The curse of Live Aid: How the lives of the stars who took to the stage at Wembley have been blighted by tragedy in the last 40 years
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Phil Collins performed on both sides of the Atlantic in one day, and Freddie Mercury was so perfect that Live Aid is often incorrectly cited as his final performance with Queen.
On July 13, 1985 more than 20 acts were watched by two billion people in more than 100 countries, but despite securing a place in the annals of rock and roll fame, the lives of many of those who took part have taken a difficult turn in the years after the iconic show.
Artists including Status Quo, Spandau Ballet, Phil Collins and Sting took to the stage at Wembley Stadium, while another concert took place simultaneously in Philadelphia, raising more than £40 million for famine relief in Ethiopia – the equivalent of £100 today.
With this Sunday marking 40 years since the epic event, it serves as a reminder of the heartbreaking circumstances that enveloped some its stars in the years that followed…
Sir Bob Geldof catapulted to fame in the 1970s as the lead singer of The Boomtown Rats – and is now equally as famous for his charity work (seen on stage at Live Aid in 1985)
Organiser Sir Bob Geldof: Devastating loss of wife and daughter
Sir Bob Geldof was catapulted to fame in the 1970s as the lead singer of The Boomtown Rats – and is now equally famous for his charity work.
But the musician – who co-founded Band Aid and the subsequent music festival Live Aid – has experienced more grief in his life than most.
At the age of six, Sir Geldof’s mother Evelyn died of a cerebral haemorrhage, a stroke that causes bleeding within the skull. She was just 41.
In 1976, the rock star began dating TV presenter Paula Yates, who is famous for hosting the music show The Tube in the 1980s.
After welcoming daughter Fifi Trixibelle, the couple married in 1986 and went on to have Peaches and Pixie.
However, Paula and Bob’s relationship became strained over the presenter’s infidelity.
Bob Geldof and Paula Yates in 1995. The TV presenter left her husband for Australian rock star Michael Hutchene later that year
Bob Geldof with his daughter Peaches Geldof at the London premiere of Peter Pan in 2003
In the 2023 Channel 4 documentary Paula, singer Terence Trent D’Arby revealed he was once confronted by Geldof at his hotel in New York City, with the Boomtown Rats frontman asking him if he was ‘k******* my wife.’
In 1995, Paula hit headlines when she left her husband for Australian rock star Michael Hutchene – having interviewed him on the The Big Breakfast show the year before.
The celebrity couple welcomed daughter Tiger Lily Hutchence in July 1996.
The following year, Michael was found dead in a Sydney hotel room.
A coroner found Michael had killed himself while depressed and under the influence of alcohol and drugs but there was never a public inquest into the INXS frontman’s death.
Paula Yates claimed her lover likely died accidentally while choking himself for sexual pleasure, as the pair had engaged in similar sex games.
Paula Yates famouly left her husband for Australian rock star Michael Hutchene (pictured). The couple welcomed daughter Tiger Lily in 1996
Paula Yates interviewing Australian rock star Michael Hutchene on The Big Breakfast Show in 1994
Following Paula Yates’ death in 2000, Sir Bob Geldof adopted her daughter Tiger Lily (pictured with her stepfather and sisters in 2005)
Tragically, Paula died in 2000 at her Notting Hill home after an accidental heroin overdose.
Four-year-old Tiger Lily raised the alarm when she told Paula’s friend – who had called the house – that she was unable to wake her mother.
After the death of both her parents, Tiger Lily was formally adopted by her three sisters’ father.
In 2014, Sir Geldof’s second daughter Peaches died of a drugs overdose ten times bigger than the one that killed her mother.
Peaches left behind her two sons Astala, three, and Phaedra, two, and husband Thomas Cohen.
On the night of her death, the mother-of-two had been looking after their baby son Phaedra, who was reportedly left alone for up to 17 hours following her overdose.
The coroner at the time said the television presenter, model and journalist had been trying to wean herself off drugs and was clean five months before her death.
