Arguably the most successful charity single, “We Are the World” brought together the biggest pop stars of the 1980s. It was a worldwide success thanks to the collaboration of these major recording artists. With global interest sparked, “We Are the World” raised more than $60 million for African famine relief. “Check your egos at the door” was producer Quincy Jones’ special instruction to the stars asked to lend their voices to the recording. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Prior to achieving phenomenal success, Jones had to be creative in bringing together dozens of music artists and getting the recording to sound the way he and songwriters Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie envisioned. Jones gathered the biggest artists of the era for an epic recording session of “We Are the World” on the evening of January 28, 1985, straight after the American Music Awards.
