'We Are The World': The making of the star-studded USA For Africa charity anthem

3 April 2025, 14:09

How Harry Belafonte, Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, and many more, changed the world.

In the winter of 1984, Bob Geldof and Midge Ure bullied and cajoled a cast of superstars into recording 'Do They Know It's Christmas' under the name Band Aid.

It got global attention, and over in the US singer and activist Harry Belafonte was taking notes.

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He got agent Ken Kragen on board to help do the Bob role of getting the stars in line, and within a couple of months their supergroup USA For Africa had recorded 'We Are The World'.

The guest list was even starrier than what Bob had managed for Band Aid.

In 2024, Netflix celebrated the recording with its acclaimed documentary The Greatest Night in Pop, so we now know more than ever about the record-breaking charity single. Read on for everything you need to know about 'We Are The World'.

Who wrote 'We Are The World'?

U.S.A. For Africa - We Are the World

'We Are The World' was written by the dream team alliance of Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie.

They got involved when Belafonte contacted Kragen, who in turn got his clients Lionel Richie and and Kenny Rogers signed up.

They gave Stevie Wonder a holler and got Quincy Jones on board to produce, but Stevie was too busy working on The Woman in Red to pitch in on songwriting.

No matter, as Michael Jackson got wind of the whole thing via Quincy and asked if he could give Lionel a hand.

Richie and Jackson spent a whole week together working on the words and melody lines. It was Lionel who apparently knocked up a couple of melody lines while Michael sorted most of the lyrics.

Michael then turned their thereadbare outline into a fully-fledged demo.

"I love working quickly," Jackson was quoted as saying in Michael Jackson: The King of Pop. "I went ahead without even Lionel knowing.

"I couldn't wait. I went in and came out the same night with the song completed: drums, piano, strings, and words to the chorus."

Richie and Jackson then finished off the lyrics and melody on January 21, 1985, the night before the first recording session.

What is 'We Are the World' about?

Well, in one sense 'We Are The World' is "about" raising money for charity and awareness of the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia.

In a more literal sense the song is all about how togetherness and unity ("the world must come together as one"... "we are the world") can change the world ("we'll make a better day") with a little but of religion in there for good measures ("we are all a part of God's great big family").

And it clearly asked people to put their hands in their pockets to help those in need ("it's time to lend a hand to life"... "So let's start giving").

Which superstars appeared on 'We Are The World'?

Obviously you've got the song's writers Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie singing on the track, and it was produced by Quincy Jones with Michael Omartian.

The backing track was recorded by Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Quincy Jones with session players John 'JR' Robinson (drums), Louis Johnson (bass) and Greg Phillinganes (piano).

That trio may not be household names, but you've heard their work before. They goto together to play on 'Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough' for Michael Jackson's Off The Wall album.

Michael Jackson - Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough (Official Video - Upscaled)

Further instrumentation was added by Paulinho da Costa (percussion), co-producer Michael Omartian (keyboards), l John Barnes (keyboards), David Paich (synthesisers), and Michael Boddicker, Ian Underwood and Steve Porcaro (synthesisers and programming).

As for the singers, conducted by Quincy Jones, the following artists had a solo moment on 'We Are The World':

• Lionel Richie
• Stevie Wonder
• Paul Simon
• Kenny Rogers
• James Ingram
• Tina Turner
• Billy Joel
• Michael Jackson
• Diana Ross
• Dionne Warwick
• Willie Nelson
• Al Jarreau
• Bruce Springsteen
• Kenny Loggins
• Steve Perry
• Daryl Hall
• Huey Lewis
• Cyndi Lauper
• Kim Carnes
• Bob Dylan
• Ray Charles

Then there were those who joined in for the chorus:

• Dan Aykroyd
• Harry Belafonte
• Lindsey Buckingham
• Huey Lewis and the News (Mario Cipollina, Johnny Colla, Bill Gibson, Chris Hayes, Sean Hopper)
• Sheila E.
• Bob Geldof
• Jackie Jackson
• La Toya Jackson
• Marlon Jackson
• Randy Jackson
• Tito Jackson
• Waylon Jennings
• Bette Midler
• John Oates
• Jeffrey Osborne
• The Pointer Sisters (Anita, June and Ruth Pointer)
• Smokey Robinson

A big part of choosing the singers who appeared was simply who was available at relatively short notice.

A load of the singers came over straight from the American Music Awards ceremony that had been held that very night.

Who DIDN'T appear on 'We Are The World'?

Obviously despite that extensive guestlist, there were many, many artists around at the time who didn't appear.

None of the cast of Band Aid were involved... it would have seemed a bit silly to have people on both.

Bob Geldof did pop up in the studio for 'We Are The World', but not as a performer.

