Secrets Radio Dxing Dave Ingram
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“We Are The World” Shows Community Unity: The Good… On April 5, 1985, 5,000 radio stations throughout Africa, North America, Asia, China, and Europe simultaneously played “We Are the World,” a song that was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie. The song was produced by the legendary Quincy Jones and revolved around a simple idea: to unite American recording artists and aid raise cash for the poor and less fortunate famine relief victims in one of Africa’s most remarkable lands, Ethiopia. This kind gesture was initialized by Calypso music legend, Harry Belafonte, who firstborn contacted the head of the United Support of Artists for Africa foundation, Ken Kragen. Kragen then reached out to Lionel Richie, whose wife passed the idea on to Stevie Wonder the following day. Then music’s best, Quincy Jones, signed on as producer and brought in Michael Jackson. The rest is history. As America’s “We Are the World” propelled up Billboard’s charts, the other songs on the top five singles list were “One More Night” by Phil Collins, “Crazy for You” and “Material Girl” by Madonna, and “Nightshift” by The Commodores. The “We Are The World” song was recorded on January 28, 1985 on the evening of the American Music Awards, which was a smart way to guarantee that the top recording acts would be present. Sure enough, others speedily followed suit, and before long, the list of supporting acts had grown to include over three dozen celebrities such as: Dan Aykroyd Jackie Jackson Cyndi Lauper Kenny Rogers Harry Belafonte LaToya Jackson Kenny Loggins Diana Ross Lindsay Buckingham Marlon Jackson Bette Midler Paul Simon Kim Carnes Michael Jackson Willie Nelson Bruce Springsteen Ray Charles Randy Jackson John Oates Tina Turner Bob Dylan Tito Jackson Jeffrey Osborne Dionne Warwick Sheila E. Al Jarreau Steve Perry Stevie Wonder Bob Geldof Waylon Jennings The Pointer Sisters Huey Lewis Darryl Hall Billy Joel Lionel Richie & James Ingram Quincy Jones Smokey Robinson The News CBS Records’ Columbia and Epic labels had the bulk of contributing artists. The song’s opening formulated from a basic raw phrase, and then it is chorus evolved into an international anthem of the world. Dropping the music down was the primary phase of production. They accomplished this at the studio by capturing the instrumental performances of musicians into the studio’s multi-track recording system. The lyrics were later added to the instrumental as the song progressed. Producer Quincy Jones turned three days of pre-production work with Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson into a recording session of less than three hours, by advising artists in advance to “check their egos at the door.” As this unforgettable recording session transpired, the performers did their parts, leaving Richie and Jones in the studio tightening up the track until the following morning. Recorded in Hollywood’s A&M Studios, all of the artists were arranged choir-style with a half-dozen microphones in place for the song’s chorus. In a little over a month after it is recording, “We Are the World” arrived in stores. Needless to say, Harry Belafonte’s dream parlayed itself into a music industry phenomenon when amidst Thursday, March 7 and Sunday March 10, 1985, over 800,000 copies were sold. Entering the Billboard singles chart at #21, it became the fastest-rising Billboard #1 single in 10 years. In less than a decade, the Commodores’ front man Lionel Richie scored his eighth #1 single by writing “We Are the World.” Although a fierce bidding war for the release of the record in all likelihood took place among record companies like Motown (Lionel Richie’s label) and Epic (Michael Jackson’s), Columbia Records won out; it was Epic’s sister company, and a division of CBS Records (part of the CBS conglomerate). To comprehend the signification of the bidding wars, just figure in the economics. By the new decade, CBS would go on to be sold to the Sony Corporation for $2 billion. Sony recouped it is investment within a year thanks to chart-topping hits by acts like Mariah Carey, Luther Vandross, Jermaine Dupri’s So So Def releases…and Michael Jackson, likewise known to a great deal of as the ‘King of Pop.’ By mid-May, Columbia staged a check to the United Support of Artists for Africa Foundation in the amount of $6.5 million, which was only two months after the initial release date. Additional sales netted more than 7 million singles and almost 4.5 million albums. Within a year, media and product sales generated over $40 million. Though “We Are the World” wasn’t first, it was America’s version of the United Kingdom’s “Band Aid.” The key here is that each release brought light to the issue of starving Africans doing whatsoever they could to cling onto life. But today, does it is affect carry on to make a difference? Would there still be widespread social issues like these? I’m curious how a good deal of humans have answers to these questions. BAND AID Like I just pointed out, the “We Are the World” conglomeration was an American form of the UK’s “Band Aid,” a project that started out it is recording phase various months prior to America’s efforts, on November 25th 1984. “Band Aid” was freed on December 3rd, just in time to cash in on holiday music sales. It’s no mystery that most of the industry’s merchandise are