It was on March 7th, 1985, that we heard the song “We Are The World” for the first time on our radios.
The song and charity single was recorded by the supergroup calling themselves United Support of Artists (USA) for Africa. The song was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie (with arrangements by Michael Omartian) and produced by Quincy Jones. The song sold over 20 million copies. The song went on to win three Grammy Awards, one American Music Award, and a People’s Choice Award. The song and merchandise that was sold raised over $63 million for humanitarian aid in Africa and the United States.
The recording was conducted by Quincy Jones and included the following solo artists, (in order of appearance): Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, James Ingram, Tina Turner, Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson, Al Jarreau, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Steve Perry, Daryl Hall, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, Kim Carnes, Bob Dylan, and Ray Charles.
If that wasn’t an impressive enough line-up, the chorus included: Dan Aykroyd, Harry Belafonte, Lindsey Buckingham, Mario Cipollina, Johnny Colla, Sheila E., Bob Geldof, Bill Gibson, Chris Hayes, Sean Hopper, Jackie Jackson, LaToya Jackson, Marlon Jackson, Randy Jackson, Tito Jackson, Waylon Jennings, Bette Midler, John Oates, Jeffrey Osborne, The Pointer Sisters, and Smokey Robinson.
It also included the following musicians: David Paich – synthesizers, Michael Boddicker – synthesizers, programming, Paulinho da Costa – percussion, Louis Johnson – synth bass, Michael Omartian – keyboards, Greg Phillinganes – keyboards, and John Robinson – drums
Here is a video of “We Are The World” that identifies the artist and also includes the lyrics. (Unfortunately the video and the audio don’t perfectly match)…
The video makes it seem like this song all came together in no time without and issues. That was not the case. There is a very interesting documentary on the making of “We Are the World”. It is called “The Greatest Night in Pop”. You can find the documentary on Netflix.
Here is the trailer…
Here is the Wikipedia page for “We Are The World”.
Photo: YouTube/GinaTrixiii
