We Are the World

In 1985, inspired by Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in the UK, the American entertainer and activist Harry Belafonte decided to organize a US equivalent. He planned to have the proceeds donated to a new organization, United Support of Artists for Africa (USA for Africa). The organization would provide food and relief aid for the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia, which killed about one million people. Belafonte also planned to set aside money to help eliminate hunger in the US. Jones also telephoned Michael Jackson, who had just concluded Victory Tour with the Jacksons. == Writing ==

Jackson told Richie that he wanted to help write the song. The songwriting team originally included Wonder, but his time was constrained by his songwriting for the film The Woman in Red. Jackson and Richie wrote "We Are the World" Jackson presented his demo to Richie and Jones, who were both surprised that he had completed the structure so quickly. The next meetings between Jackson and Richie were unproductive. On January 21, 1985, the night before the first recording session, Richie and Jackson completed the lyrics and melody. ==Recording==

, studio badge, and the sweatshirt given to all attendees at A&M Studios in Hollywood, California on January 28, 1985 Recording began on January 22, 1985, at Kenny Rogers' Lion Share Recording Studio on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles. The first day included Richie, Jackson, Wonder, and Jones, along with the session musicians Jones had hired to lay down the backing tracks: John "JR" Robinson on drums, Louis Johnson on bass, and Greg Phillinganes on piano. The three had first played together on Jackson's 1979 single "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough", produced by Jones. Despite tight security, the studio was filled with the musicians, technicians, video crews, retinue, assistants, and organizers. Richie sat at the piano to teach everyone the song. When it was time to record, Robinson cleared the room of non-musicians. The session musicians recorded the backing tracks, then Richie and Jackson recorded a vocal guide. Jones selected the sixth take of the guide—he felt there was too much "thought" in the previous versions—and had it mixed with the instrumental tracks. A cassette tape duplicate was made for each of the performers invited to the vocal recording sessions. After the initial recording, Jackson and Jones began thinking of alternatives for the line "There's a chance we're taking, we're taking our own lives". The pair was concerned that line would be considered a reference to suicide. As the group listened to a playback of the chorus, Richie declared that the last part of the line should be changed to "We're 'saving' our own lives". Jones also suggested altering 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're making.'" Around 1:30 am, the musicians ended the night by finishing a chorus of melodic vocalizations, including the sound "sha-lum sha-lin-gay". Many of the participants came from an American Music Awards ceremony held that night. One newspaper said that Prince did not want to record with other acts; another report, from the time of the recording, suggested that he did not want to partake because the organizer, Bob Geldof, called him a "creep". During the session, Richie spoke with Prince on the phone, and declined Prince's offer to play a guitar solo in a separate room. Instead, Prince donated an exclusive track, "4 the Tears in Your Eyes", to the We Are the World album. John Denver asked to participate, but was refused despite his previous commitment to charity work. According to Kragen, some felt that Denver's image would affect the credibility of the song as a pop-rock anthem; Kragen disagreed, but relunctantly turned him down. In his 1994 autobiography Take Me Home, Denver wrote that the rejection "broke my heart". More than 45 of America's top musicians participated, and another 50 had to be turned away. Wonder greeted the musicians as they entered, and said that if the recording was not completed in one take, he and Ray Charles, two blind men, would drive everybody home. Each performer took their position at around 10:30 p.m. and began to sing. Several hours passed before Wonder announced that he would like to substitute a line in Swahili for the "sha-lum sha-lin-gay" sound, causing Waylon Jennings to leave. They thanked the singers on behalf of their country, bringing several artists to tears. ==Lyrics==

"We Are the World" is sung from a first-person viewpoint, allowing the audience to "internalize" the message by singing the word we together. It has been described as "an appeal to human compassion". The first lines of the chorus are: "We are the world, we are the children / we are the ones who make a brighter day / so let's start giving". == Arrangement ==

Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, James Ingram, Tina Turner and Billy Joel sang the first verse; Michael Jackson and Diana Ross sang the first chorus; Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson and Al Jarreau sang the second verse; Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Steve Perry and Daryl Hall sang the second chorus; Jackson, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, and Kim Carnes sang the bridge. The structure is said to "create a sense of continuous surprise and emotional buildup". The following people sang in the chorus: Dan Aykroyd, Harry Belafonte, Lindsey Buckingham, Mario Cipollina, Johnny Colla, Sheila E., Bob Geldof, Bill Gibson, Chris Hayes, Sean Hopper, Jackie Jackson, La Toya Jackson, Marlon Jackson, Randy Jackson, Tito Jackson, Waylon Jennings, Bette Midler, John Oates, Jeffrey Osborne, Anita Pointer, June Pointer, Ruth Pointer, and Smokey Robinson. ==USA for Africa musicians==

was a featured soloist. ==Release==

On March 7, 1985, "We Are the World" was released as a single, in both 7-inch and 12-inch formats. The song was the only one released from the We Are the World album and became a chart success around the world. In the U.S., it was a number-one hit on the R&B singles chart, the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart, and the Billboard Hot 100, where it remained for a month. The single had debuted at number 21 on the Hot 100, On the Hot 100, the song moved from 21 to 5 to 2 and then number 1. It was the only number 1 single on the Hot 100 for Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Willie Nelson, Al Jarreau, Steve Perry, Harry Belafonte, Bob Geldof, Waylon Jennings, Jeffrey Osborne, Sheila E., The Pointer Sisters, Randy Jackson, and La Toya Jackson, as well as actor-comedian Dan Aykroyd. "We Are the World" might have reached the top of the Hot 100 chart sooner, were it not for the success of Phil Collins' "One More Night", which received support from both pop and rock listeners. The single was also a commercial success: the initial shipment of 800,000 "We Are the World" records sold out within three days of release. At Tower Records in West Hollywood, 1,000 copies of the song were sold in two days. Store worker Richard Petitpas commented, "A number one single sells about 100 to 125 copies a week. This is absolutely unheard of." Five years later it was revealed that the song had become the biggest single of the 1980s. "We Are the World" was eventually cited as the best-selling single in U.S. and pop music history. The song became the first single to be certified multi-platinum; it received a 4× certification by the Recording Industry Association of America. The estimated global sales of "We Are the World" are said to be 20 million. ==Reception==

"We Are the World" received mixed reviews. American journalist Greil Marcus felt that it sounded like a Pepsi jingle. He wrote that "the constant repetition of 'There's a choice we're making' conflates with Pepsi's trademarked 'The choice of a new generation' in a way that, on the part of Pepsi-contracted song writers Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, is certainly not intentional, and even more certainly beyond the realm of serendipity." According to the music critic and Springsteen biographer Dave Marsh, "We Are the World" was not widely accepted within the rock music community. Marsh said it was dismissed as it was not "a rock record, a critique of the political policies that created the famine, a way of finding out how and why famines occur, an all-inclusive representation of the entire worldwide spectrum of post-Presley popular music". The music video was awarded two honors at the 1985 MTV Video Music Awards. It collected the awards for Best Group Video and Viewer's Choice. People's Choice Awards recognized "We Are the World" with the Favorite New Song award in 1986. "We Are the World" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2021. ==Track listing==

Vinyl single • "We Are the World" (USA for Africa) – 4:51 • "Grace" (Quincy Jones) – 4:30 ==Marketing and promotion==

