Thirty years ago, on March 7, 1985, an iconic collection of music superstars released "We Are the World." Recorded during a single session that went all night after the AMA awards, the hit single sold every one of the 800,000 copies during the weekend of its release. It went on to sell eight million copies in the US and as many as twenty million copies worldwide. Combined with the four million copies of the album, which included tracks from many of the same performers, $75 million was raised for famine relief in Ethiopia.
Gavin Edwards provides a fascinating minute by minute account of the recording session for Rolling Stone, with additional video.
Written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, Quincy Jones produced the seven minute number, featuring 46 major music stars, including Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Willie Nelson, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel and Lionel Richie and so many more. So many, in fact, that Jones put a sign on the door of the studio that read: "Check your egos at the door."