Midge Ure says Band Aid ‘not answer’

Charity supergroup Band Aid will no longer produce versions of its Christmas single, co-founder Midge Ure has said.

The Scottish musician said he is “not sure music is the answer to it now”, referring to charity single Do They Know It’s Christmas? and its achievements over the past three decades in various iterations.

Ure and Bob Geldof started the Band Aid movement in 1984 to raise money for Ethiopian anti-famine efforts. The original single hit the Christmas number one spot that year, topping the charts for five weeks.

At the time, it raised more than 24 million US dollars (£19 million) after selling more than two million copies worldwide. A second version was recorded five years later, and was then followed by Band Aid 20 in 2004.

Band Aid 30 was recorded in in 2014 to help Africa’s Ebola victims.

Ure told The Sun: “Thirty-one years ago we did the Band Aid thing... Music was the be all and end all. So we used the medium at its peak.

“So maybe right now, the answer wouldn’t be a concert or a record – but I don’t know what the answer is.”