But there are some surprising absences.

Prince was originally going to be a key figure, exchanging phrases with Michael Jackson. For whatever reason, it didn't happen.

Eddie Murphy - Party All the Time

It's been claimed that Prince had personal issues with Geldof, or that the famously singular artist didn't want to record in a room with a bunch of other people.

"It was getting late, and I was looking forward to singing one of the verses, but they kept asking, 'Well you think you can get Prince here?'" Sheila E said in The Greatest Night in Pop.

"I'm like, wow, this is weird. I just started feeling like I feel like I'm being used to be here because they want Prince to show up and the longer they keep me, maybe Prince will show up."

Lionel Richie got on the phone to Prince on the night, and he did actually offer to lay down a guitar solo for the track, but they declined.

Instead, Prince contributed '4 the Tears in Your Eyes' to the We Are the World album.

While Dan Aykroyd was involved, Eddie Murphy (who once turned down the Winston role in Dan's Ghostbusters), rejected the pitch.

He was too busy recording his own Rick James-produced hit 'Party All The Time'. To be fair that song was a massive hit, only being kept of the top of the Billboard Hot 100 by 'Say You, Say Me', which was by USA For Africa's key figure Lionel Richie.

Still, when he realised what he'd missed out on, Murphy admitted he felt a little foolish.

For John Denver it was the opposite problem. He desperately wanted to contribute, but some involved in the project felt he simply wasn't cool enough.

"It broke my heart not to be included," Denver later revealed in his memoir.

Madonna - Into The Groove (Live Aid 1985)

One major omission for 1985 had to be Madonna.

It turns out that some of those behind the scenes thought that Madonna couldn't sing well enough (wrong) and that they had already ticked the box of a young female pop icon (ugh) by including Cyndi Lauper.

Years later, Richie admitted to CNN it was a mistake.

"We had to have voices that people knew right away... you have to have an identifiable voice," he said of the original decision. "And for whatever reason, Cyndi just had that."

As it went, Madonna was one of the standaouts at Live Aid later that year, though pointedly didn't join in with the USA For Africa live finale.

Other notable missing names were Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Aretha Franklin, Patti Labelle, Pat Benatar, Stevie Nicks (though/because Lindsey Buckingham was present?), Donna Summer, Deborah Harry and Barbara Streisand.

When was 'We Are The World' released and where did it get in the charts?

'We Are The World' was released on 7" and 12" single on March 7, 1985.

You might thing that the song would have flown straight to the number one spot, but the charts didn't really work like that in those days. It took just over a month to reach its peak on the top of the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number one on April 13, 1985.

It became the fastest-selling pop single in US history and easily the biggest selling single of the year, and of the decade.

'We Are The World' went quadruple Platinum with sales of over 8,000,000.

While 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' only got to number 13 in the US, over in the UK, 'We Are The World' topped the UK singles charts.

It has estimated global sales of over 20,000,000 copies in total. Over on Spotify, it has around 190,000,000 streams (and counting).

The song also opened the We Are the World album in extended form lengthened from the 6:22 single version to 7:02.

When has 'We Are The World' been performed live?

USA For Africa - We Are The World (Live Aid 1985)

Around 100 odd people (though not Madonna) squeezed on to the stage at John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to sing 'We Are The World' at Live Aid.

There's never been a rendition that's quite like it.

But a special gaggle of stars did perform the song at the inaugural celebration for then US President-elect Bill Clinton in January 1993 at the Lincoln Memorial, with Hillary and Chelsea joining in with Kenny Rogers, Diana Ross and Michael Jackson, and many others.

Michael Jackson Memorial - We are the World, Heal the World

Among the artists who have played the song solo, we have to mention its co-writer Michael Jackson.

He segued from 'We Are The World' into 'Heal The World' during his Dangerous and HIStory World tours, and included a snippet in his Super Bowl XXVII halftime show in 1993, as well as his last live 2006 World Music Awards in London.

The song was on the setlist for the ill-fated This IsIt comeback residency. Instead, there was a group singalong of the track at Jackson's memorial service.

What was 'We Are the World 25' for Haiti all about?

We Are The World 25 For Haiti - Official Video

Over in the UK we had Band Aid II, Band Aid 20 and Band Aid 30, as well as a fair few spinoffs and the Band Aid 40 megamix.

'We Are The World' hasn't been resurrected quite so many times, but in 2010 it was brought back as 'We Are the World 25' by Artists For Haiti - a new collective of over 80 artists who got together on February 1 to record the song, led once again by Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones.

Michael Jackson had died a year earlier, but material recorded from the 1985 original featuring him was included.

A Spanish version called 'Somos el Mundo' was recorded by a Latin supergroup, too.