Album Summary

We Are The World is a 1985 album that contains USA For Africa's We Are The World, a superstar charity recording for famine relief efforts in Ethiopia. The album was released on April 23, 1985, by Columbia Records.

In addition to the title track, the album includes nine previously unreleased songs by donating artists, including Prince, Steve Perry, Chicago, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Tina Turner and others.

The album also includes another famine relief fundraising song, Tears Are Not Enough, which was performed by Canadian supergroup Northern Lights.

Prince and The Revolution recorded 4 The Tears In Your Eyes for the album. A rare live version of the song, done for Live Aid, was included on Prince's The Hits / The B-Sides compilation albums.

Chicago's contribution, Good For Nothing, would be the last single released with bass player Peter Cetera's lead vocals before he left the band. It was later included on the band's comprehensive 2003 compilation, The Box.

The album was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1986.

We Are The World - The Song

We Are The World is a charity single originally recorded by the supergroup USA For Africa in 1985. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian for the album We Are The World. With sales in excess of 20 million copies, it is the eighth-bestselling physical single of all time.

Soon after the UK-based group Band Aid released Do They Know It's Christmas? in December 1984, the musician and activist Harry Belafonte began to think about an American benefit single for African famine relief. He enlisted fundraiser Ken Kragen to help bring the vision to reality. The duo contacted several musicians, and enlisted Jackson and Richie to write the song; they completed the writing seven weeks after the release of Do They Know It's Christmas?, and only one night before We Are The World's first recording session, on January 21, 1985. The historic event brought together some of the era's best-known musicians. Those involved with the recording are listed below...

Conductor

• Quincy Jones

Instrumentalists

• John Barnes – keyboards & arrangement

• David Paich – synthesizers

• Michael Boddicker – synthesizers, programming

• Ian Underwood - synthesizers, programming

• Paulinho da Costa – percussion

• Louis Johnson – synth bass

• Michael Omartian – keyboards

• Greg Phillinganes – keyboards

• John Robinson – drums

The song was released on March 7, 1985, as the first single from the album by Columbia Records. A worldwide commercial success, it topped music charts throughout the world and became the fastest-selling U.S. pop single in history. We Are The World received a 4x Platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America, becoming the first single to be certified multi-platinum.

Awarded numerous honors—including four Grammy Awards, one American Music Award, and a People's Choice Award—the song was promoted with a music video, a VHS, a special edition magazine, a simulcast, and several books, posters, and shirts. The promotion and merchandise helped We Are The World raise more than $63 million (equivalent to $178 million today) for humanitarian aid in Africa and the United States.

In January 2010, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake devastated Haiti, leading another all-star cast of singers to remake the song. Titled We Are The World 25 for Haiti, it was released as a single on February 12, 2010; proceeds from the record aided survivors in the impoverished country.

In March 2020, Richie suggested that a third version should be made to communicate a message of global solidarity during the COVID-19 pandemic and raise funds for aid efforts.