40 Fun Facts About We Are the World

Which star, slated to trade lines with Michael Jackson on We Are the World, stayed away and donated a song instead?

Prince offered to play a guitar solo from a separate room, was turned down, and gave the album the exclusive track 4 the Tears in Your Eyes instead.

Stevie Wonder joked at the We Are the World session that he and which other blind singer would drive everyone home?

Ray Charles would share the driving, the joke ran, if the song took more than one take, and he is the last of the 21 soloists to make his entrance.

Which Ghostbusters star, a comedian among the pop singers, sang in the chorus of We Are the World?

Dan Aykroyd had already sung on stage as one of the Blues Brothers, and the charity single gave him his only number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

The A&M lot in Hollywood where We Are the World was recorded was built by which silent film star?

Charlie Chaplin began building the lot in 1917 and sold it in 1953; A&M later turned two sound stages and his swimming pool into recording studios.

What did a sign taped to the studio door ask the stars of We Are the World to leave outside?

Their egos were to be checked at the door, a fair request with 21 soloists sharing one song and two dozen more famous names in the chorus.

Which folk-rock legend was so uneasy with his We Are the World solo that Stevie Wonder mimicked his voice to coach him?

Bob Dylan looked out of his element among the pop belters, and the moment Wonder sang the line back in a Dylan voice is shown in a 2024 documentary about the night.

Which singer, who had hosted an awards show earlier that night, delivers the opening solo line of We Are the World?

Lionel Richie had won six trophies as host that evening, then went to the studio to sing the first line of the song he co-wrote.

We Are the World raised money for victims of a 1983–1985 famine that killed about a million people in which country?

Ethiopia was the focus of the appeal, though the first relief jet, which left in June 1985 with food, medicine and tents, also carried supplies for neighbouring Sudan.

Which female soloist joins Michael Jackson for the first chorus of We Are the World, right after Billy Joel's line?

Diana Ross takes the chorus with Jackson, who had reached the studio at 8 p.m., ahead of everyone else, to record his own solo section alone.

A 2010 remake of We Are the World, with more than 75 singers, raised funds after an earthquake in which country?

Haiti's earthquake struck weeks before the 25th anniversary of the original session, and the remake was taped in the same Hollywood studio as the 1985 recording.

Which producer was drafted to run the We Are the World sessions, taking time out from the film The Color Purple?

Quincy Jones worried most about sharing out the solos, likening the job of fitting so much talent into one song to putting a watermelon in a Coke bottle.

Which civil rights activist and singer proposed a US famine single but had no solo on We Are the World?

Harry Belafonte had seen British stars record a famine single in 1984, and in June 1985 he flew to Sudan to represent the singers as the first supplies arrived.

Which rocker drove himself to the We Are the World session and gave the album a concert cover of Jimmy Cliff's Trapped?

Bruce Springsteen turned up alone in a Pontiac GTO, and his version of Trapped, taped on his own arena dates, went on to top the Mainstream Rock chart.

Many We Are the World singers came straight to the studio from which ceremony, held earlier that same night?

American Music Awards night was picked on purpose: the organisers knew pop's biggest names would already be in town, and booked the studio for after the show.

Which July 1985 benefit concert ended its Philadelphia show with dozens of stars singing We Are the World?

Live Aid closed its London half with Britain's own famine single and its US half with We Are the World, sung by more than 100 musicians.

Which streaming service released The Greatest Night in Pop, a 2024 documentary about the We Are the World session?

Netflix put the film out on January 29, 2024, a day after the session's 39th anniversary, following a premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.

Which singer held up the We Are the World session when her jangling jewelry kept spoiling the recording?

Cyndi Lauper nearly skipped the night altogether, because her boyfriend told her the single would not be a hit.

Which frontman, whose whole group sang in the We Are the World chorus, took the solo line left by an absent superstar?

Huey Lewis got the line on a fellow soloist's suggestion and recalled that his legs were shaking as he sang it straight after Michael Jackson.

Michael Jackson quit the USA for Africa board after it rejected We Are the World as the theme for which 1986 event?

Hands Across America got a newly written theme instead, which sold far less, and about five million people joined a coast-to-coast human chain that broke in the desert.

The We Are the World album includes Tears Are Not Enough by Northern Lights, a supergroup from which country?

