Some of the leading names in the music industry are coming together today (Sunday) to record a new version of the Band Aid single Do They Know it's Christmas? The new version of the 1984 hit will raise money for famine relief in the Darfur region of Sudan.
Sir Paul McCartney, Coldplay's Chris Martin, Busted and Keane will also be at Sir George Martin's Air Studios. It is to be released on 29 November. Robbie Williams and Dido have already recorded their parts. Joss Stone (pictured) and Dizzee Rascal were the latest stars to sign up.
It will be titled Band Aid 20 to mark the 20th anniversary of the original song, which featured stars such as George Michael, Duran Duran and Phil Collins. It was organised by Bob Geldof after he saw news footage of the starving in Ethiopia, and sold more than 3.5 million copies in the UK alone.
Sold on CD for £3.99 and also available as a download, the new version is hot favourite to be Christmas number one in the UK this year, and retailers expect to sell about 500,000 copies in its first week. Retailers Woolworths and Virgin Megastores will give their proceeds to the Band Aid Trust charity, while Chancellor Gordon Brown has decided not to charge VAT. The Band Aid Trust spent more than $144m (£77.5m) on famine relief in Africa between 1985 and the release of a Live Aid DVD earlier this month.
The artists - who also include The Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins, Will Young, Jamelia, Travis singer Fran Healy, Beverley Knight, Ms Dynamite, Natasha Bedingfield, Katie Melua and Snow Patrol - are donating their time.
Geldof has recently returned from Africa and said conditions had not improved since the first Band Aid. "It sickens me that everyday hunger, they see as normal," he said. "That dying of hunger is normal. Today more people die of hunger than of war, Aids, polio, TB and malaria combined in Africa."
Air Studios in Hampstead, north London, has previously played host to recording sessions for Robbie Williams, George Michael, U2 and Coldplay.
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