But her husband Thomas Cohen, a 23-year-old musician, told the hearing she relapsed in February and was hiding heroin in the loft of their £1million home in Wroxham, Kent.
Detective Chief Inspector Paul Fotheringham, who led the investigation, told the inquest: ‘There is no indication that Peaches intended to take her own life or harm herself in any way as she was reported to be of happy disposition and planning for the future with friends and family.’
Months after Peaches’ death, Sir Geldof told Lorraine Kelly the loss of his daughter was proving to be ‘intolerable’ and that he wanted grandchildren to grow up away from the ‘soap opera’ of his family.
The following year, the musician admitted that he had ‘half-expected’ Peaches’ death and that she is ‘with him every second of the day’.
Phil Collins: Devastating spinal cord injury and three marriage break-downs
In a cruel twist of fate, Phil Collins – who is the mastermind behind some of the greatest drum solos in music history – is now unable to play his beloved instrument following a catastrophic spinal injury.
In 2009, the former Genesis band member revealed he can’t even hold his sticks after years of sitting in front of a drum kit.
Phil had surgery to repair dislocated vertebrae in his upper neck, which occurred while drumming on the 2007 Genesis tour.
In a tragic turn of events, the operation caused him to lose feeling in his fingers and could only hold drum sticks if they were taped to his hands.
Phil Collins performing during the First Live Aid concert at the JFK stadium in Philadelphia, after crossing the Atlantic following his set at Wembley
Phil Collins in 2022. In 2009, the former Genesis band member revealed he can’t even hold his sticks after years of sitting in front of a drum kit
The 73-year-old said: ‘After playing drums for 50 years, I’ve had to stop. My vertebrae have been crushing my spinal cord because of the position I drum in.
‘It comes from years of playing. I can’t even hold the sticks properly without it being painful, I even used to tape the sticks to my hands to get through.’
The following year, Phil stated he was suffering depression and had even debated suicide but stopped himself at the thought of his children.
In 2017, Phil had to undergo back surgery after suffering a fall in his bathroom, which has left him with a series of mobility issues.
That same year, Phil revealed that he is a type 2 diabetic and had received treatment with a hyperbaric chamber after he developed an infected diabetic abscess on his foot.
Phil Collins with his third wife Orianne Cevey in 2003. The couple divorced in 2008 before later reuniting and splitting again
Rock star Phil Collins and Lily Collins his Walk of Fame Star Ceremony on June 16, 1988
On top of his health woes, the rock legend has also had three failed marriages – the last of which resulted in a bitter and highly publicised divorce.
Phil’s ex-wife Orianne Cevey previously said she was ‘trapped in a golden cage’ while the star fell into an alcohol-fuelled depression during their marriage, which ended in 2008.
However, the pair briefly reconciled in 2016 – with Orianne Collins telling the Mail on Sunday they were ‘profoundly and deeply in love’ once more.
Paul Young
When Paul Young signed up for Live Aid, he was riding high as a solo artist – having recently split from the band, the Q-Tips.
In 1983, Paul met his wife Stacey Smith while filming the video to his 1983 hit Come Back And Stay.
The couple had always had a volatile relationship, separating for a period when Stacey went on to date stuntman Eddie Kidd.
In 1987, Stacey and Paul married and welcomed daughter Levi later that year, followed by Layla in 1994 and Grady in 1996.
When Paul Young signed up for Live Aid, he was riding high as a solo artist – having recently split from the band, the Q-Tips (seen on stage at the concert)
Paul Young with his late wife Stacey, who he met while filming the video to his 1983 hit Come Back And Stay
Stacey and Paul (pictured in 1989) married in 1987 and welcomed daughter Levi later that year, followed by Layla in 1994 and Grady in 1996
After almost 20 years of marriage, Paul and Stacey separated briefly in 2006 when she admitted to having an affair with Israeli businessman Ilan Slazenger.
At the time, Paul’s career was in free-fall and he lost his fortune in a disastrous property deal.
