Hadley’s bid for Band Aid reunion

Spandau Ballet frontman Tony Hadley is hoping to bring Band Aid back together to mark 30 years since the charity super-group conquered the charts.

The idea came to him while working on a greatest hits album with the 1980s heart throbs.

“We recorded three new songs for the album at Sarm West studios, which is the first time I’d been there since Band Aid,” Tony said. “We saw the picture on the wall of all the musicians together and I thought wouldn’t it be a great idea if we got the original line-up back to recreate that photo.

“The Duran boys, the Quo boys, Paul Weller, we all know each other so it shouldn’t be too difficult to organise.”

It was on October 23 1984 that broadcaster Michael Buerk alerted the world to the famine taking place in Ethiopia. The BBC man’s heart-rending report sparked Bob Geldof into planning for a fundraising single.

The resulting song Do They Know It’s Christmas? was created in Notting Hill on November 25. Tony’s line was the first to be recorded on a day when 30 of the biggest names in pop walked through its doors.

Despite reports of antagonism between Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran, Tony says: “The rivalry was never as fierce between us as was made out. When you get two bands like that together they’ll usually say, ‘Come on, let’s have a drink.’”