One Direction Bono Coldplay Adele Ed Sheeran Among Superstars Joining Together For Band Aid Single Against Ebola

One Direction, Bono, Coldplay and Ed Sheeran are among the latest generation of young-and-old stars recruited by Bob Geldof to be a part of a new 30th anniversary release of the Band Aid single "Do They Know It's Christmas?", this time to help the fight against Ebola in West Africa. 

The Guardian are reporting that Sam Smith, Bastille, Elbow, Ellie Goulding, Emeli Sande, Foals, Paloma Faith, Queen drummer Roger Taylor, Sinead O'Connor, Jessie Ware and Underworld will also be involved in the single. Yahoo! have added that Band Aid are trying to recruit British superstar Adele for the single. 

The 30th anniversary edition of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" will be recorded in the same place the iconic original; London's Sarm Studios. Geldof also confirmed that he had updated the lyrics of the song to reflect the particulars of the Ebola outbreak.  

Geldof and Ultravox's Midge Ure wrote the original in 1984, releasing it as a charity single to combat famine in Ethiopia, enlisting superstars such as David Bowie, Phil Collins, Sting and Paul McCartney. Bono was also involved, and has been a part of each of the four releases of "Do They Know It's Christmas?"

Geldof told a London press conference that the 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' anniversary single was needed to help combat Ebola, saying "Three weeks ago I got a call from the UN saying they required a 20% increase across the board. They are very concerned about the situation in west Africa." 

The need for the single was particularly pressing, said Geldof, as the disease "is a particularly pernicious illness because it renders humans untouchable and that is sickening."

CNN quoted him as saying that "Mothers can't comfort their children in their dying hours. Lovers can't cradle each other. Wives can't hold their husbands' hands. People are chased down the streets because of it -- and it could come our way," Geldof added.

"It really doesn't matter if you hate this song or you don't like this song, you have to buy this thing. I really urge everyone. Don't download it, don't look at it on YouTube. It's a couple of quid. It's a great thing to do at Christmas."

The single's release date is yet to be confirmed, but is widely expected to be out by the end of the month. You can check out 1984's original charity single below.