File:We_Are_the_World_alternative_cover.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
We Are the World
Sign in to save1985 USA for Africa song
Key facts
- B side
- Grace
- Released
- March 7, 1985 ( 1985-03-07 )
- Recorded
- January 28, 1985 ( 1985-01-28 )
- Studio
- A&M (Hollywood) Lion Share (Los Angeles)
- Genre
- Pop gospel
- Length
- 7 : 02 (album version) 6:22 (single version)
- Label
- Columbia CBS
- Songwriters
- Michael Jackson Lionel Richie
- Producer
- Quincy Jones
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- single
- Genre
- charity record
- Composer
- Michael Jackson
- Producer
- Michael Omartian
- Performer
- USA for Africa
- Record label
- Sony Music
- Lyrics by
- Lionel Richie
- Distribution format
- VHS
- Image
- USA For Africa – We Are The World 02.jpg
Show 5 more facts
- publication date
- 1985-03-28
- language of work or name
- English language
- has characteristic
- charity record
- title
- We Are the World
- Commons category
- We Are The World
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~36 min read
Encyclopedic overview
"We Are the World" is a charity single recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa in 1985. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones for the album We Are the World to raise money for the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. With sales in excess of 20 million physical copies, it is the eighth-best-selling single of all time.
After the British group Band Aid released the charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in 1984, the musician and activist Harry Belafonte decided to create an American single for African famine relief. The agent Ken Kragen enlisted several musicians for the project. Jackson and Richie completed the writing the night before the first recording session on January 28, 1985. The recording brought together some of the era's best-known recording artists, including Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, and Tina Turner.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “We Are the World” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.