Rita Ora will be available to take part in the recording of Band Aid 30, an updated version of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ in support of the fight against Ebola.
Sir Bob Geldof announced yesterday (November 10) that the likes of Coldplay, One Direction, Sam Smith, Elbow, Jessie Ware, Bono, Foals and more will record the charity single, marking the 30th anniversary of the original Band Aid track.
Ora had been originally on board with the project, but Geldof indicated that she was unavailable to record the song at a London studio on Saturday (November 15) as she will be recording an episode of BBC 1 talent show The Voice.
Now, however, a BBC spokesperson has told Digital Spy that Ora will indeed be free to take part.
“The BBC is more than happy for Rita to take part in the single and The Voice production team is liaising with her management to work around a major diary clash,” they say.
Geldof himself had previously urged the BBC to free Ora up for the event, set to be recorded this coming Saturday (November 15).
Announcing the news at the press conference in London, original Band Aid organisers Midge Ure and Bob Geldof said all money raised from sales of the single will go towards the fight against Ebola in west Africa. Ure confirmed that the lyrics to the original song will be tweaked ahead of recording to reflect the challenges affecting today’s Africa, with references to hunger taken out.
Geldof said: “We know we can contain Ebola; we have the doctors, the nurses, medicines and state systems, we have money. [People are] dying again because they are extremely poor. That is radically unacceptable.”
As well as the ensemble version of the track, Midge Ure also mentioned that fans may be able to download alternate versions of the song sung entirely by individual artists.
The original Band Aid single was produced by Midge Ure and featured Bono, George Michael, Sting, Duran Duran, U2, Jody Watley and Boy George, among others. All proceeds went to relieve those affected by famine in Ethiopia. Two more versions of the track were released in 1989 and 2004.
Geldof has previously spoken of the detrimental effect activism has had on his music career, asserting that he could have enjoyed success on the scale of Sting and Paul Weller. “It’s completely damaged my ability to do the thing I love,” he told the Evening Standard in 2012. “If it hadn’t happened I think I would have been able to make the transition from The Boomtown Rats to a solo thing more like Paul Weller or Sting.”