At one stage, as a former Celebrity MasterChef and Hell’s Kitchen contestant, he even obligingly worked as a cook in the restaurant run by his estranged wife and her new lover.
During her separation from Paul, Stacey fell pregnant with Ilan’s baby. Despite this, the 80s pop star reconciled with his wife and adopted her son Jude.
‘The break-up wasn’t easy’, he said at the time, while refusing to apportion blame or to show even the slightest bitterness. ‘Stacey was my mate when we got married, so why shouldn’t she still be my mate?’
Following their reconciliation, Paul told Loose Women that they are like any other ‘blended family’ and that Jude’s biological father is ’50 per cent in’.
Paul and ex-wife Stacey with their daughters Levi and Layla and sons Grady and Jude in 2016
In 2016, the couple celebrated their 30-year anniversary – which coincided with Paul’s 60th birthday.
That same year, Stacey was diagnosed with brain cancer and tragically died two years later.
Announcing his wife’s passing on X, Paul said at the time: ‘She died peacefully at our home surrounded by family, friends and her four children Levi, Layla, Grady and Jude.’
Speaking about her death on This Morning in 2018, Paul said: ‘We just made the best of it for those two years. And as a family, we agreed that we [he and his children] wanted to get working and do something positive.
‘That’s what she was proudest of. She was really happy for me when things started to pick up again. [We are a close family] we see each other all the time.’
Singer Paul Young wife his bride Lorna Young at Marylebone Registry office last year
Last year, Paul tied the knot with fiancée Lorna Young – but his children were notably absent from the celebrations.
A friend told MailOnline that Paul’s children would have found it ‘too painful’ to see him marry again and are still ‘hurting’ from their loss.
The insider said: ‘The children are still in deep grief from their mum.
‘They would have found it too painful to watch him marry again so they stayed away.
‘Attending such a big event where all eyes would be on them when they’re still in mourning would have been too much. Both Paul and Lorna understood the decision.’
George Michael: ‘Never got over’ loss of first love before his untimely death
He famously struggled with his sexuality during his four decades in the spotlight – admitting that he felt ‘fraudulent’ remaining in the closet for so long.
But if George Michael hadn’t lost his first love in the AIDs epidemic, the late star’s life could have played out drastically differently.
The documentary Freedom – which the star was working on just 48 hours before he died – reveals how the haunted singer never got over the death of Anselmo Feleppa.
Michael was 27 when he saw Brazilian designer Anselmo in the audience of the Rock in Rio concert and asked staff to introduce them.
George Michael performing on stage at Live Aid with Wham!
Undated photo of George Michael with his first love Anselmo Feleppa, who died during the AIDS epidemic
George had become the world’s biggest selling artist in 1988 after he went solo and released debut album Faith.
In a personal interview just three months before his death on Christmas Day, the star recalled: ‘At the front of 160,000 people there was this guy over at the right-hand side of the stage that just fixed me with this look.
‘He caught my attention so much that I had to stop going to that corner of the stage, because I was distracted.
‘He was so cute. I was so distracted by him . I stayed away from that corner because otherwise I thought I was going to get really distracted and forget the words. The moment I looked at him I got the feeling he was going to be a part of my life.’
‘Everything had changed. I was happier than I’d ever been in my life.
‘Anselmo was the first time I think I really loved someone selflessly. It was kind of knee-jerk. I felt immediately that everything had changed.’
‘It’s still very hard for me to explain how finding a companion at that stage in my life changed me. And such a beautiful companion and such an amazing person.’
The singer also said that Anselmo helped him come to terms with his sexuality, saying: ‘It’s very hard to be proud of your own sexuality when it hasn’t brought you any joy. Once it’s associated with joy and love it’s easy to be proud of who you are.
Speaking in his documentary Freedom, George (pictured) said of his first love: ”He caught my attention so much that I had to stop going to that corner of the stage, because I was distracted’
‘The first time you actually believe that someone loves you, that’s a wonderful moment in your life and it was a wonderful six months.’
