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Sir Bob Geldof, 70, is an Irish singer-songwriter, actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock town the Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s. As a fundraiser, Bob organised the charity supergroup Band Aid and the concerts Live Aid and Live 8. He also co-wrote Do They Know It’s Christmas, one of the best-selling singles of all time. So how much money has he amassed over the years?
Bob Geldof’s net worth
According to wealthygorlla.com, Bob Geldof’s net worth is around $150million, which equates to £110million.
Bob Geldof’s early life and rise
Real name Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof, Bob was born in October 1951, in Ireland to Robert and Evelyn Geldof.
Sadly, when he was just six years old, Bob’s mother died aged 41 of a cerebral haemorrhage.
Bob attuned Blackrock College, where he was bullied for being a poor rugby player and for his middle name, Zenon.
After work as a slaughter man, a roady navvy and a pea canner in Wisbech, he was hired as a music journalist in Vancouver, Canada for The Georgia Straight.
He briefly hosted a children’s program Switchback.
Bob Geldof’s career
Bob returned to Ireland in 1975 and became the lead singer of the Boomtown Rats, a rock group closely linked with the punk movement.
In 1978, The Boomtown Rats had their first number one single in the UK with Rat Trap, which was the first new wave chart-topper in Britain.
A year later, they gained international attention with their second UK number one, I Don’t Like Mondays which was both successful and controversial as Bob had written it in the aftermath of Brenda Ann Spencer’s attempted massacre at an elementary school in San Diego, California in 1979.
In 1980, The Boomtown Rats released the album Mondo Bongo and their single Up All Night was a huge hit in the U.S.
During his music career, Bob became known as a colourful interview subject.
When The Boomtown Rats’ first appeared on Ireland’s The Late Late Show, Bob was deliberately brusque to host Gay Byrne and during the interview he attacked Irish politicians and the Catholic Church, which he blamed for many of the country’s problems.
He responded to nuns in the audience who tried to shout him down by saying they had “an easy life with no material worries in return for which they gave themselves body and soul to the church”.
The interview caused uproar, making it impossible for The Boomtown Rats to play in Ireland again.
In 1986, the Boomtown Rats performed for the very last time.
It wasn’t until 2013 when the band stepped back onto the stage for the Isle of Wight Festival.
After the Boomtown Rats , Bob launched a solo career and published his autobiography Is That It? which was a UK bestseller.
His first solo records sold reasonably well and occasionally performed with other artists.
Bob Geldof’s charity work
Along with U2’s Bono, Bob devoted much time campaigning for debt relief for developing countries.
In 1984, Bob responded to a BBC report about the famine in Ethiopia by mobilising the pop world to do something.
With Midge Ure of Ultravox he wrote Do They Know It’s Christmas? in order to raise funds.
The song was recorded by various artists under the name of Band Aid.
In its first week of release, the single became the UK’s fastest-seller of all time, entering the chart at number one and going on to sell over three million copies, making it the biggest-selling single in UK history up to that point, a title it held for almost 13 years.
New versions of Do They Know It’s Christmas were recorded in 1989 and 2004.
In November 2014, Bob announced that he would be forming a further incarnation of Band Aid, to be known as Band Aid 30, to record an updated version of the charity single, with the proceeds going to treat victims of the Ebola virus in West Africa.
As for Live Aid, in 1985, Bib and Ure organised a huge event at Wembley Stadium, London and John F. Kennedy Stadium, Philadelphia.
Thanks to an unprecedented decision by the BBC to clear its schedules for 16 hours of rock music, the event was also broadcast live in the UK on television and radio.
It was one of the most monumental stage shows in history.
Bob Geldof’s personal life
Today, Bob lives in a large Victorian house in Chelsea with his wife French actress Jeanne Marine who is not the mother of his children.
He was first married to TV presenter Paula Yates.
Together, they had three daughters – Fifi, Peaches and Pixie.
Following their divorce, Paula had another daughter, Heavenly, and following her death, Bob gained sole custody and adopted her.
Peaches sadly died in April 2014, aged 25.
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