[20] After working as a slaughterman, a road navvy and pea canner in Wisbech, England, he was hired as a music journalist in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for The Georgia Straight.

His first solo records sold reasonably well and spawned the hit singles "This Is The World Calling" (co-written with Dave Stewart of Eurythmics) and "The Great Song of Indifference".

In 1998, he erroneously announced Ian Dury's death from cancer, possibly due to hoax information from a listener who was disgruntled at the station's change of ownership.

His commitments in this field, including the organisation of the Live 8 concerts, kept Geldof from producing any more musical output since 2001's album Sex, Age & Death.

After Live 8, Geldof returned to his career as a musician by releasing a box set containing all of his solo albums entitled Great Songs of Indifference – The Anthology 1986–2001 in late 2005.

Geldof's first major charity involvement took place in September 1981 when he performed as a solo artist for Amnesty International's benefit show The Secret Policeman's Other Ball, held at Drury Lane theatre in London's West End.

At the invitation of Amnesty show producer Martin Lewis, Geldof performed a solo[citation needed] version of "I Don't Like Mondays".

The song was recorded in a single day at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London on 25 November 1984 by various artists performing under the name of Band Aid.

As Geldof began to learn more about the situation, he discovered that one of the main reasons why African nations were in such dire peril was the obligation to make repayments on loans that their countries had taken from Western banks.

[40][41] 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.

[39] The harrowing video of dying, skeletal children—introduced by David Bowie following the end of his set—that had been made by CBC photo-journalists setting their films to the tune of "Drive" by The Cars, contributed to the concert's success.

Some journalists have suggested that the Derg was able to use Live Aid and Oxfam money to fund its enforced resettlement and "villagification" programmes, under which at least 3 million people are said to have been displaced and between 50,000 and 100,000 killed.

[58] Some leading African campaigners have asked Geldof to stand down from the global anti-poverty movement, and the New Internationalist (between January and February 2006) said 'It would be long overdue if he did.

'[59] There were also accusations that Live 8 gave unqualified support to the personal and political agendas of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, particularly in the lead-up to an election.

But many aid agencies pronounced their disappointment with the outcome, feeling that the strict conditions imposed on African countries for accepting debt relief left them little better off than before.

"[59] Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher became one of the more vocal sceptics about the impact of Live 8, citing his belief that rock stars have less influence over world leaders than popular culture may believe.

His explanation was: Correct me if I'm wrong, but are they hoping that one of these guys from the G8 is on a quick 15-minute break at Gleneagles and sees Annie Lennox singing "Sweet Dreams" and thinks, 'Fuck me, she might have a point there, you know?'

[65] During mid-November 2008, a local for-profit organisation, Diversity@Work, invited Geldof to Melbourne, to speak about Third World poverty and the failure of governments to combat the crisis.

[68] Geldof responded to the criticism during the closing session of the conference: "I read today in the paper that my talk yesterday was littered with profanities – fuck them."

[70] In 2016, when Ireland was marking the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising, Geldof caused controversy when he likened the rebel leaders to Islamist suicide bombers.

[71] The following year, Geldof returned his Freedom of Dublin award in protest at Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi holding the same honour.

[75] After being criticised earlier in the decade for his stance on aid to African countries,[76] in July 2019, according to a report on its "Mauritius Leaks" project by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), Bob Geldof was mentioned as allegedly involved in tax avoidance by corporations and individuals doing business in Africa and other continents.

His private equity fund 8 Miles (named after the shortest distance between Europe and Africa: the eight miles width of the Strait of Gibraltar), which aimed to generate a 20 per cent return by exclusively buying stakes in African startup businesses, had set up subsidiaries in the tax haven of Mauritius, "an offshore jurisdiction with a wide network of double taxation treaties in interesting markets".

[77][78][79][80][81][82][83] By 1992, Geldof had established himself as a businessman through co-ownership of the TV production company Planet 24, which made early-morning Channel 4 show The Big Breakfast.

[90][91] In 2002, he became a founding partner of Groupcall,[92] which specialises in providing communication software and data extraction tools to the education, public and business sectors.

[94] In 2002, Geldof appeared in an advertisement opposing the possibility of the United Kingdom joining the single EU currency, saying it was "not anti-European to be against the euro".

[104] Ahead of the 2024 United Kingdom general election Geldof posted a video endorsing the re-election of Conservative candidate and Minister of State for Development and Africa Andrew Mitchell.

"[108] Geldof has received many awards for his fund-raising work including being invested by Elizabeth II as an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1986.

[115] In 2006 the New Statesman magazine conducted a survey of their readers to find the Heroes of our Time, Geldof was voted third behind Aung San Suu Kyi and Nelson Mandela.

[147] In the story "Le jour du jugement dernier", from the collection "Les Mémoires de Satan", by Pierre Cormon, God tries to judge Bob Geldof but doesn't succeed.