The singer, who was notoriously private about his private life, said he was ‘frightened’ after Anselmo went for a HIV test – knowing the results could mean they both suffered from the infection.
His fear began when Anselmo developed flu which would not go away and was advised to take a test while they were both at George’s LA home.
He said: ‘He went to the doctors over Christmas, it was the most frightening time of my life.
‘I was terrified of losing him. He was my saviour. Finding a companion at that time in my life changed me
‘Then when my mum got cancer, I felt so bloody picked on by God. I took it very badly, very badly indeed. I’ve never felt that kind of depression.’
The star also opened up about the heartbreaking anxiety that began to plague his life after his partner and mother died in the space of five years.
He said: ‘From the day I found out about my partner, to the day I can say I was on the mend from my mother, it was just constant fear. It was either fear of death or fear of the next bereavement.’
George said on Christmas Day 1991 he was sat with his family waiting to find out if Anselmo had AIDS. He was in the UK while Anselmo was in Los Angeles.
Anselmo did not deliver the heartbreaking news until the New Year when he flew to London to break it to George.
In the documentary, which shows home movie footage of the couple, George said: ‘I was absolutely devastated to find out he had a terminal illness… just devastated.’
Tragically Anselmo died aged just 33 in March 1993 after he returned to Brazil for a blood transfusion and suffered a brain haemorrhage.
The news was broken to George by a friend who called him in LA. George said: ‘Then it all goes blurry for a long time. He still, 23 years later, brings a tear to my eye, he was my saviour.’
Five years after Anselmo died, George came out as gay in an interview with CNN and campaigned for HIV/AIDS charities.
In his later years, George struggled with depression and drug addiction and died of heart disease in 2016.
The star’s boyfriend Fadi Fawaz says he discovered the Wham singer unconscious in bed on Christmas morning in his Oxfordshire home.
Midge Ure: Alcoholism Struggles
Back in 1984, Ultravox’s Midge Ure teamed up with Sir Bob Geldof to create Band Aid – and co-wrote the single Do They Know It’s Christmas? with the Boomtown Rats singer.
The song is the second-highest selling record in UK chart history and was re-released in 2004 and 2014 with new artists.
Although he found incredible success with Band Aid and helped to arrange Live Aid the following year, the Scottish star has been open about his struggles with alcohol in the past.
The song-writer’s heavy drinking spiralled into addiction after his father’s death in 2001 and he claims that dealing with trauma can push anyone over the edge.
Pictured: Midge Ure in 1985. The Scottish musician has been open about his struggles with alcohol post-Band Aid
The song-writer’s heavy drinking spiralled into addiction after his father’s death in 2001. Pictured in 2019
Speaking to BBC Radio Manchester in 2014, Midge said: ‘It is the very, very, very fine line between being able to deal with that stuff and just falling over, and I kind of fell over for a little bit.
‘And I was just quite shocked at how easy it was – to turn, for that to happen to anybody. And that’s not just me, you know, we’re all under huge amounts of pressure financially, socially, emotionally, all of that, so I think we’re all potentially very fragile.’
As well as having hits with Ultravox, Ure also enjoyed success in the 1980s alongside Steve Strange in the band Visage.
The star, who has four daughters, one by first wife Annabel Giles and three by his second, Sheridan Forbes, revealed previously that he will always be tempted to drink but the thought of his family’s pain stops him.
He said: ‘The horrible thing about addiction is you think it is only harming you, but it is not. Am I ever tempted to drink again? You always are, it is the monkey on your shoulder. But what stops me doing it is my family.’
Sting: Lost both parents in a year
Four years after Live Aid, Sting suffered a huge personal loss of his own when his parents Audrey and Ernest both died of cancer within months of each other.
The Police frontman decided not to attend either of their funerals in Tyne and Wear on the outskirts of Northumberland to avoid drawing any publicity.
In various interviews, the singer has hinted at his strained relationship with his parents.
