Screenshot
Turner was the first female voice heard on the recording by a collective of 44 singers (21 featured singers and 23 additional artists in the chorus) dubbed USA for Africa (short for United Support of Artists for Africa). The smash logged four weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in April and May 1985. It won the Grammy for Record of the Year in February 1986, a year after Turner claimed victory in that category for his comeback “What’s Love Got to Do With It”. .”
With Turner’s death, just a month after the death of musician and activist Harry Belafonte – who was the main driving force behind “We Are the World” – 10 of the smash singers have died. The first to die was Waylon Jennings in 2002, followed by Ray Charles in 2004 and June Pointer of the Pointer Sisters in 2006.
Michael Jackson, who co-wrote the song with Lionel Richie and was featured on the recording, died in 2009, followed by Al Jarreau in 2017, James Ingram in 2019 and Kenny Rogers in 2020. Rogers was directed to its 1980s heyday by Ken Kragen. , whom Belafonte enlisted to bring the vision to life. Kragen died in 2021.
Anita Pointer of the Pointer Sisters died in December 2022, followed by Belafonte on April 25 and now Turner.
Jackson and Richie won Grammys for Song of the Year for co-writing the song, but neither recording artist received Grammys. The Recording Academy chose to award record of the year, and another winning recording – best pop performance by a duo or group with vocals – solely to the single’s producer, Quincy Jones. Jones won a third Grammy on the night as video producer for “We Are the World – The Video Event,” which won Best Music Video, Short Form. (Video director Tom Trbovich also won in this category).
Jones and Richie are still alive, like most of the other participants. Other singers on the record were: Stevie Wonder, 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 Hall and John Oates.
Also: Huey Lewis and five former or current members of his band, The News; Dan Aykroyd and Bette Midler, who co-hosted the first MTV Video Music Awards in September 1984; Bob Geldof, the driving force behind the 1984 UK charity single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” which inspired this American response; and five of Jackson’s siblings – but not Janet, who broke through with Control the next year.
