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Bob Geldof

Origin: Dún Laoghaire, Ireland
(October 5, 1951)

Heroic Values: Achievement, Caring, Perseverance, Selflessness, Vision

Background

Robert Zenon Geldof was born near Dublin in 1951. His mother died when he was young and after getting a Catholic education he went to Canada to work as a music journalist. In his mid-20s he returned to Ireland and started a band, The Boomtown Rats. The band was a success and he became a well-known musician.

In 1981 Geldof performed to raise money for Amnesty International and a spark was lit. He followed this early charity work with the organization of 1984's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" recording by a gathering of some of Britain's most popular musicians under the name "Band Aid". It became the biggest selling single of all time, holding that record for more than ten years.

After that single's success, Geldof organized an enormous concert event, Live Aid. Many of the biggest bands in the world played at simultaneous concerts in Philadelphia and London to raise money to help African nations provide famine relief. $100 million was raised in 1985. Twenty years later another concert event, Live 8, was organised with concerts in six cities around the world.

Geldof has been knighted and was named third in New Statesman's "Heroes of Our Time" in 2006. He continues to campaign for debt relief and the eradication of starvation, as well as being a proponent of father's rights.

Sources

Wikipedia
The online encyclopedia

Bobgeldof.info
Geldof's home on the web

My Africa
An Independent article by Geldof