It was thirty years ago today that "We Are The World", the all-star charity single was released. This song went on to sell twenty million copies worldwide with the proceeds directed towards African famine relief.
After being inspired by the British holiday single, "Do They Know It's Christmas" by Band-Aid to bring money and awareness to famine in Ethiopia, Harry Belafonte decided he wanted to do this in America. The actor/activist enlisted pop superstars, Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritche to compose a song that would accomplish this task and brought Quincy Jones on board to co-produce.
On January 28th, some of the biggest musical artists of the day came together to lend their voices to make "We Are The World" and became known as "USA For Africa". Even Bob Geldolf, who co-wrote "Do They Know It's Christmas", participated on the song as part of the chorus of forty-five musicians. This amazing song is still as thrilling today as it was when it was first hit the airwaves. To date, "We Are The World" has raised over sixty-three million dollars in humanitarian aid for Africa.
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