Bob Geldof proud of activism but regrets musical knock-on

Bob Geldof may be best known as the man who put together Band Aid (Do They Know It's Christmas) with Midge Ure and went on to put together Live Aid, the 1985 concert to raise funds for the starving in Africa. He is proud of his activism but has regrets as to what it did to his music career.

Geldof talked with the London Evening Standard that not doing his charity work would have been "criminally irresponsible" but it "completely damaged my ability to do the thing I love. If it hadn't happened I think I would have been able to make the transition from the Boomtown Rats to a solo thing more like Weller or Sting."

While with the Boomtown Rats, Geldof had three top ten albums and number 1 hits in the U.K. with Rat Trap and I Don't Like Mondays. Since that time, he has released five solo albums with 1990's The Vegetarians of Love being the best selling. Last year he released the album How To Compose Popular Songs That Sell.

The full London Evening Standard interview also delves into his home life and upcoming appearance for the Queen's Jubilee.