"We Are the World" was promoted with a music video, a video cassette, and several other items made available to the public, including books, posters, shirts and buttons. All proceeds from the sale of official USA for Africa merchandise went directly to the famine relief fund. All of the merchandise sold well; the video cassette—titled We Are the World: The Video Event—documented the making of the song, and became the ninth-best-selling video of 1985. They called hundreds of radio and satellite stations asking them to participate. On the morning of April 5, 1985 (Good Friday of that year) at 3:50 pm GMT, over 8,000 radio stations simultaneously broadcast the song around the world. As the song was broadcast, hundreds of people sang along on the steps of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. A year later, on March 28, 1986 (Good Friday of that year), the simultaneous radio broadcast of "We Are the World" was repeated over 6,000 radio stations worldwide. Hands Across America—USA for Africa's follow-up project—was an event in which millions of people formed a human chain across the US. The event was held to draw attention to hunger and homelessness in the United States. "We Are the World"'s co-writer, Michael Jackson, had wanted his song to be the official theme for the event. The other board members of USA for Africa outvoted him, and it was instead decided that a new song would be created and released for the event, titled "Hands Across America". ==Humanitarian aid==

Four months after the release of "We Are the World", USA for Africa had taken in almost $10.8 million (equivalent to $ million today). The majority of the money came from record sales within the US. Harry Belafonte, representing the USA for Africa musicians, visited Sudan in the same month. The trip was his last stop on a four-nation tour of Africa. Tanzanian Prime Minister Salim Ahmed Salim greeted and praised Belafonte, telling him, "I personally and the people of Tanzania are moved by this tremendous example of human solidarity." C-130 Hercules military plane. Its propellers attach to its wings, and it appears to be hovering just above a barren field. From the back of the aircraft, a package is being dropped onto the field from an open rear gangway.|A military aircraft dropping food during the 1984–1985 Ethiopian famine One year after the release of "We Are the World", organizers noted that $44.5 million had been raised for USA for Africa's humanitarian fund. They stated that they were confident that they would reach an initial set target of $50 million (equivalent to $ million in ). By October 1986, it was revealed that their $50 million target had been met and exceeded; CBS Records gave USA for Africa a check for $2.5 million, drawing the total amount of money to $51.2 million. USA for Africa's Hands Across America event had also raised a significant amount of money—approximately $24.5 million for the hungry in the US. The long-term initiative included efforts in birth control and food production. The remaining 10 percent of funds was earmarked for domestic hunger and homeless programs in the US. From the African fund, over 70 recovery and development projects were launched in seven African nations. Such projects included aid in agriculture, fishing, water management, manufacturing and reforestation. Training programs were also developed in the African countries of Mozambique, Senegal, Chad, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, and Mali. Following Jackson's death in 2009, Elias Kifle Maraim Beyene, who grew up in Ethiopia and was a beneficiary of the aid provided by the single, related: ==Notable live performances==

"We Are the World" has been performed live by members of USA for Africa on several occasions both together and individually. One of the earliest such performances came in 1985, during the rock music concert Live Aid, which ended with more than 100 musicians singing the song on stage. Harry Belafonte and Lionel Richie made surprise appearances for the live rendition of the song. Michael Jackson would have joined the artists, but was "working around the clock in the studio on a project that he's made a major commitment to", according to his press agent, Norman Winter. An inaugural celebration was held for US President-elect Bill Clinton in January 1993. The event was staged by Clinton's Hollywood friends at the Lincoln Memorial and drew hundreds of thousands of people. Said Jones, "I've never seen so many great performers come together with so much love and selflessness." The celebration included a performance of "We Are the World", which involved Clinton, his daughter Chelsea, and his wife Hillary singing the song along with USA for Africa's Kenny Rogers, Diana Ross and Michael Jackson. As a prelude to his song "Heal the World", "We Are the World" was performed as an interlude during two of Michael Jackson's tours, the Dangerous World Tour (1992–1993) and the HIStory World Tour (1996–1997), as well as Jackson's performance at the Super Bowl XXVII halftime show in 1993. Jackson briefly performed the song with a chorus at the 2006 World Music Awards in London, which marked his last live public performance. Jackson planned to use the song for his This Is It comeback concerts at the O2 Arena in London from 2009 to 2010, but the shows were cancelled due to his sudden death. Michael Jackson died in June 2009, after suffering a cardiac arrest. His memorial service was held several days later on July 7, and was reported to have been viewed by more than one billion people. The finale of the event featured group renditions of the Jackson anthems "We Are the World" and "Heal the World". The singalong of "We Are the World" was led by Darryl Phinnessee, who had worked with Jackson since the late 1980s. It also featured co-writer Lionel Richie and Jackson's family, including his children. ==25 for Haiti==

