Now while we don’t normally report on musical goings-on here at the Sewer unless they pertain to movies, this is a story that’s too timely, too pop culture-significant…and too easy to potentially take a swipe at…to overlook. Showbiz 411 is reporting that uber-producer Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie are going to gather a new posse of musical types to do a 25th Anniversary redux of We Are The World to benefit the earthquake victims of Haiti on Feb. 1st during Grammy Week at the Nokia Theatre.
For those of you who are skirting the target demographic of, say, Twilight or Hannah Montana, back in the Stone Age (i.e. the ’80s), Jones, Richie and Michael Jackson gathered a veritable army of performers relevant in the day to record the benefit song to help out starving people in Africa, most notably Ethiopia. Stevie Wonder reportedly said that after the project was done, he and Ray Charles would drive everyone home. The rogues gallery of talent included the following:
- 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
Now this was, and will be again, a noble effort to aid those who have had to suffer an unimaginable devastation. And I sincerely hope that piles of money are raised and delivered to the Haitian people, who desperately need it. There’s nothing to make light of there.
That being said, have you ever watched the original music video? It’s still priceless: