Tina Turner achieved a lot in her 50-year profession that her presence on the all-star charity single “We Are the World” didn’t get a variety of consideration following her demise on Wednesday at age 83. However she was a featured vocalist on that high-profile single, which was recorded at A&M Studios in Hollywood on Jan. 28, 1985 – proper after that yr’s American Music Awards.
Turner was the primary feminine voice listeners heard on the recording by a collective of 44 singers (21 featured vocalists and 23 further artists within the refrain) dubbed USA for Africa (brief for United Assist of Artists for Africa). The smash logged 4 weeks atop the Billboard Sizzling 100 in April and Could 1985. It gained the Grammy for document of the yr in February 1986, one yr after Turner gained in that marquee class for her comeback smash “What’s Love Obtained to Do With It.”
With Turner’s demise, only one month after the demise of musician and activist Harry Belafonte — who was the principle driving pressure behind “We Are the World” — 10 of the singers on the smash have handed on. The primary to die was Waylon Jennings in 2002, adopted by Ray Charles in 2004 and June Pointer of The Pointer Sisters in 2006.
Michael Jackson, who co-wrote the music with Lionel Richie and was featured on the recording, died in 2009, adopted by Al Jarreau in 2017, James Ingram in 2019 and Kenny Rogers in 2020. Rogers was managed in his 1980s heyday by Ken Kragen, who Belafonte enlisted to convey the imaginative and prescient to life. Kragen died in 2021.
Anita Pointer of The Pointer Sisters died in December 2022, adopted by Belafonte on April 25, and now Turner.
Jackson and Richie gained Grammys for music of the yr for co-writing the music, however not one of the artists on the recording had been awarded Grammys. The Recording Academy elected to provide the document of the yr prize, and one other the recording gained – greatest pop efficiency by a duo or group with vocal – solely to the only’s producer, Quincy Jones. Jones gained a 3rd Grammy on the night time as video producer of “We Are the World – The Video Occasion,” which gained greatest music video, brief kind. (The video director, Tom Trbovich, additionally gained in that class).
Jones and Richie are nonetheless residing, as are a lot of the different members. The opposite singers on the document included: Stevie Surprise, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Steve Perry, Cyndi Lauper, Kim Carnes, Bob Dylan, Lindsey Buckingham, Sheila E., Jeffrey Osborne, Smokey Robinson, Ruth Pointer of The Pointer Sisters and Daryl Corridor and John Oates.
Additionally: Huey Lewis and 5 previous or current members of his band, The Information; Dan Aykroyd and Bette Midler, who had co-hosted the primary MTV Video Music Awards in September 1984; Bob Geldof, the driving pressure behind the 1984 U.Ok. charity single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?,” which impressed this American response; and 5 of Jackson’s siblings – however not Janet, who broke by means of with Management the next yr.