On January 12, 2010, a magnitude-7.0 earthquake struck Haiti, the island's most severe earthquake in over 200 years. The epicenter of the quake was just outside the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince. The Haitian government confirmed the deaths of over 230,000 civilians because of the disaster and the injuries of around 300,000. Approximately 1.2 million people were homeless and the lack of temporary shelter may have led to the outbreak of disease. To raise money for earthquake victims, a new celebrity version of "We Are the World" was recorded on February 1, 2010, and released on February 12, 2010. Over 75 musicians were involved in the remake, which was recorded in the same studio as the 1985 original. Michael Jackson's younger sister Janet duets with her brother on the track, as per a request from their mother Katherine. In the video and on the track, archival material of Michael Jackson is used from the original 1985 recording. This version is also infamous for the way Wyclef sings towards the end of the song, fluctuating his voice in a manner that sounds like, as a music writer for the San Francisco Chronicle called it, "Not unlike a cross between a fire siren and the sound of Wyclef giving himself a hernia." On February 20, 2010, a non-celebrity remake, "We Are the World 25 for Haiti (YouTube edition)", was posted to the video sharing website YouTube. Internet personality and singer-songwriter Lisa Lavie conceived and organized the Internet collaboration of 57 unsigned or independent YouTube musicians geographically distributed around the world. Lavie's 2010 YouTube version, a cover of the 1985 original, excludes the rap segment and minimizes the Auto-tune that characterizes the 2010 celebrity remake. Another 2010 remake of the original is the Spanish-language "Somos El Mundo". It was written by Emilio Estefan and his wife Gloria Estefan, and produced by Emilio, Quincy Jones and Univision Communications, the company that funded the project. ==Legacy==

"We Are the World" has been recognized as a politically important song, which "affected an international focus on Africa that was simply unprecedented". "We Are the World" was also influential in subverting the way music and meaning were produced, showing that musically and racially diverse musicians could work together both productively and creatively. "We Are the World", along with Live Aid and Farm Aid, demonstrated that rock music had become more than entertainment, but a political and social movement. Journalist Robert Palmer noted that such songs and events had the ability to reach people around the world, send them a message, and then get results. Other notable examples include the 1989 cover of the Deep Purple song "Smoke on the Water" by a supergroup of hard rock, prog rock, and heavy metal musicians collaborating as Rock Aid Armenia to raise money for victims of the devastating 1988 Armenian earthquake, the 1986 all-star OPM single "Handog ng Pilipino sa Mundo", which talked about the optimism the Filipinos needed after the People Power Revolution, the 2003 all-star OPM recording "Biyahe Tayo" which promoted Philippine tourism and its subsequent 2011 remake "Pilipinas, Tara Na!" the 2009 all-star OPM recordings "Star ng Pasko" and "Kaya Natin Ito!" as a means to provide hope to the survivors of Typhoon Ketsana (locally known as Ondoy). Several Star Music artists also recorded another inspirational ballad, "Restart Back2Love" in 2017 to provide hope to the survivors of the Siege of Marawi (locally known as Yolanda). The 20th anniversary of "We Are the World" was celebrated in 2005. Radio stations around the world paid homage to USA for Africa's creation by simultaneously broadcasting the charity song. In addition to the simulcast, the milestone was marked by the release of a two-disc DVD called We Are the World: The Story Behind the Song. Ken Kragen asserted that the reason behind the simulcast and DVD release was not for USA for Africa to praise themselves for doing a good job, but to "use it to do some more good [for the original charity]. That's all we care about accomplishing." On January 29, 2024, a documentary about the recording of the song, The Greatest Night in Pop, was released on Netflix, featuring interviews with Richie, Springsteen, Lewis, Warwick, Lauper and others. ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications and sales==