Thompson Twins star Tom Bailey has joked that "Madonna needed a helping hand in her career" after the pop superstar performed backing vocals for his group at Live Aid in 1985.
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk over Zoom, the now 72-year-old, known for hits such as Hold Me Now and Doctor, Doctor, reflected on the iconic concert, which took place on Saturday, July 13, 1985. He admitted he and the band were somewhat winging it as their backing musicians were back home in the UK.
Rushed preparations
Tom, alongside bandmates Alannah Currie and Joe Leeway, were in America at the time of the global fundraising event and performed at the John F. Kennedy (JFK) Stadium in Philadelphia.
Reflecting on it now, he recalls: "It was an amazing event, of course, and it was also back in the day when you still felt the kind of revolutionary aspect of rock and roll still had a burden to carry, which was that we had to change the world for the better. And therefore it felt like the right thing to do, and for a moment you could turn away from making money for the tour and make money for a charity instead, you know, which was a nice thing."
While the enthusiasm was there, the infrastructure wasn't, and he confessed they were forced to pull in favours for the day due to circumstances beyond their control.
"We didn't even have our own band at that point because we were working in New York and it was just too difficult to go back to the UK, get our band rehearsed and then bring them over, so we just found friends in New York that would play with us and threw together a band with one rehearsal," he smiled. "So it was a little bit nerve-racking, and not everything goes according to plan on the day, but it was a great thing to do."
Madonna and Nile Rogers connection
Memorably, Madonna, who recently celebrated her 68th birthday, joined the Thompson Twins on backing vocals, while they returned the favour during her set. Tom credits their mutual collaborator, legendary Chic star Nile Rogers, for making that happen.
"I always joke that [Madonna] needed a helping hand in her career, so we gave her one, and she never looked back after that date," he chuckles. "We were working with Nile recording, and he had just made her album...and we came up with this idea, why don't we sing on each other's albums in each other's backing bands."
"So we sang on hers, and she sang on ours, and we were lucky enough to have other random superstars - like Steve Stevens from Billy Idol's band play guitar with Nile and us played, of course," he said.
The rest of the supergroup was made up of late-night talk show host Dave Letterman's band. "[They] had the day off because it was Live Aid, so we said, 'Right, you're in the Thompson Twins for the day," he laughed.
Different career paths
Both Madonna and Tom are still going strong, although their careers took slightly different trajectories. While she became a pop superstar, Tom moved into film scoring in recent years, although he still tours under the Thompson Twins moniker.
He is getting set to go back on the road with his 80s synth-pop contemporaries Blancmange, and he confessed he enjoys the pace of his career now. "I really enjoy being on tour, especially with my current band and doing the Thompson's repertoire, but it's also nice to have long breaks as well. I usually go back to New Zealand for the southern summer and spend the time writing and arranging, and it's a much more casual pace. You know, I think I've earned a little bit of a rest occasionally," he grins.
Thompson Twins' Tom Bailey & Blancmange tour the UK in September 2026, with tickets on sale now.
