Posted on 02/02/2010 11:13:51 AM PST by SkyPilot
The charity anthem "We Are the World" has been rerecorded by 80 artists who came together in the same Hollywood studio where the original was cut 25 years ago.
Pink, Natalie Cole, Kanye West, Jennifer Hudson, Celine Dion, Brian Wilson and others stood shoulder-to-shoulder on risers at Henson Recording studios Monday night to raise money for Haiti earthquake relief.
"This one, the enthusiasm, I've never seen anything like it," said Lionel Richie, who wrote the original with Michael Jackson and oversaw the new version with music mogul Quincy Jones, 76.
Jones, who produced the 1985 anthem, announced last week that he planned to redo the song to benefit recovery efforts after the devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti on Jan. 12.
"We Are the World - 25 for Haiti" will premiere this month during coverage of the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics on NBC, according to a release from promoter AEG Live.
On Monday, stars converged on Studio A in the afternoon and stayed several hours. Richie and Jones worked with a select number of soloists, including Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger, later into the night.
At one point during a break, the musicians broke out into an a cappella version of "Lean on Me," a classic moment jump-started by singer Melanie Fiona leaning on another artist because her feet were tired.
Gesturing with her hands, and shifting her headphones from ear to ear, Barbra Streisand recorded her solo over and over, completely absorbed in the recording process and stopping only to correct her pitch.
Later, a who's who of rappers, including Snoop Dogg, LL Cool J and Wyclef Jean, recorded an interlude written by Black Eyed Peas frontman and producer will.i.am.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.myway.com ...
There's a real good reason for that.
It was meant as an all-British fundraiser for Africa. There weren't any American acts because that wasn't who was doing it. "We Are The World" was the American response to "Do They Know It's Christmas".
As Benny Hill would say, "Well done....and you will be."
“Can you name the one American act that was represented at “Do They Know It’s Christmas”?
Kool and the Gang!!!!!
I remember MTV reporting this back in the day.....someone from Shalamar was their also, though I don’t remember who.
It’s far more than a “pretentious ego fest” and much more self-serving.
It is my understanding (confirmed by several CPAs and tax professionals, but feel free to correct me if I am in error) that when celebrities perform pro bono like this, they are allowed to take the fair market value of their performance, expressed as what they would normally earn from royalties, as a tax deduction.
Long story short, if they appear in one of those “live aid” type of shows, or cut a recording such as this one, it negates a huge portion of their income, leaving them free to excoriate the rest of us peons for not coughing up our “fair share.”
Hypocrisy in Action.
Sadly, I can hit about 98% of them.
Gen X ‘Mander
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzw6GiqZyD0
Observations:
The faces Kenny Rogers and Bruuuuuuuuce make are effing hysterical.
Steve Perry sure could sing.
Bob Dylan [still] could not.
Trivia question:
Which of the women did Gene Simmons nail?
[and “All of them” is *not* the correct answer]
In a 1980 interview John Lennon (who did not participate in the concert for Bangladesh) opined that benefits are "always rip-offs" and regarding the question where the money from the Bangladesh concert went, commented: "I can't even talk about it, because it's still a problem. You'll have to check with Mother [Yoko], because she knows the ins and outs of it, I don't. But it's all a rip-off."
But it is a good publicity stunt.
How about donating a spare car or home to an auction instead?
Morning Aunt B.
Yeah, I did the Hands Across America thing. It was just the dumbest damn thing but at the time I thought my halo would blind.
Also the “We are the World” thing...I heard that the proceeds from that thing went nowhere near anyone who needed it.
It was all publicity, nothing more, and I’ll bet every one of you that any money from this fame fest won’t go to anyone in Haiti besides the corrupt gubmint who will then send the normal payment to the CBC.
Someday the truth will come out but don’t count on our loyal opposition party to let it out.
What...you think McCain knew nothing about the Dodd/Frank thing giving mortgages to the undeserving? You think those pubs knew nothing about Charlie Rangel, the dictators the CBC so loves?
Bah humbug...forgive me for going on.
I wonder how many celebrities count work like this as “community service” to work off court mandated hours?
The premise of the film is that, sometime in the then-near future (1998), the USA has run out of oil, and many Americans are literally living in their (now stationary) cars and either jog or ride bicycles to travel. The federal government, housed in "The Western White House" (a sub-leased condominium in Marina del Rey, California), is near national bankruptcy and in danger of being foreclosed by a cartel of Native Americans in control of Nike (which has been renamed "National Indian Knitting Enterprise"). President Chet Roosevelt (John Ritter) hires television consultant Eric McMerkin (Peter Riegert) to help produce a national raffle. Instead, they decide that the only way enough money can be raised to save America is to run a telethon, and hire TV celebrity Monty Rushmore (Harvey Korman) to host it.
Maybe he was channeling Screamin' Jay Hawkins...
Cher and Diana Ross?
You know, anyone of the has enough money to just donate without all the fanfare and drawing attention to themselves.
This sort of thing from the celebrities makes me sick. They go on and put on a show, instead of getting out there themselves and getting their hands dirty helping people.
I refuse to watch it or participate in any way and will make my opinion known to anyone who brings it up.
I only recognize the blind guy in the front row and have gone blank on his name.....
Me, too.
Although, after reading the names, it is Stevie Wonder that I recognized.
They were both just terrible.
Wondering about the "Everybody Hurts" remake that's being done for Haiti. I can see that being decent. Hopefully. But redoing We Are The World seems painfully stupid.
Musically, the best multistar benefit song of the era was the kick-ass "Sun City" one put together by Steve Van Zandt.
Totally agree! I forgot all about that. But I had it. (As opposed to the aforementioned... lol.)
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