We Are the World
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"We Are the World" is a 1985 song written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, produced by Quincy Jones and recorded by a supergroup of popular musicians billed as USA for Africa. The charity single was intended to raise funds to help famine relief efforts in Ethiopia.
Harry Belafonte initiated the idea for a fundraising effort. His manager, Ken Kragen, suggested the multi-artist approach, inspired by the success of the British supergroup Band Aid and their 1984 fundraising single "Do They Know It's Christmas?".
The performers gathered at A&M Recording Studios in Hollywood, California, on January 28, 1985. Kragen selected the night of the American Music Awards to ensure as many artists as possible could attend. Jones famously advised them, in his written invitation, to "check your egos at the door." In all, 45 musicians attended the recording session, including Bob Geldof, who had arranged the Band Aid effort in the United Kingdom. Lead vocals were rotated among 21 of the performers, including Richie, Jackson, Tina Turner, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.
Columbia Records donated their manufacturing and distribution costs to the effort. "We Are the World" hit stores on Tuesday, March 7, 1985, and all 800,000 copies sold out before the end of the weekend. It debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at #21. On April 5 (Good Friday in that year), more than 5,000 radio stations played the song at the same time. It became the United States' #1 single on April 13 and held the position for 4 weeks.
The song went on to win 1985 Grammys for Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group.
Ultimately, the single sold 7.5 million copies in the US. It was released on an album, USA for Africa: We Are the World, which sold over 3 million copies. In addition to "We Are the World," the album included songs by Prince, Springsteen, Turner and other artists. It also included another famine relief fundraising song, "Tears Are Not Enough", which was performed by Canadian supergroup Northern Lights.
Including revenues from the single, the album, the video and related merchandise, "We Are the World" raised about $50 million for famine relief.
The song has been spoofed several times over the years. The television show Saturday Night Live featured "I'm Also the World". The Simpsons parodied the song in the episode Radio Bart, which featured the song "We're Sending Our Love Down the Well". The group Culturcide covered the song as "We're Not the World", with new lyrics which accused USA for Africa of being more concerned with publicity than charity. On January 18, 2005 a New York City radio station, WQHT-FM, played a controversial parody of the song, entitled "USA for Indonesia", which made derisive references to the victims of the recent South Asian tsunami. Officials at the station were forced to apologize on January 24, 2005 following the widespread condemnations the parody generated.
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Musicians in the song
Lead vocalists
The following artists all have a line in the song:
Complete list of vocalists
VH-1's Pop-Up Video stated that Waylon Jennings left the recording session due to a dispute over the lyrics.
Instrumentalists
The following session musicians performed the instrumental music:
- Michael Boddicker - synthesizers, programming
- Paulinho da Costa - percussion
- Louis Johnson - bass
- Michael Omartian - keyboards
- Greg Phillinganes - keyboards
- John Robinson - drums
External links
- Lyrics, identifying who sings each line of the song (http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/We-Are-The-World-lyrics-Michael-Jackson/78CDC96A611D2DAF4825688E00385747)pt:We are the world