Dan akroyd we are the world Continue This article is about the original 1985 charity song. For other purposes, see We Are the World (disambiguation). 1985 USA for Africa song We Are the WorldSingle by USA for Africa From the album We Are the WorldB-sideGraceReleasedMarch 7, 1985 (1985-03-07)Recorded28, 1985 (1985-01-28)StudioA-M Recording Studios (Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California) Genre Pop Gospel Length 7:02 (album version) 6:22 (single version) LabelColumbiaCBSongwriter (s) Lionel Richie Michael Jackson Producer (s) quincy jones Michael Omartian Michael Jackson singles chronology Of Girl You're So Together (1984) We're the World (1985) I Just Can't Stop Loving You (1987) We Are The World on YouTube World is a charity single originally recorded by the US supergroup Africa in 1985. It was written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson and produced by quincy Jones and Michael Omartian for the album We Are the World. With sales of over 20 million copies, it is the eighth best-selling physical single of all time. After 1984 Band Aid in 1984 Do they know it's Christmas? A project in the UK, the idea of creating an American single benefit for African hunger relief came from activist Harry Belafonte, who, along with fundraiser Ken Cragen, was instrumental in bringing vision to reality. Several musicians contacted the couple before Jackson and Richie were commissioned to write the song. The duo completed writing We Are the World seven weeks after the release of Do They Know It's Christmas? and one night before the first recording session of the song, On January 21, 1985. The historic event brought together some of the most famous artists in the music industry at the time. The song was released on March 7, 1985, as the album's first single. A worldwide commercial success, topped the music charts around the world and becoming the fastest-selling American pop single in history. The first single certified as multi-platinum, We Are the World received a four-fold platinum certification from the American Recording Industry Association. Awarded numerous awards, including three Grammy Awards, one American Music Award, and a People's Choice Award - the song was promoted with critical music video, VHS, a special edition of the magazine, a simultaneous edition, and several books, posters and shirts. Promotion and merchandise contributed to the success of We Are the World and raised more than $63 million (equivalent to $147 million today) for humanitarian aid in Africa and the United States. After the devastation caused by the 7.0 M magnitude earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010, a remake of the song of another star line-up of singers was recorded on February 1, 2010. Titled We Are The World 25 for Haiti, it was released as a single on February 12, 2010, and comes from a record helped by survivors in the poor In March 2020, Ritchie proposed a third remake to deliver a message of global solidarity during the COVID-19 pandemic and raise funds for relief efforts. The background and writing of Michael Jackson in 1984, a few months before he and Lionel Richie completed writing We Are the World before writing We Are the World, American artist and public figure Harry Belafonte thought for a while that the song would be recorded by the most famous artists in the music industry at the time. He planned to donate the proceeds to a new organization called United Support for Artists for Africa (USA for Africa). The non-profit foundation will feed and free starving people in Africa, particularly in Ethiopia, where about one million people died during the country's famine in 1983-1985. The idea followed band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas? in the UK, which Belafonte heard about. (nb 1) He also planned to allocate money to help eradicate hunger in the United States. Entertainment manager and fellow fundraiser Ken Kragen contacted Belafonte, who asked singers Lionel Richie and Kenny Rogers-clients Of Kragen to take part in Belafonte's music activities. Kragen and the two musicians agreed to help with Belafonte's mission, and in turn enlisted Stevie Wonder's collaboration to add more name values to their project. Jones was called up to co-produce the song, taking time out from his work on The Color Purple. Jones also called Michael Jackson, who had just released a commercially successful thriller album and had completed a tour with his brothers. Jones was a key figure in the production and recording of We Are the World. Jackson showed Richie that he not only wanted to write off the song, but also take part in its writing. To begin with, We Are the World was to be written by Jackson, Richie, and Wonder. Because Wonder had limited time to work on the project, due to writing songs from The Woman in Red, Jackson and Richie began writing We Are the World themselves. They started creating the song at Hayvenhurst, the Home of the Jackson family in Encino. During the week, they worked on lyrics and melodies in Jackson's bedroom every night. They knew they needed a song that would be easy to sing and memorable. The couple wanted to create an anthem. Jackson's older sister La Toy watched two works on the song, and later claimed that Richie had written only a few lines for the track. She said her younger brother wrote 99% of the texts, but he never felt the need to talk about it. La Toya also commented on the song's creation in an interview with the American news magazine People. I would enter the room while they were writing, and it would be very quiet, which is strange, Michael is usually very cheerful when he's working. It was very emotional for them. Bob Geldof Ritchie recorded two tunes for We Are the World, which Jackson took, adding music and lyrics to the song on the same day. Jackson said: I love working fast. I went ahead without even Lionel knowing I couldn't wait. I went in and out that night with the song completed- drums, piano, strings, and lyrics for the choir . Jackson then presented his demo to Richie and Jones, who were shocked; they didn't expect the pop star to see the structure of the song so quickly. Jackson and Ritchie's next meetings were non-factional; The pair did not produce any additional vocals and got no work. It was not until the night of January 21, 1985 that Richie and Jackson completed the lyrics and the melody of We Are the World within two and a half hours, one night before the first recording of the song. Recording sessions by Cyndi Lauper, studio icon, and sweatshirt provided to all participants at the ASM Studios in Hollywood, California on January 28, 1985, the first night of the recording, January 22, 1985, had a tight security at hand as Richie, Jackson, Wonder and Jones began work on We Are the World at the Kenny Rogers' Live Recording Studio. The studio, on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles, was filled with musicians, technicians, video groups, retinue, assistants and organizers when the musicians entered. Waiting for them with their instruments set up were the session musicians that Jones hired to lay down backing tracks: John JR Robinson on drums, Louis Johnson on bass, and pianist Greg Phillinganes. (These three first played together on Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough production of Jones for Jackson.) Richie sat down at the piano to teach all the songs. When it came time to roll the tape, JR cleared the room of non-musicians, and backing tracks were recorded. The We Are the World vocal guide was then recorded by Richie and Jackson, mixed with instrumental tracks, and duplicated on a tape for each of the guest performers. The guide was recorded on the sixth take, as quincy Jones felt there was too much thought in previous versions. After working on a vocal guide, Jackson and Jones began to think about alternatives for the line There is a chance we do we kill ourselves: the couple were concerned that the last part of the line would be considered a reference to suicide. When the band listened to the choir play, Ritchie stated that the last part of the line should be changed to We save our own lives, his fellow musicians agreed. Producer Jones also proposed changing the former part of the line. One thing we don't want to do, especially with this group, is look like we're patting ourselves on the back. So it's really, There's a choice, we Around 1:30 a.m., four musicians finished the night by finishing a chorus of melodic vocalizations, including the sound of sha-lum sha-lin-gay. Jones told the group that they shouldn't have added anything else to the tape. If we get too good, someone is going to start playing on the radio, he announced. On January 24, 1985, after a day of rest, Jones sent a vocal guide to Richie and Jackson to all the artists who would participate in the recording of We Are the World. There was a letter from Jones to My fellow artists in the package, and I can't express how important it is not to let this material out of your hands. Please don't make copies, and return this tape on the night of 28. In the future, when your children ask, What did Mom and Dad do to fight the world's hunger?, you can proudly say that it was your contribution.