“It was an event that left an indelible mark on the history of pop music,” American producer and director Vincent Scarza said when asked to recall July 13, 1985, when the then greatest talents of pop music met between London and Philadelphia to support the starving children of Ethiopia with Live Aid for Africa concerts. The event was broadcast to the world via one of the largest satellite link-ups ever and was the highest rated television broadcast up to that time, capable of keeping two billion viewers glued to TVs in 150 nations.
“The work, between the set-up and the show, lasted 17 hours, and we had to coordinate four control rooms, with 21 cameras distributed throughout the arenas,” recalled Scarza, who now lives in the city of Pescara, in Italy’s Abruzzo region. Nine years ago, Philadelphia native Scarza and his wife, Anne Miller, decided to leave New York City after a lifetime spent in film, television, cinema, and theater. In Abruzzo, Scarza, now 90 years old, rediscovered his roots.
“Live Aid was just one of my many jobs, but it certainly remained an important parenthesis in my professional life. The job was proposed to me by my producer friend Tony Verna who had met my wife at the Los Angeles Olympics, where they were both working for their respective TV stations. With Verna, I also tried to organize a similar event in Moscow, the year after Live Aid. Unfortunately, those were the years of AIDS, and the then Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, cancelled any initiative coming from outside the country, fearing a possible spread of the virus,” recalled Scarza.
Held on the same day (July 13, 1985) at Wembley Stadium in London and at John Fitzgerald Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, Live Aid, produced by British artists Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, the event lasted seven hours (Scarza was involved only with the U.S. event). But since some artists’ performances were shown simultaneously in both arenas, the total duration of the concert was much longer and it was certainly the most ambitious international satellite broadcast project ever realized up to that time.
The Philadelphia (facilities in New York City and Washington, D.C. were unavailable for concurrent sporting events) performers included, among others, Mick Jagger and Tina Turner in a duet; the group Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, Madonna, Sting, The Who, David Bowie, Paul McCartney, Joan Baez, Sade, Dire Straits, Santana, Eric Clapton, Huey Lewis & The News, Billy Joel, Paul McCartney, U2, and Elton John. The hosts, during the live show, included a revolving door of actors including Jack Nicholson, Bette Midler, Jeff Bridges, and Chevy Chase.
“Phil Collins was able to come to Philadelphia,” Scarza recalled, “thanks to a supersonic Concorde flight to perform in front of 100,000 people after having performed in London. We didn’t know that Phil had bumped into Cher on the plane, who wasn’t aware of the concert. Phil convinced her to attend and to sing We Are the World with all the other artists.” Scarza also recalled “the backstage antics of Sean Penn, then Madonna’s husband, who was extremely jealous of anyone who approached his wife.
He then continued: “I have kept numerous memories and memorabilia from that event, such as the signatures of all the artists housed at the Palace Hotel. For me, having grown up on the streets of South Philadelphia, the son of immigrants from Abruzzo, it was truly exciting.”
The event raised $127 million (equivalent to $362 million today). “Unfortunately,” concluded Scarza, “and through no fault of the organizers, very few of these funds [he later discovered] were used to fight hunger in Africa. Even the little girl chosen as the symbol of the event stated years later that despite the efforts, everything was as it was before the concert.”
Pictured: A 1985 photo of Scarza published by The Philadelphia Inquirer during pre-production at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia.
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