30 Great Artists Who DID NOT Play Live Aid And Why: Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Rod Stewart & More (2023)

George Harrison and Ringo Starr (and Julian Lennon)

Paul McCartney's set was a major highlight, but George Harrison (whose concert for Bangla Desh certainly set the stage for Live Aid) and Ringo Starr were absent.

They are said to have been concerned about being lured into a 'Beatles reunion', either as a trio or with John Lennon's son Julian filling in for his late father.

Some reports claim that Paul, Ringo and George even discussed the possibility of a reunion but hung up as soon as the story leaked.

That's also the reason why Julian Lennon, who was originally in the cast with Sting and Phil Collins, has withdrawn from the show.

Miguel Jackson

Michael Jackson co-wrote USA For Africa's We Are The World, which ended the US show, and he might have been the biggest star on the planet at the time, but he wasn't on Live Aid.

"Michael lives in the studio, rehearses and records," his publicist Norman Winter told The Associated Press.New York Times.

“I know what could be more important than Live Aid, but Michael couldn't turn his back on his responsibility to the people he works with.

"It's impacted a lot of people's jobs... The project will be officially announced in a couple of weeks."

The project in question? Probably sold millionsOrtAlbum.

Prinz

Always puzzling, Prince apparently retired from live performances when Live Aid was taking place.

It is said that he feared assassination just a few years after John Lennon was publicly assassinated.

He also stopped singing the line "but if you just believe, there's no way we can fall" on "We Are The World" despite a pleading call from Lionel Richie.

Eventually Prince contributed "4 The Tears In Your Eyes" to the album project and it appeared on video the day of Live Aid itself.

Bruce Springsteen

Another megastar who had just played at Wembley Stadium with his own band the week before Live Aid; In fact, part of the stage set-up was borrowed from Bruce's concerts.

Bruce was on "We Are The World" and also covered Jimmy Cliff's "Trapped" for the album, but was devastated after his ownborn in the USAtour, and had just married in May.

He is said to have regretted not playing and did some acoustic numbers.

Stevie Maravilla

Stevie Wonder was invited to play at Live Aid but turned it down; he apparently didn't think there were enough African American artists in the project.

Mitorganisator Harvey Goldsmithlater said:"Stevie Wonder eventually agreed to perform, but then he called me and said, 'I'm not going to be the black man's symbol on the show'."

Rosa Floyd

While technically they were still an ongoing problem, Pink Floyd were under legal attack at the time.

Roger Waters was about to leave the band and it wasn't until 1987 that Pink Floyd (minus Waters) would release their next album.

However, David Gilmour was on Live Aid as an unregistered guest with Bryan Ferry.

The Waters/Gilmour/Wright/Mason line-up of Pink Floyd finally played Live 8 in 2005, their first concert together in 24 years.

Diana Ross

Diana Ross was on tour during Live Aid. It was also implied that she wasn't very keen on appearing on any bill with other artists.

Rod Stewart

Rod Stewart discovered recentlyThe weird reason he didn't play Live Aid.

"We were supposed to do it, but some of the band members told me that our former manager turned it down because he didn't get proper media coverage," Rod said.

"I just wish he'd do it when it was on CBS news at 10 a.m. He said, 'Otherwise he won't do it'."

"And that wasn't the point. It was about raising money for children. It wasn't about which news channel you would be in America."

Culture club

Live Aid was actually Boy George's idea: he had developed the concept during the recording of "Do They Know It's Christmas?". by Band Aid.

But while he was performing on that single, neither he nor Culture Club Live Aid were playing.

"I screwed it up," he told Louis Theroux in 2020connected to earthPodcast.

"Other than that, I've dedicated myself to chemistry. I mean, I think it was a coincidence that we didn't do it because I wasn't able to do it."

"They originally asked us, but I think everyone just looked at my status and said, 'That could do more harm than good.' So basically they didn't ask."

tears of fear

Tears For Fears was one of the (many!) artists that Bob Geldof tried to intimidate into playing on Live Aid by announcing them before they even played the show.

In the end, they called it quits because the show had "bad timing".

"At first I was pissed because Bob announced we were going to do this without asking us and he was in the middle of a year-long tour."explained Curt Smith in 2022.

"It was the first week off we had." We kissed and made up with Bob and then did 'Everybody Wants to Run the World' for him [for Sport Aid].

"We didn't think the non-performance would affect in any way the amount of money they raised, so we didn't do it to take that break."

eurythmisch

The Eurythmics were supposed to play Live Aid but poor Annie Lennox got a lump in her throat and couldn't sing.

"They asked us if we could play Live Aid and we'd just had a massive 62-date tour," Annie told BBC Radio Scotland in 2007.

“My voice rose and I started developing nodules on my vocal cords.

"So we said, 'I'd love to do this, Bob, but I just can't.'

Frankie va a Hollywood

Singer Holly Johnson really wanted to play at Live Aid, but unfortunately he was the only one at the camp.

"They asked us and I wanted to do it, but all the other members of the group and our supposed manager didn't want to," Hollysaid years later.

"That was the biggest management mistake of Frankie's career."

Banananrama

Although they appeared on the Band Aid single, they were not on the live show.

An unattributed quote that has been circulating reads, "We hadn't been touring, so we didn't have a band."

This adds up, as the group didn't really tour until 1988.

Os Smiths

The Smiths were indie superstars in 1985 after releasing their first album.meat is deathin February and the top ten single "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" a year earlier.

They might not have been big enough for Live Aid, and we don't think Morrissey would have said yes even if asked.

"I'm not afraid to say I hate Band Aid," he said.Time is up.

