Michael believes pop stars are too young to perform anti-war song

SINGER George Michael has begged pop stars to abandon plans for an anti-war charity record — because he reckons they do not know enough about politics.

Lee Ryan of boyband Blue wants to enlist the likes of Kylie Minogue, Justin Timberlake and Pink on a new Band Aid style song.

But Michael said today’s chart stars were too manufactured and too trivial for their song to be taken seriously.

The people involved would be “extremely young and extremely lacking” in political knowledge, he said.

The former Wham! star was part of the 1984 Band Aid line-up which had a huge hit with Do They Know It’s Christmas, in aid of Ethiopian famine victims.

But he told BBC News 24 programme Hardtalk: “I’m begging, I’m hoping that there will not be a Band Aid 2 because the reality is very few people in the industry now, that you’re hearing on the radio, make their money from their own hearts and minds.

“They make their money from singing the words of others, and so therefore the weight of something called Band Aid 2 would be incredibly slight.”

He added: “It’s not the same as making a record to send money to Ethiopia.

“This is different and I really hope the current pop music industry, the current generation, stays away from it because I really don’t think it would be a very genuine move.”

Ryan revealed at last week’s Brit Awards that he wanted to assemble a host of big name artists to record his single Stand Up As People, which he wrote last year.

“We want people like Pink, like Justin, we’re trying to get Sugababes and Kylie,” he said.

“All the money will hopefully go to charities like Warchild, for kids who have been affected by war.”