BOY band One Direction and U2 lead singer Bono joined some of the biggest names in British pop and rock music Saturday to record a new version of the Band Aid charity song to raise money to combat Ebola in Africa.

    The single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” was first recorded 30 years ago after musician and philanthropist Bob Geldof inspired a host of stars to come together under the Band Aid name to help those affected by famine in Ethiopia.

    The song has been given a makeover, with words to the original version which he co-wrote with Midge Ure changed to reflect the current crisis.

    “The record, it’s a song, it’s a track but it’s an event, and the next stage now is to turn it into a phenomenon like it was in the ’80s,” Geldof told BBC TV as he arrived at a recording studio in west London.

    He said British Finance Minister George Osborne had agreed to forego the usual tax from sales of the record. The original song from 1984, which raised 8 million pounds (US$11 million), featured some of the era’s biggest acts including U2’s Bono, George Michael and David Bowie. It has been re-recorded twice, in 1989 and 2004.

    Bono was joined this time by Robert Plant, frontman of rock band Led Zeppelin, Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin and singers Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith.

    Geldof decided to remake the single after the United Nations contacted him, saying help was urgently needed to prevent the disease from spreading beyond West Africa.(SD-Agencies)