"Or to say that I think Bob Geldof is a disgusting character. A lot of people find him very disturbing, but I'll say it as loud as anyone wants."

He added: "First and foremost, the record itself was absolutely out of tune. One may have great concern for the people of Ethiopia, but tormenting the people of England on a daily basis is another matter.

"It was an awful record considering the amount of talent involved. And it wasn't done shyly, it was the most hypocritical platform in pop music history."

And it didn't end there!

“The whole implication was to save these people in Ethiopia, but who were they asking to save them? A 13-year-old girl in Wigan!

"People like Thatcher and the Royals could solve the Ethiopia problem in ten seconds.

way reject

Like the Smiths, they weren't invited and wouldn't have played anyway.

"I very much doubt that we would have accepted the invitation if we had been asked,"said keyboardist Alan Wilder.

"In my personal opinion, a donation to 'chariddy' should be a completely private gesture from which no personal advantage may be derived.

"Inevitably, almost every artist who participated in Live Aid achieved a significant increase in record sales, and as cynical as I am, I wonder how much of the profits from those sales ended up going to Ethiopia."

Cyndi Lauper

Cyndi Lauper was supposed to be on the Philadelphia leg of Live Aid to sing a duet with Patti LaBelle, but she didn't make it.

For what it's worth, Joan Baez, who appeared on the show, writes in her memoir that Cyndi underwent "mysterious abdominal surgery that she never talks about."

to forget

Foreigner is one of the groups that seemed keen to perform on Live Aid but were turned down.

Philadelphia concert organizer Bill Graham reportedly said there was no space in the bill.

sprains

One of the few bands from the 1960s to survive into the 1970s and 1980s (and eventually disbanding in 1996), the Kinks apparently wanted to play a gig at Wembley Stadium but were deemed "not famous enough".

real woman

Unfortunately, Donna Summer was busy in the studio when Live Aid was taking place.

Paul Simon

"I called Paul Simon, who I met earlier and had a good chat with," Bob Geldof said in his And soMemory.

"He said yes. Better yet, he said he would try to persuade Dylan and maybe the two would do something together."

So far so good, but then...

“Paul Simon called. He was being harassed and was upset. Every time he called someone to fix things, he was faced with a blank wall.

"He thought it was all a mess. He felt that people were deliberately obstructing him, and since he and Bill Graham didn't get along, he decided to retire."

Huey Lewis and the news

Originally slated to play in Philadelphia, Huey Lewis and the News (who appeared on "We Are The World") pulled out just two weeks before the show.

The group was concerned that US-raised funds for Africa were not being adequately spent in aid of those affected by famine in Ethiopia, concerns later news reports proved well-founded.

Billy Joel

Finally, another artist whose name was on the official account did not play.

"I wanted to get Live Aid," he said.he said in an interview earlier this year.

"I couldn't get all the guys in my band together. And I'm telling you, going to a stadium and just playing the piano is pretty tough.”

"Maybe in a room this size with a piano, but not in front of a paying audience."

Sim

Like Foreigner, Yes apparently wanted to play the show, but Bill Graham said no as the bill was already too full.

VanHalen

Van Halen was a smash hit in 1985, but Live Aid came just as the band was falling apart, with vocalist David Lee Roth in the process of leaving the group and his replacement Sammy Hagar yet to join.

Peter, Paul and Mary

The folk trio of Peter, Paul and Mary were keen to play Live Aid and originally planned to team up with Bob Dylan to perform "Blowin' in the Wind."

But Bob changed his mind later in the day and hired Rolling Stones stars Keith Richard and Ronnie Wood as his backing band.

Los Rolling Stones

So Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood dated Bob Dylan, and Mick Jagger used to play a set, so why didn't the Rolling Stones play together?

Mick and Keith are said to be in the middle of one of their regular fights, so they played separately.

Stones bassist Bill Wyman apparently warned Geldof against even approaching the Stones because "Keith doesn't give a shit".

dark purple

Although they were never scheduled to perform in London or Philadelphia, Deep Purple were scheduled to participate in the satellite link broadcast of a concert at the Hallenstadion in Switzerland.

Singer Ian Gillan said guitarist Richie Blackmore scrapped the idea.

the grateful dead

Long story short, the Grateful Dead's endless tour could have been under way when Live Aid was playing in Ventura, California.

Def Leppard

"We were originally asked to do the original 20 years ago," said singer Joe Elliott, director of Def Leppard's Live 8 program at Launch Radio.

"Unfortunately, it fell off about four months after Rick lost his arm.

So we, we, his recovery hadn't happened, and we weren't ... there was no way we could do it with one, another drummer, you know, so we had to end it.

The god of thunder, Rick Allen, survived a car crash in 1985 and has recovered using a specially made kit to play drums with one hand.

Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson

These four country music outlaw icons banded together in 1984 to form the supergroup The Highwaymen.

Their debut album came out just months before Live Aid, and none of the four performed at any of the shows.

Kris Kristofferson was involved with the project but did not appear. The same happened with Waylon Jennings. Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash weren't even in the running

Surprisingly, all four men performed at the first Farm Aid Show a few months later. They would all appear in Farm Aids in the future, with The Highwaymen also appearing in 1992 and 1993.

Was war Farm Aid?

"Hopefully they can take some of the money... maybe they can take a little, maybe... a million or two, maybe... and with that, say, pay off the mortgages on some of the farms." And the farmers here owe the banks," said Bob Dylan controversially during his Live Aid closing show in Philadelphia.

The comment was widely criticized but also inspired Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young to start Farm Aid, which has been held every year since.