Who is behind the most sung charity song yet?
The answer is simple, they are the stars of the time including Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson. They are the ones behind this international success. You have to put yourself in context, it is 1985 and Africa is hit by many famines. We can cite that of Ethiopia where a million people lost their lives from 1984 to 1985.
This is when an American civil rights activist decides to react, it is Harry Belafonte. He contacted manager Ken Kragen to offer singers Lionel Richie and Kenny Rogers to participate in his project. Kragen will then ask other great American artists to ally themselves with the cause to give additional "names" to the project and therefore a larger scale. Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson in turn join this humanitarian action which they find very relevant.
The event will bring together the most famous artists of the American musical world of the time. In short, there are 44 artists, 21 of whom sing at least one line of the song: Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Tina Turner, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Steve Perry, Cindy Lauper, ...
At the origin of several international successes and also at the head of several music charts around the world. This planetary hit will become the first single to be awarded several times a platinum record. "We Are the World" will also receive numerous decorations including three Grammy Awards, an American Music Award and a People's Choice Award. This single will be one of the best-selling in the world with 20 million copies sold. A total of 63 million dollars to fight famine in Ethiopia is therefore collected. The crazy bet of this project initiated by Belafonte will then end up greatly helping Africa to emerge from this misery.
The project will be repeated in 2010 following the devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti. A cover of the song is then recorded, the goal is always the same, to bring together many artists, to raise funds for the victims.
Faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, Lionel Richie has asked to do a new version of the song with Katy Perry and Luke Bryan to fight the virus. So many artists have joined forces to sing from home and support the nursing staff.
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