WAS TOMMY MOTTOLA REALLY A BITCH BACK IN THE DAY?

Former Sony Music boss TOMMY MOTTOLA threatened to pull artists out of the Live Aid line-up if HALL & OATES weren't part of the U.S. telecast. The music mogul had a furious TransAtlantic row with promoter Harvey Goldsmith on the eve of the historic charity concert in 1985 after realisin g his charttopping duo would not be part of the segment of Live Aid televised in the U.S. But, by then, Goldsmith and organisers Bob Geldof and Midge Ure were so convinced they had the greatest line-up ever on two stages in London and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, they called Mottola's bluff.

Goldsmith recalls, "We had a huge row with Tommy Mottola, who threatened to pull Mick Jagger and this one and that one and the other one because he came to realise that Hall & Oates weren't going to be on the American TV special. "Bob and I just put the phone down and said, 'Thanks very much. See you later and if you want to pull them, pull them.'" The legendary promoter admits he knew the show, which celebrates its 25th anniversary today (13Jul10), would be a big fundraiser, but he had no idea how big.

He tells CelebrityAccess.com, "Bob and I said to each other, 'I think w e are going to raise about five million (pounds),' which we were very proud of at that point. Little did we know we were going to raise 140 million (pounds)."

Memba, Tommy was the former Mr Mariah Carey? What a diva!