Bob Geldof

Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof (/ˈɡɛldɒf/; born 5 October 1951) is an Irish singer-songwriter, political activist, television producer and entrepreneur. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead singer of the Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved popularity as part of the punk rock movement. The band had UK number one hits with his co-compositions "Rat Trap" and "I Don't Like Mondays". Geldof starred as Pink in Pink Floyd's film Pink Floyd – The Wall (1982).

Geldof is widely recognised for his activism, especially his anti-poverty efforts concerning Africa. In 1984, Geldof and Midge Ure organised the charity supergroup Band Aid for famine relief in Ethiopia, and co-wrote the best-selling single "Do They Know It's Christmas?". They organised the charity super-concert Live Aid the following year and the Live 8 concerts in 2005. Geldof serves as an adviser to the ONE Campaign, co-founded by fellow Irish rock singer and activist Bono, and is a member of the Africa Progress Panel (APP), a group of ten distinguished individuals who advocate at the highest levels for equitable and sustainable development in Africa.

Geldof was granted an honorary knighthood (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 1986 for his charity work in Africa. It was an honorary award as Geldof is an Irish citizen, but he is often referred to as 'Sir Bob'. Among numerous other awards and nominations he was a recipient of the Man of Peace title, which recognised individuals who had made "an outstanding contribution to international social justice and peace". In 2005, he received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music.

Geldof was born and brought up in Dún Laoghaire in County Dublin in Ireland, a son of Robert Geldof (1914–2010) and Evelyn (née Weller). His paternal grandfather, Zenon Geldof, was a Belgian immigrant and a hotel chef. His paternal grandmother, Amelia Falk, was a British Jew from London of German-Jewish descent. His maternal grandfather Frederick Weller was a dentist. His mother, Evelyn, was head cashier at a cinema in Cork City, where she met her husband, Robert. Bob Geldof has relatives in County Cork. His maternal aunt Catherine Weller was married to Tommy Nott, who worked as night foreman at the Cork Examiner newspaper, but whose relationship to Geldof has been twice misreported in that newspaper.

Regarding his Jewish ancestry, in a 2011 interview with the Manchester-based Jewish Telegraph, Geldof said "I was a quarter Catholic, a quarter Protestant, a quarter Jewish and a quarter nothing – the nothing won."

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.