France’s former first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is to front a Gallic version of Band Aid to help tackle Ebola in West Africa, reports The Telegraph.
The supermodel-turned-pop singer will team up with a brochette of French stars to record 'Noël est là' (Christmas is Here) with the label Mercury Music Group of Universal.
These will include Vanessa Paradis, Louis Bertignac, Lou Doillon, Jean-Louis Aubert, Zaz, Shakaponk, Izia Higelin, Thomas Dutronc, BB Brunes and rapper Joey Starr.
Bob Geldof, the co-creator of the original hit Do They Know It’s Christmas? hit, intimated this month that the French version would include veteran crooner Johnny Hallyday – often dubbed “France’s answer to Elvis” - and Daft Punk – the double act behind planetary hit Lucky.
Neither was not on the list released by Mercury on Friday, but organisers said the final line-up was “not closed” so more could join the group.
Noël est là will be released on December 1st and will be accompanied by a video. All proceeds will go to Band Aid.
Miss Bruni-Sarkozy is married to former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who is expected to win a contest to reclaim control of his centre-Right UMP party next week – a post he hopes will be a springboard to run for another term in office in 2017.
The original 1984 Band Aid single, Do They Know It's Christmas?, featuring singers like Wham, Boy George, Duran Duran, Sting and Status Quo, spent three weeks at number one and sold over three million copies in the UK and raising more than £8 million ($24m) worldwide for those starving in the Horn of Africa.
The record’s success inspired similar fundraising efforts in Canada, France, Spain and the United States and led to the Live Aid and USA for Africa concerts, which were broadcast in over 165 countries, raising about £95 million ($150m) for famine relief in Ethiopia.
The latest, fourth, UK version was recorded this month hosting big name acts including One Direction, Ed Sheeran, Ellie Goulding, Chris Martin, Sam Smith, Sinead O’Connor, and Bono. It shot to the top of the charts in 50 countries, and Geldof said this week that sales totalled $1.7 million within about five minutes on iTunes.
However, not all artists welcomed Geldof’s new project, with rapper Fuse ODG turning down his Band Aid 30 invitation because of the song’s “negative” image of Africa and Damon Albarn suggesting that there are “problems with our idea of charity”.
Read more of this report from The Telegraph.
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