sold around the holiday season. “Band Aid” was a premier musical fundraising project that assisted the needy persons in Africa. It featured performances that came from almost four dozen largely British recording artists and makers including Midge Ure (Ultravox), who composed the melody and music tracks to the lyrics of Boomtown Rats fellow member and event organizer, Bob Geldof. Also in the lineup were Duran Duran, Sting, Paul Young, and The Culture Club’s Boy George. Other British acts signed up, and a few American recording artists popped up too–like Jody Watley, formerly of R&B group Shalamar and Kool & The Gang members Robert ‘Kool’ Bell, James ‘JT’ Taylor, and Dennis Taylor. There was a void of any major American Pop/Rock artists, thence initiating the U.S.A. for Africa’s “We Are the World.” Band Aid’s ensemble of recording artists performed a touching song called “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” This inspirational composition reminded galore of their blessings at a poignant time of the year. Project organizer Bob Geldof must have been proud to see the fruits of his labor turn into sales of over 3 million copies in Britain, making it the biggest-selling single at that time. With sales of one million units in the primary week alone, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” assumed the position of being the fastest-selling single of all time in the U.K. Another case of famine hit Ethiopia in 1989 that led to another outreach of love by empathetic British music people: “Band Aid II.” Produced by the hit-making Stock Aitken Waterman, a part of the 17 acts included: Bananarama The Bros Cathy Denis Kylie Minogue The Pasadenas Chris Rea Cliff Richard Lisa Stansfield Technotronic These artists and others banded together with the hope of putting a lid on reoccurring monstrosities such as starvation and poverty in Africa. Despite these splendid efforts, today there are still folks that contemplate among themselves: do events such as “Band Aid” or “Band Aid II” proceed to hold an affect some 15 years (“Band Aid II”) and 20 years (“Band Aid”) after the fact? Was it all still influential by the November 2004 release of “Band Aid 20″ (a gain for famine relief in Sudan’s Darfur region) and 2005′s ‘Group of 8′ or ‘G-8′ superpower 3-day summit meetings in Scotland? As far as which event generated the most impact, the jury is still out. Unfortunately, the high-level ‘G-8′ meetings shifted focus, even though briefly away from the positivism of “Band Aid 20″ due to terrorist bomb attacks in London. Remarkably, the show went on with simultaneous broadcast of artists’ performances from around the world. The CD version quickly sold 200,000 copies…it included the fastest-selling single of the year on it. Over two dozen international artists united including Bob Geldof (he gets around), U2′s Bono (a long-time activist), Dido, Nigel Godrich, Chris Martin, and Ultravox’s Midge Ure–another key player in the program. Let’s get a quick glimpse of a few other ‘intentional acts of kindness’ that the music community collectively made towards solving dilemmas like cancer, America’s impoverished farming industry, and famine in Africa. We’ll take a close look at how fragile the gift of life may genuinely be in this unruly continent, then we’ll be on our way deep into it is villages to see up close and personal what the ’411′ is on African tribal music and the persons that made it, in the motherland. Similar projects to “We Are the World” and “Band Aid” made their way to the music market including “Live for Life” and “Farm Aid,” the latter being an annual event spearheaded by country music icon Willie Nelson. Kicked off in September of 1985 in Champagne, Illinois, this fundraising event included the peoples’ own John Mellencamp, who busted onto the music scene in the early 80s with a ‘Cougar’ scratched in amongst his introductory and last names. He also wrote “a little diddy in regards to Jack and Diane”–a song with regards to attempting to make it in the heartland. Estimates indicate this fundraiser generated over $20 million for farmers in America by showcasing a live concert and studio tracks. The goal of “Farm Aid” was to help keep creditors from foreclosing on family-owned farms. An various music lineup included Country, Blues and Rock performances by the likes of Neil Young and Dave Matthews. This event was commemorated in 2005 with a 20 year anniversary concert held in Tinley Park, Illinois. Between the very firstborn concert and this one, annual events took place in cities as diverse as Austin (Texas), Columbus (Ohio), Lincoln (Nebraska) and even in America’s heartland of Indiana and Iowa. Additional cities like New Orleans, Seattle, and Virginia likewise contributed by hosting some of these gain concerts. The intention of the “Live for Life” album was to raise funds for cancer preventative action and treatment. It was freed on I.R.S. Records in 1986, and circulated by MCA Records. Executive producer Miles Copeland supervised the project; other great names on the album included Ian and Stewart Copeland, Bob Marley (who ironically passed away of the disease May 5, 1981), R.E.M., The Alarm, General Public, Sting, The Bangles, Oingo Boingo, The Go-Go’s, Squeeze, and Derek Holt. Over the subsequent years to come and into the new millennium, galore music releases followed analogous paths to address urgent medical issues. In 