Describing his ‘difficult’ dynamic with his father, Sting wrote in a lyric collection in 2007: ‘His death hit me harder than I’d imagined possible.’
Sting performing in Belgium in 1991. The Police frontman lost both his parents within months of one another in 1987
In his memoir Broken Music, the musician explained how his mother married his father – who was a ‘dashing soldier fresh out of the army’ – when she was a teenager.
He then went on to detail how she had an affair with one of his milkman father’s employees and caught them in the act when leaving early for school one day.
He wrote: ‘I have seen nothing but I run and behind me I hear the front door slam. My mother doesn’t find me when she comes up to my room.
‘I wonder if I am to blame, and have no one to reassure me that I’m not.’
Undated image of Sting’s parents Ernest and Audrey Sumner. In his memoir Broken Music, the musician explained how his mother married his father – who was a ‘dashing soldier fresh out of the army’ – when she was a teenager
Sting with his wife of 31 years Trudie Styler in 2023. In various interviews, the singer has hinted at his strained relationship with his parents
Speaking to the Irish Times in 2003, the star admitted: ‘I think I underestimated the importance of the mourning process. I thought I’d said goodbye to them, which was important, but the actual interring of the remains and the sharing of that with the family, I didn’t take that seriously.
‘I thought, I’ll just get on with work. I was deeply afraid. Running away is what I’ve always done.’
The following year, the singer hinted about his unhappy childhood in an interview the Sunday Independent.
He said: ‘I think my life has progressed from being a very unhappy child – I felt like I was in the wrong place – to where I am now. I am happier now than I’ve ever been.
‘I’m not smug, but I’m happy. I was driven to succeed and to get attention years ago, and to be the best, and win.’
Rick Parfitt: Died of sepsis after being treated ‘awfully’ by Status Quo
At the height of Status Quo’s fame, Rick Parfitt quaffed whisky and red wine for breakfast, smoked 30 cigarettes a day, owned ten Porsches – despite a drink-drive conviction.
During one of the band’s 106 appearances on Top Of The Pops, the singer-songwriter was so inebriated he fell off the stage – famously taking the drummer with him.
‘Throughout the 70s and 80s I was a bit of an ogre. I fell into the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll big time,’ he once said, telling how he’d often disappear on ‘benders’ that lasted for days.
‘It was almost like being out of a movie, where you’d wake up and all the facial hair had gone and the claws had been drawn back, and you’re this normal person for a very short space of time until you decide to drink the potion again.’
On top of this, he also estimated to have spent £1.7m on hard drugs during the height of his fame.
Status Quo band members Rick Parfitt, Alan Lancaster, Francis Rossi and John Coghlan
In December 2016, Status Quo’s Rick Parfitt (pictured) died at a hospital in Marbella after contracting sepsis
On Christmas Eve 2016, the rock star died at a hospital in Marbella after contracting sepsis.
His son Parfitt Jr layer claimed the Status Quo member had been treated ‘awfully’ by his bandmates in his final months.
Addressing the issue of a lack of recognition during the band’s comeback concert in Estonia four months later, Parfitt Jr Tweeted it ‘speaks volumes’.
He continued: ‘Dad was treated awfully. You don’t know what I know.’
Simon Porter, Status Quo’s manager told MailOnline at the time: ‘The band and I were extremely surprised and disappointed to hear about comments made online suggesting that the much-missed Rick Parfitt had been treated unfairly by the band in that period of time between him being forced to stand down from touring work and his tragic death late last year.’
Alison Moyet: Battle with agoraphobia
Alison Moyet, who had her first hit when she was 21, first found fame in the 1980s as one half of the electropop duo Yazoo.
She went on to launch a successful solo career, selling more than 25million records
But success came with its own set of problems. The singer said grew up feeling ugly and isolated, often suffering cruel slights for her appearance because she’s battled with her weight.
She once said: ‘By the time I was a teenager I was so absolutely convinced of my Elephant Man distortedness that I went all out to be as physically unattractive as I could as an act of defiance.’
