Can you name the only woman in the first ‘Band Aid’ who wasn’t in Bananarama?
Band Aid and Live Aid: great causes, successful projects, lasting parts of Bob Geldof’s eternal legacy. Some 40 years on, they’re also popular targets for renewed analysis and criticism, from attacks on Geldof for “white saviourism” to questions over a lack of racial diversity among the artists involved.
There are compelling arguments to be made and some pretty reasonable defences at the ready. However, the purpose of this particular re-examination of the original Band Aid charity single is less about stirring up controversy and more about testing the memories and mental acuity of the general public, as all of us will soon be enduring another season of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ sneaking up on us during Uber rides and supermarket shops.
Along with featuring an almost entirely white cast of performers, the original 1984 Band Aid single was also a tad male-dominant, to the tune of 33 dude vocalists on the recording versus a slightly less impressive four women. As it was the mid-1980s, the studio was still well equipped with face powder, eyeliner, and hairspray, and gender-bending artists like Boy George and Marilyn were in attendance to demasculinise the room a bit. Overall, though, Band Aid was an undeniable boys club, as rife with cocaine as it was with legendary egos, even Geldof had to tame his self-admiration in the orbits of Sting and Bono.
Listeners who grew up with ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ or remember the music video may recall the presence of all three original members of Bananarama, Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey, and Keren Woodward, who were in the midst of their chart-topping heyday with ‘Cruel Summer’ and ‘Robert De Niro’s Waiting’ in heavy radio rotation. However, the trio is only part of the chorus and doesn’t receive any spotlight moments in the song.
Unfortunately, the same goes for the answer to our trivia question. While Paul Young, Boy George, George Michael, Simon Le Bon, Bono, and a very uncomfortable-looking Paul Weller get some proper time on the microphone during the verses of ‘Do They Know,’ the same honour was not granted to the only non-Bananarama female member of the Band Aid assemblage: Jody Watley.
Watley was everything most of this supergroup were not: she was a woman, she was American (born in Chicago, raised in LA, living in London), and she was black. As a former singer in the group Shalamar, she also wasn’t particularly famous as a solo artist yet, as her debut self-titled solo album wouldn’t be released until the following year. Under her own name, Watley had scored a minor UK hit in 1984 with the single ‘Where the Boys Are’, but compared to most of the artists on the Band Aid roster, she wasn’t a household name and was thus predictably relegated to a fucking background role in the goddamn chorus.
Still, according to a post on her website back in 2013, Watley thoroughly appreciated the experience. “I feel so blessed to have been a part of this historic musical charity event, helping to raise millions of dollars, which also subsequently inspired USA For Africa,” she wrote, adding that she didn’t necessarily bond with the only other women in attendance.
“At the time, I thought Bananarama blowing cigarette smoke my way [was] unfriendly, but we had a good laugh about it recently at Giorgio’s dancing the night away. Mr Marilyn kept the atmosphere light with his quick wit and exchanges with Boy George and everyone.”
Watley went on to massive success over the next several years, collecting six Top Ten hits in the US as a solo artist. In her 2013 blog post, she theorises that she was probably invited to join Band Aid for ulterior motives among the executives at Phonogram, the UK label that released ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’
“Phonogram was very keen to sign me as a solo artist at the time,” Watley noted. But their attempts to woo her were unsuccessful, as she ended up signing with MCA. Maybe Phonogram should have told Geldof to give her an actual solo.
