We Are The World - Michael Jackson Lionel Richie Cindy Lauper Steve Wonder & Other

Run time: 07:11 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzw6GiqZyD0   Posted on YouTube: February 03, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: June 26, 2009 By DU Member: indimuse Views on DU: 3235

 
Say it! God bless.

make songs like this anymore! Still makes me cry. What a collaboration..

I was sitting here by myself just sobbing away.

:hug: 4 U...

It's the most fantastic collaborations in history. That number of great artists together in the same room was never done before or since.

I hadn't seen this for so long and somewhere around here is my shirt that I got for my donation. What a great effort and how cool to see all of them from that time. I guess we all got older.

This was one of the first songs that came to mind this morning when I heard the Very Sad news..

Thx. :hug:

back to my attention...
What an amazing group of talents...

(and they all look so young...
Paul Simon looks like a baby!)

:applause: IMHO, it's the crown jewel of musical productions ... an ensemble of talent head and shoulders above all others.

You have 20 or so very unique voices and big egos and they were able to string them together and sound great. It shocks me that they could make a choir out of those people.

And according to Wikipedia, see my post downthread) there were almost 40 voices. Pretty amazing. It's caused me a major earworm today, but it was worth it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Are_the_World

Solos (in order of appearance)

* 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

Extras

* Dan Aykroyd
* Harry Belafonte
* Lindsey Buckingham
* The News
* Sheila E.
* Bob Geldof
* Jackie Jackson
* LaToya Jackson
* Marlon Jackson
* Randy Jackson
* Tito Jackson
* Waylon Jennings
* Bette Midler
* John Oates
* Jeffrey Osborne
* The Pointer Sisters
* Smokey

John Denver, who had been actively campaigning against world hunger in the 1980s, had offered to participate in the recording, but was turned down. According to Ken Kragen, (who helped to produce the song), the reason John Denver was turned down, was due to the fact several people felt his image would hurt the credibility of the song. <4> Linda Ronstadt missed the session due to a bout of the flu, and Pat Benatar was not available due to her pregnancy, since there was concern the bright lights and number of people in the studio would not have made it feasible for her to be present in the studio. Madonna was asked to take part in the recording but turned down the request. Although Michael Jackson and most of his brothers were at the recording, sister Janet, who would have her first hit album a year later, and oldest sister Rebbie were not. The middle Jackson sister, LaToya, did participate. Also, brother Jermaine was the only Jackson brother who did not attend the recording.



Thank you so much for posting the link. What a tribute to Michael's influence (and of course, the incomparable Quincy Jones) to get so many on board for this.

:applause: :applause: :applause:

The BEST of the BEST!

I had the great pleasure to be one of the camera operators on this shoot, and it was truly remarkable. First off, it was the only time there was that much talent in front of and behind the cameras, working for free. All those "charity" events you see on tv, almost everyone is getting paid, but the upfront agreement with this shoot was NO ONE would get a dime; everything was for the USA for Africa fight against hunger in Africa. And the earlier poster was right; all egos were checked at the door. Everyone was beautiful.

Now a personal story. A couple days after the event, I got a call from the producers; Michael Jackson wanted to do over part of his solo, and could I possibly give them another day of my time? No problem.

That's when that early shot of Michael was taped, where the camera starts on his shoes and tilts up past the gloved hand to his face. You have to remember this was early solo Michael, so he wasn't yet totally comfortable being on his own. We did a couple of takes, and Michael would ask the people in the booth, "How was it?" Of course all he heard was a chorus of, "Fabulous Michael" "Great Michael!" Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss. But I didn't think so.

Michael was wearing those big, black aviator sunglasses, and they were bugging me from the shoot the other night, and so I said to Michael, "You know, Michael, I truly love this song, it's so moving and beautiful, but I can't see a thing that's going on in your eyes behind those sunglasses. Sorry, but it just bothers me." What were they going to do, fire me? I wasn't getting paid, so I felt I ought to at least express my opinion, and those damn sunglasses bothered me. Now, I understand that Michael was hiding behind those sunglasses, but I felt it was time for him to maybe come out and let us see him for who he was; a truly caring individual. And no one else in the video was wearing sunglasses except Ray Charles, of course), so why should he?

The hangers-on in the control booth were aghast, and I could hear the moaning, but much to my surprise, Michael slowly removed the glasses and indicated he was ready for another take, even though it was going to be painful for him. So what you see in the video is that final take sans sunglasses, and from that time forward, Michael went on with his meteoric career, without sunglasses.

I'll leave it to you to draw your own moral to this story. I have mine. And by the way, the incident didn't hurt my career any.

So long Michael, you were very special and we will all miss you.

sharing this precious memory! :)