Word: geldof
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Being Africa's premier diva is not a crown that Kidjo wears lightly. As an African, she says, she comes from a place with problems. But as a musician, she argues, she can solve them. Kidjo first came to prominence in the 1980s, a time when Bob Geldof was fashioning Live Aid around the idea that music could be charity. Kidjo had an even more ambitious idea, which drew on her voodoo roots in the old African slave port of Cotonou, Benin, where she grew up: music is "the ultimate power," she explains over lunch in Paris, her adopted home...
...Gordon was the last Cabinet colleague you'd have thought of suggesting a drink with," says Baroness Morris of Yardley, who worked alongside Brown when she was Secretary of State for Education and Skills. Bob Geldof, the musician and Live Aid activist, developed a close relationship with Brown while lobbying him on Africa. Yet he, too, sees limits to their camaraderie. "Would it be easy to spend a night in a bar with him?" asks Geldof. "No, he'd get bored. Not with you, but with that chitchat level." Even Brown's inner circle frets about the friendliness-factor issue...
...That departure will bring down the curtain on a successful double act. Despite the rancor engendered by their personal rivalry, Blair and Brown, the Lennon and McCartney of politics, had a creative chemistry. As Brown embarks on a solo career, Geldof finds a new, and apt, comparison, remarking: "Brown is the Van Morrison of politics - grumpy but brilliant...
Hollywood, currently nursing a weapons-grade crush on Africa, has also turned its klieg lights on the plight of its children. Perhaps you heard about a couple of celebrities adopting kids from there? Fascination with the continent's woes dates back to Bob Geldof's famine-relief concerts in the mid-'80s. Bono picked up the baton in the '90s, and now every African nation seems to have its own celebrity benefactor. George Clooney has made the situation in Darfur one of his key talking points. Madonna is building an orphan center in Malawi. Brad Pitt helped produce and Nicole...
...Among oddsmakers, there is speculation that the prize could even go to musicians, albeit ones with an activist bent. Irish online bookmaker Paddypower.com is giving Bob Geldof 6-1 odds of winning for his work in organizing a series of rock concerts to bring awareness to the plight of poor nations, and Bono 9-1 odds for his work on behalf of reducing debt and hunger in Africa, among his other campaigns. Meanwhile Australian betting site Centrebet.com only gives the duo 34-1 odds, but favors Ahtisaari now at about...