There’s no question that superstars like Usher, who has proudly patterned his Hall of Fame-worthy career after Michael Jackson, was seduced into rerecording “We Are the World” because of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to record the King of Pop’s most successful song.
There’s also little doubt that Jackson’s collaborators on the record-breaking single, Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie, invoked the memory of the transcendent megastar as a powerful emotional enticer to ensure maximum participation in “We Are the World 25 for Haiti.” It’s no accident or coincidence that the participants in Jackson’s poignant tribute at the 52nd Grammy Awards in Los Angeles — Usher, Celine Dion and Jennifer Hudson — were also on hand at the Nokia Theater along with Jones and Richie.
But was the late legend merely a pawn in a carefully calculated campaign to attract global media attention, pique the interest of today’s music stars and ensure that fans go out and purchase the song? Or was it merely paying homage to an iconic performer who penned a song that touched off a universal campaign of giving to eradicate famine in Ethiopia?
Jackson, who ironically and tragically died mere months before the recording and release of “We Are the World 25 for Haiti,” cast a large shadow over the proceedings. The co-writer for the original 1985 song died June 25, 2009, from acute medicinal poisoning.
Originally, co-writer Lionel Richie and the song’s producer, Quincy Jones, had planned to release the song under the title “Live 25.” But following the devastating 7.0 earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the two said the song should be rerecorded by a new generation of stars.
It is unclear if Richie and Jones ever consulted with Jackson before his death about the song’s 25th anniversary or if he would have participated in promoting the song. The two doubtlessly leveraged the extremely powerful allure of performing a song that was written and performed by one of music’s greatest stars when asking current stars to rerecord the single.
As of 2009, “We Are the World” has sold more than 20 million units and raised more than $63 million for humanitarian aid in African and the United States. There is little doubt that the efforts of USA for Africa, the one-time group comprised of the ‘80s biggest music stars, would have been nearly as successful without Jackson’s input. Furthermore, there’s no way that Michael’s superstar sister, Janet, or his mother, Katherine, would have signed off on this if they believed in any way that MJ’s image was misused. Janet, as we know, taped her collaboration with Michael’s original vocals from a remote site in Atlanta while filming the Tyler Perry film, Why Did I Get Married Too?
The incorporation of Jackson’s original part in the “We Are the World” remake seems to be an appropriate tribute and send-off to a man who gave so much and left too soon.
–terry shropshire