2001, fashion maverick Chuck Navasky and Radio Records freed “One Less Tear–Brothers & Sisters United In The Fight Against Cancer,” featuring songs by a widely assorted list of artists and celebrities including: Nellie Briles Trevor Johnson Ricochet Carol Chase C. Danny Lewis Eric Rigler Robin Cole Ryan Marshall Dale Russell Coppola Tia McGraff Hal Schaefer Tony Curtis Olivia Newton-John Kevin Sharp Dawn Vince Neil Mark Slaughter Cahal Dunne Wesley Oliver Gabriella Weiser L.C. Greenwood Jim Peterick Stacey Woodson Ken Griffey, Sr. Cathy Richardson Donnie/Johnny Van Zant Other luminaries jumped on the bandwagon. Here’s the beauty of this project to me: some gifted persons committed their time to help in assembling a genuinely inspirational music CD. All proceeds from the CD were donated to cancer research. Some good persons stepped up for this mission to help battle a bad disease. It was the right thing to do, and so was another previous, multi-cultural musical event: the 1985 crusade of “Live Aid” concerts that assisted in reducing the catastrophic famine in Ethiopia for the duration of the mid 80s. The “Live Aid” event was broadcasted from London, England, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It featured an all-star lineup that showcased 16 hours of performances by 60 acts. Unfortunately, reports surfaced that not all of the funding went for good. Some donations were diverted to finance the operations of a dictator who applied the cash to reclaim land, causing an approximated 100,000 people to lose their lives. We ought to always stay mindful when big amounts of cash are given to seemingly innocent people through the Internet. Fraud happens! Donations will have to be well thought out and require the utmost attention before possible victims dig into their bank accounts to give away money. Widespread Internet fraud has been used to aid terrorists in Nigeria and other regions of the world. This happens in much the same way that other Internet ‘spammers and scammers’ undertake to distinguished people from their money. Regardless of the few negative distinct features that tagged along, socially uplifting projects such as “We Are The World,” “Band Aid,” “Live for Life,” “Farm Aid,” and “One Less Tear–Brothers & Sisters United In The Fight Against Cancer” all displayed the power of good humans uniting for a suitable cause. As for the “Live Aid” event, organizer Bob Geldof was determined to make a difference, and that’s what he did by orchestrating events of this magnitude. Coinciding with the 2005 three day ‘G-8′ superpower summit in Scotland around America’s July 4th Independence Day celebration, the 20th anniversary of “Live Aid” held global fundraisers to reduce poverty in Africa. This summit gathered leaders of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful nations to play golf, eat costly food, drink some bubbly, and be merry (well, possibly not in that order). Some time was likewise allotted to ponder the issues that affected the ‘have mores’ (capitalism), the ‘have-nots’ (3rd world famine, poverty), and both groups (health, terrorism, international warming and weather conditions). The G-8 summit purposed to address these necessary issues and undertake to come up with a scheme to manage them. As cited before, a momentary lapse of reason caused the focus of this high-powered convention to be diverted as a series of terrorist bomb attacks raised mayhem allround London. The benediction here is that each event (the G-8 summit and concerts) still happened, thereby sending a message to terrorists state emphatically and authoritatively “we may be scarred, but we’re not scared.” British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s proposal to eliminate the debt of the world’s poorest countries was a grand plan to pitch at the summit. It included proposals to double developmental aid to Africa with the hope of giving it a authenti prospect at world trade in a global market. This all sounded good because it alerted everyone as to how much complex mental states actually have changed since the 1500s United Kingdom society. The last time a summit like this took place was in 1998 and it was hosted by the aforementioned British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Birmingham, England. On the same days that politicians performed lip-service for the people and the press at the G-8 meetings, innumerable musicians were delivering awful performances simultaneously, through multiple broadcasts from opposite hemispheres. Since it is 1975 inception in France, the summit meetings have taken place in dissimilar emplacements around the world. Canada joined in 1976 and by 1998, Russia came on board. Concerts in support of the 2005 landmark event were kept in Berlin, Canada, Johannesburg, London, Moscow, Paris, Philadelphia, Rome and Tokyo. Some of the superstars featured allround the years included U2′s Bono, Mariah Carey, Run-DMC’s DMC, The Who’s Roger Daltrey, Destiny’s Child, Duran Duran, Faith Hill, Madonna, Paul McCartney, Will Smith, Sting and Stevie Wonder. It even brought out Microsoft’s Bill Gates. Bill brought his band XDP (Xtreme Deep Pockets), and did a cover version of Pink Floyd’s “Money.” Just kidding folks! From time to time, I have to make sure you’re paying attention. Back on a severe note, the presence of Bill Gates put his philanthropic side in plain view to the masses…and humans were taking notes. |