Alison Moyet performs on stage at Live Aid, Wembley Stadium. In the years that followed she battled depression and agoraphobia
Alison Moyet, poses after being made an MBE by the Princess Royal during an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle on March 30, 2022
Feeling like an outsider in an industry dominated by ‘beautiful people’, Moyet said that at the height of her fame in the 1980s she developed agoraphobia – an anxiety disorder where sufferers finds certain situations terrifying.
For almost a decade, the singer was a virtual prisoner in her own home, crippled by depression and agoraphobia.
Hating the idea of being recognised on the street, she barely left the house and admitted that she would hide in a cupboard for hours
The issue returned in the late ’90s, she fell out with her record company and became embroiled in a six-year battle to be released from her contract.
She told the Guardian: ‘I’d sit at home getting enormously fat, watching TV and all the time I’d be thinking: “I can’t go on television… I can’t do that”. I was becoming more and more distanced from the world that I normally work in.’
In 2014, she revealed that she had such unhappy memories of her years of fame that she had her computer wiped to remove all traces of her success.
In an interview on Desert Island Discs, she admitted that she had also smashed up all of her gold discs with a hammer.
The singer is currently performing and touring again, and has returned to X, formerly Twitter after quitting the platform in 2018, after she faced accusations of transphobia.
She was a signatory of an open letter calling on Stonewall to acknowledge that ‘a conflict exists between transgenderism and sex-based women’s rights’.
Martin Kemp: ’10 years to live’
At the time of Live Aid Martin Kemp was one-sixth of one of the UK’s most popular bands.
Spandau Ballet continued making music until 1990 – when they split during a public feud over song-writing royalties.
Five years later, Martin Kemp’s life changed forever when he had to undergo radiotherapy and surgery to treat two brain tumours.
He told the Daily Mail in 2009: ‘The first tumour was the size of a squashed grapefruit and doctors could cut my skull to get to it.
‘What was terrifying was the second tumour – doctors avoided talking about it. I was very worried about the little guy in the middle of my head.’
Martin Kemp attends ‘FashionAid’ Charity Fund Raising Event at the Royal Albert Hall in 1985
Martin and his brother Gary Kemp in 1988. In 1995, Martin’s life changed forever when doctors discovered he had two brain tumours
Pictured: Martin Kemp with wife Shirlie Holliman on This Morning in February 2020. Although doctors were concerned the second tumour was growing, Shirlie was worried about the dangers of undergoing surgery in the 1990s
Although doctors were concerned the second tumour was growing, Martin’s wife Shirlie – whom he shares Roman and Harley with – was worried about the dangers of undergoing surgery.
He explained: ‘She found a doctor who said it could be attacked with radiation, with an early form of Gamma Knife technology.
‘Within six months of treatment there were signs it was dying and today there is nothing left of it.’
However, Martin told his son Roman that his diagnosis left him ‘resigned to the fact that I was going to die’.
Speaking on Roman’s podcast FFS! My Dad is Martin Kemp, the star’s son asked how much longer he thinks he’ll live.
Martin replied: ‘I’ll be really honest with you, 10 years.’
Speaking on the first episode of his and Roman’s podcast FFS! My Dad Is Martin Kemp, aptly titled Death, Martin and Roman got candid about the subject (seen together)
He explained: ‘I don’t know how long I’ve got left but I will tell you, since I was the age of 34, when I went through all of that brain tumour scare, I spent two years of my life thinking I was going to die.
‘And I think, after that, everything else, every day, every year, every month that I’ve lived, every experience that I’ve had has been a bonus.
‘I was practically resigned to the fact that I was going to die, but I was quite happy with my lot, because I had lived the most incredible experiences.’
Martin reiterated: ‘By the time I was 34 and I thought I was going to die, I spent two years thinking about it, I was quite happy, I thought: ‘If I go, do you know what? What a life’ and that was back then. So, every year that I live, every month that I’m alive now is like a bonus.’
He told his son he ‘would be happy if I got to 80, that gives me 18 years!’