Canada's biggest names sang on it, among them Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, who turned up at the session together in a taxi.

Which Irish organiser of Do They Know It's Christmas told the We Are the World singers about famine camps he had seen?

Bob Geldof gave his speech before the singing began, describing camps with 15 bags of flour for 27,500 people, then stayed to sing in the chorus himself.

Which talent manager, once a producer of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, recruited the singers for We Are the World?

Ken Kragen first pictured about a dozen singers, ended up with some four dozen, and had to turn away dozens more who wanted in.

Which singer, despite his record of charity work, asked to join We Are the World and was turned down over his image?

John Denver wrote in his 1994 autobiography that the rejection broke his heart; some organisers had feared he would dent the single's pop-rock credibility.

Which comedian declined Stevie Wonder's invitation to We Are the World because he was recording Party All the Time?

Eddie Murphy later admitted he felt like an idiot for staying away to finish a pop single of his own.

Which country outlaw walked out of the We Are the World session when a line in an African language was proposed?

Waylon Jennings walked out in protest. Accounts differ on whether he came back that night, but he is credited on the record as one of the chorus.

Which language did Stevie Wonder propose for a line of We Are the World, though the famine's victims did not speak it?

Swahili was dropped after a heated debate in the small hours, and the singers agreed to keep the whole song in English.

Which country-pop star owned Lion Share, the Los Angeles studio where We Are the World's backing track was recorded?

Kenny Rogers was also among the first stars signed up, because he shared a manager with one of the song's two writers.

Which singer's ballad One More Night kept We Are the World from reaching number one on the Hot 100 even sooner?

Phil Collins held the top spot for two weeks before We Are the World displaced him, completing a four-week climb of 21, 5, 2 and 1.

Which magazine was the only media outlet allowed inside the studio on the night We Are the World was recorded?

Life put seven of the singers on the cover of its April 1985 issue, while every other press organisation was barred from covering the session.

Which US president-elect sang We Are the World at the Lincoln Memorial with his wife and daughter before taking office?

Bill Clinton joined Michael Jackson and other original singers on stage, prompting a New York Times critic to call him the first president to aspire to hipness.

We Are the World was the first single since which Beatles hit to enter Billboard's top five within two weeks of release?

Let It Be had done it in 1970, and fifteen years on We Are the World needed only one more fortnight to reach number one.

Which Grammy, given to songwriters, did Michael Jackson and his co-writer win for We Are the World in 1986?

Song of the Year was one of four Grammys the single collected that night, along with Record of the Year and a trophy for its music video.

On which Christian holy day in 1985 did thousands of radio stations worldwide play We Are the World at the same moment?

Good Friday's simulcast was the idea of two Georgia disc jockeys, who phoned hundreds of stations until more than 8,000 had agreed to join in.

At which 1993 event did a choir of thousands of children sing We Are the World before Michael Jackson's Heal the World?

Super Bowl halftime show performers get no fee, so the league and a sponsor instead gave $100,000 to Jackson's Heal the World Foundation.

Michael Jackson had just finished which 1984 stadium tour with his brothers when he joined the We Are the World project?

Victory ended at Dodger Stadium with Jackson announcing from the stage, to his brothers' surprise, that they would never all perform together again.

Critic Greil Marcus said We Are the World sounded like a jingle for which soft drink, a sponsor of both its writers?

Pepsi had both songwriters under contract, and Marcus argued the chorus echoed the wording of the brand's own advertising campaign.

Which sibling trio, hitmakers with Jump (For My Love), sang in the We Are the World chorus without a solo line?

The Pointer Sisters, Anita, June and Ruth, stood in the chorus; their own singles never got past number two on the Hot 100, where both Fire and Slow Hand stalled.

Emilio and Gloria Estefan wrote new words for a 2010 all-star version of We Are the World in which language?

Spanish-speaking stars recorded it as Somos El Mundo, and the producer of the 1985 original returned to help make it.

What did the 2010 remake of We Are the World add to the original's structure, with will.i.am among its writers?

A rap verse was added, along with archive vocals of Michael Jackson, with Janet Jackson singing beside her late brother at their mother's request.

Which musician in the We Are the World chorus later said she felt she was invited only to lure a famous absentee?

Sheila E. had started out as a teenage percussionist in the George Duke Band, and the charity record became her only number one on the Hot 100.