One of the laments we brought up during our 30th anniversary Band Aid coverage was that Bob Geldof stuck to citizens of the UK and the Commonwealth when drafting talent for the several versions of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" that exist. Carla Bruni—musician, former first lady of France and current model—decided to take such things into her own hands, helping to organize Band Aid France for the same purpose of raising funds to combat the spread of Ebola in Africa.
The track will be called "Noel Est La" (or "Christmas Is Here") and will of course feature a who's-who of popular French musical talent, based on a list provided by the Mercury Musical Group to The Hollywood Reporter.
Many of the contributing talent, like Bruni, are both actors and musical performers (and sometimes models as well), including the likes of Lou Doillon, Vanessa Paradis and Joey Starr. Composer Jean-Louis Albert and Nouvelle Star (the French equivalent to American Idol) winner Christophe Willem will also take part.
The new French single will hit digital shelves on December 1 and all proceeds from sales will go to the Band Aid Association as well. The newest version of "Do They Know It's Christmas?"—featuring contributions from stars such as One Direction and Coldplay's Chris Martin— is well on its way to tremendous success based on reports from Geldof himself. According to iTunes UK, the single sold 206,000 copies in its first day, bringing in around $1.6 million in donations from both the song's sales and text support. Sales in the United States aren't available yet but hopefully we can compete with the friendly competition across the pond.
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