used in 1926, Hatch and Millward indicate that many events in the history of recording in the 1920s can be seen as the birth of the modern pop music industry, including in country, blues and hillbilly music. The Oxford Dictionary of Music states that while pops earlier meaning meant concerts appealing to a wide audience. Since the late 1950s, however, pop has had the meaning of non-classical mus, usually in the form of songs, performed by such artists as the Beatles. Grove Music Online also states that, in the early 1960s pop music competed terminologically with beat music, while in the USA its coverage overlapped with that of rock and roll. From about 1967, the term was used in opposition to the term rock music. Whereas rock aspired to authenticity and an expansion of the possibilities of music, pop was more commercial, ephemeral. It is not driven by any significant ambition except profit and commercial reward, and, in musical terms, it is essentially conservative. It is, provided from on high rather than being made from below, pop is not a do-it-yourself music but is professionally produced and packaged. The beat and the melodies tend to be simple, with limited harmonic accompaniment, the lyrics of modern pop songs typically focus on simple themes – often love and romantic relationships – although there are notable exceptions
11.
Paul Weller
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John William Paul Weller, Jr. is an English singer, songwriter, musician. Weller achieved fame with the punk rock/new wave/mod revival band The Jam and he had further success with the blue-eyed soul music of The Style Council, before establishing himself as a solo artist in 1991. Despite widespread critical recognition as a singer, lyricist, and guitarist, Weller has remained a national, rather than international, star and he is also the principal figure of the 1970s and 1980s mod revival, and is often referred to as The Modfather. The Daily Telegraph said of Weller, Apart from David Bowie, its hard to think of any British solo artist whos had as varied, long-lasting, the BBC described Weller in 2007 as one of the most revered music writers and performers of the past 30 years. In 2012, he was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork – the Beatles Sgt, peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover – to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life. He has received four Brit Awards, winning the award for Best British Male twice, Weller was born on 25 May 1958 in Woking, Surrey, England, to John and Ann Weller. Although born John William Weller, he known as Paul by his parents. His father worked as a driver and a builder and his mother was a part-time cleaner. Weller started his education at Maybury County First School in 1963 and his love of music began with The Beatles, then The Who and Small Faces. By the time Weller was eleven and moving up to Sheerwater County Secondary school, music was the biggest part of his life, Wellers musical vocation was confirmed after seeing Status Quo in concert in 1972. He formed the first incarnation of The Jam in the year, playing bass guitar with his best friends Steve Brookes. Wellers father, acting as their manager, began booking the band into local working mens clubs, Brookes left the band in 1976, and Weller and Foxton decided they would swap guitar roles, with Weller now the guitarist. The Jams first single, In the City took them into the UK Top 40 in May 1977, the increasing popularity of their blend of Wellers barbed lyrics with pop melodies eventually led to their first number one single, Going Underground, in March 1980. They became the band other than the Beatles to perform both sides of the same single on one edition of Top of the Pops. The Jam even had two singles, Thats Entertainment and Just Who Is the 5 OClock Hero, the Jam still hold the record for the best-selling import-only singles in the UK charts. Their final single, Beat Surrender, became their fourth UK chart topper and their farewell concerts at Wembley Arena were multiple sell-outs, their final concert took place at the Brighton Centre on 11 December 1982. At the beginning of 1983, Weller teamed up with keyboard player Mick Talbot to form a new group called The Style Council, Weller brought in Steve White to play drums, as well as singer Dee C. Lee, who had previously been a singer with Wham
12.
Live Aid
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Live Aid was a dual-venue concert held on 13 July 1985, and an ongoing music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the jukebox, the event was held simultaneously at Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On the same day, concerts inspired by the initiative happened in countries, such as the Soviet Union, Japan, Austria, Australia. It was one of the largest-scale satellite link-ups and television broadcasts of all time, the 1985 Live Aid concert was conceived as a follow-on to the successful charity single Do They Know Its Christmas. Which was also the brainchild of Geldof and Ure, in October 1984, images of millions of people starving to death in Ethiopia were shown in the UK in Michael Buerks BBC News reports on the 1984 famine. Bob Geldof saw the report, and called Midge Ure from Ultravox, in the hope of raising money for famine relief. Geldof then contacted colleagues in the industry and persuaded them to record the single under the title Band Aid for free. On 25 November 1984, the song was recorded at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London, Geldof then set his sights on staging a huge concert to raise further funds. The idea to stage a charity concert to raise funds for Ethiopia originally came from Boy George. George and Culture Club drummer Jon Moss had taken part in the recording of Do They Know Its Christmas, and in December 1984 Culture Club were undertaking a tour of the UK, which culminated in six nights at Wembley Arena. George was so overcome by the occasion he told Geldof that they should consider organising a benefit concert and its a logical progression from the record, but the point is you dont just talk about it, you go ahead and do it. It was clear from the interview that Geldof had already had the idea to hold a dual venue concert and how the concerts should be structured, The show should be as big as is humanly possible. Theres no point just 5,000 fans turning up at Wembley, we need to have Wembley linked with Madison Square Gardens and it would be great for Duran to play three or four numbers at Wembley and then flick to Madison Square where Springsteen would be playing. While hes on, the Wembley stage could be ready for the next British act like the Thompsons or whoever. In that way lots of acts could be featured and the rights, tickets. Its not an idea, and certainly one worth exploiting. Among those involved in organising Live Aid were Harvey Goldsmith, who was responsible for the Wembley Stadium concert, and Bill Graham, the concert grew in scope, as more acts were added on both sides of the Atlantic
