Back in July 13, 1985, the mega-charity concert Live Aid took place at both Wembley Stadium in London and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. One of the bands asked to do Live Aid was Dire Straits. They had just released the Brothers in Arms album and they happened to be touring in London for at the time for the July 13, 195 Live Aid show. It was around this time that single Money for Nothing was beginning to climb the charts. Money for Nothing featured Sting on co-lead vocals with Mark Knopfler. Because Sting was at Live Aid, it was a rare time he was able to perform that song live with Dire Stairts. While certainly the collaboration was a hit at Live Aid, the man who many were talking about was an unknown guitar player in sunglasses and a long red jacket.
The man I am talking about is Jack Sonni. Jack Sonni is one of the true “dream come true” scenarios. Sonni was working in a record store in New York where he met Mark Knopfler. He had been brought in as a studio session musician for Dire Strats in the past, most recently on the Brothers in Arms track The Man’s Too Strong. Knopfler was getting ready for the Brothers in Arms tour and needed another guitarist for the tour and had asked Sonni to perform with him. The next thing Sonni knew, he was on a plane for Europe and was living the Rock and Roll dream.
Sonni was traveling with the band when the request came in for Dire Straits to perform at Live Aid. According to Sonni, most of the band had no idea what this show as going to be about – other than it was a charity gig. Dire Straits was playing just next door at Wembley Arena so to go to Wembley Stadium was going to be easy to do this.
Sonni has been on the record saying he was in awe of all of the Rock and Roll stars and royalty backstage at Live Aid. When he finally met Sting for the first time, Sting had saw the massive crowd and said to Sonni “Man, are you scared because I’m really nervous!” Sonni said “Sting I have waited for my entire life for this. I am so ready to play. Let’s go!“
Sonni was ready to go. He was going to not only be playing guitar, but he was going to be doing background vocals with Sting on Money for Nothing singing “I Want my MTV!” This was not new for Sonni. On the tour, he had been already doing the “I Want my MTV” vocals with the band (see clip below).
Now he was going to be doing the vocals with Sting, who had done these vocals on the the studio version of the Money for Nothing track. Sonni was already a visible and dynamic presence on the stage. He was wearing funky sunglasses and red coat. During the set, Sonni was doing some amazing guitar work, but then came the duet with Sting. You can see Sting motion to Sonni to come over, then you can see Sting motion to Knopfler that the two were getting ready for the duet. The two start belting out “I Want my MTV!” . Sonni continued his dynamic presence moving in and out of the microphone with Sting. The vocals blended like magic. Sonni tosses the sunglasses. There is a brief interlude, and the two go back into the duet again – and this time it’s Sonni’s vocals who have the edge.
Everyone talks about Queen at Live Aid and U2’s performance of Bad, but this one should not be forgotten. It was Jack Sonni who gave that Money for Nothing performance something special.
Sonni would continue the tour with Dire Straits after Live Aid, but when he got married and had a family, he felt road life wasn’t for him. He retired from touring, but remained in different capacities in the music business.
I friended Jack Sonni on Facebook about two years ago. He was still doing music, but was also doing some other things such as writing. He was doing some podcasting and I thought maybe there was a long-shot if I could get Sonni as a guest on Prime Time Jukebox. I wanted to ask him a lot more questions about that moment on stage. The moment when the dude in the sunglasses and red jacket had the attention of many on planet earth.
Sadly Jack Sonni passed away suddenly on August 30, 2023. I never had reached out to Sonni. This performance was something I wanted to always be remembered, and I’m hoping this small little article will bring some remembrance to the day when Jack Sonni’s Rock and Roll dream came true, and put a smile on many faces.
CigarJukebox 
often wondered, but now I know, just who the man in the long red coat is. Sad to hear he passed recently. I’ll be sure to keep his name alive with my new found trivia about this track.
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Hello, William! Very nice article. I knew Jack Sonni when he was very young. When Jack was a teenager, he and his family, mom Dee, dad Gene and sister Joanie lived directly across the street from my family. Jack was about 10 years older than me, so the only time I would hang with him was when he was practicing his guitar in his garage. His very first gigs were the Folk Masses at the church we belonged to, St. John The Baptist, in Plum Borough, just east of Pittsburgh. Jacks (or as we knew him back then, John) mom and dad were very close friends with my mom and dad. My mother absolutely loved your article, just sorry we’re just discovering it now. Thank you for recognizing Jack, he truly deserves it, he was such a nice and great person.
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Thankyou for sharing this! Yesterday, we watched the Live Aid 40th anniversary programme, and were really impressed by Jack Sonni. I saw the concert in 1985 when I was 21 but had never really been a fan of Dire Straits then . Older and wiser now!
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