Forty-Five Voices

By JAY COCKS

Harry Belafonte remembers seeing a television film of an Australian doctor working in Ethiopia, caring for a starving child and surrounded by thousands of others. The doctor said, "I do what I can and take it one at a time." Harry Belafonte thought, "We could also take it one at a time," and he picked up the phone.

Just over a month later, on the night of Jan. 28, 45 pop stars got together in a Los Angeles studio to record a simple anthem of compassion. The song, We Are the World, written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, featured, besides the vocal talents of Belafonte and its composers, the arranging prowess of Quincy Jones and the raised voices of some of the brightest names in the music business. Ray Charles. Bruce Springsteen. Willie Nelson. Cyndi Lauper. Billy Joel. Tina Turner. Kenny Rogers. Kim Carnes. Paul Simon. Diana Ross. Huey Lewis. Dionne Warwick. Bob Dylan. And keep counting.

Now, seven weeks after the session, the record has hit the stores and the airwaves, and shows strong indications of being the smash of the decade. At Tower Records' Sunset Boulevard store in West Hollywood, 1,000 copies were sold in two days. "A No. 1 single sells about 100 to 125 copies a week," explains Richard Petitpas, the store's singles buyer. "This is absolutely unheard of." Ken Barnes, editor of the trade magazine Radio & Records, says We Are the World was put on the air in its first week by 91% of the 256 radio stations that are regularly polled for the magazine's survey. "That is probably as close as we will ever get to 100%," he says. "It is very close to universal." Columbia Records, which is distributing the single, as well as the twelve-inch remix and album (due out April 1), shipped a half-million copies of the single on March 6; within six days, a million more had been shipped or ordered.

These lofty numbers have considerable emotional resonance. All profits from the record and its various offshoots will be turned over to USA (United Support of Artists) for Africa, a nonprofit foundation that will funnel funds through established relief agencies. Columbia is contributing its net proceeds, and the singers showed up for no salary. Ken Kragen, a personal manager whose clients include Kenny Rogers and Lionel Richie, was one of the first people Harry Belafonte called. It was Kragen who suggested making the sort of record that British rockers had released on behalf of Ethiopian relief during the holiday season, Do They Know It's Christmas? Kragen calculates, conservatively, that USA for Africa could pull in $50 million. But, he cautions, "more than a billion dollars is needed just to feed people in Africa this year."

The apportionment of the USA for Africa proceeds has already been carefully worked out. The first 35% will go to 13 African countries for immediate relief, with special emphasis on medical aid; an equal portion will be put toward farm and water supply and general agricultural improvement; 20% will be earmarked for "long-term economic development programs"; and the final 10% --at Stevie Wonder's suggestion--will be contributed to relieve hunger and homelessness in the U.S. Says Quincy Jones: "A song is a small price for somebody's life."

Still, this was a gathering of performers, not a religious retreat, and a certain amount of savvy was required. Michael Jackson, flu-ridden, was not in prime shape for a writing session with Richie. Jones listened sympathetically to his complaint, then said simply, "What time do you want to see Lionel?" Replied Jackson: "Ten o'clock." Once the song was written and everyone was in the studio, Jones did the chorus work first, then went for the solos. "I knew no one would leave for those," he laughs. "But they might leave for the choir part."

The video turns out to be more moving than the song, in part because the tune itself is a pretty fragile vehicle, and in part because what is most touching about We Are the World is not simply the choir, but the sense of communion. Musicians from rival factions of the business are seen putting aside differences of style and temperament and coming together to share and spread a little decency. "Many of them had just been together at the American Music Awards," says Belafonte, "but that was competition, narcissistic and self- possessed. The session really purified them." Says Kenny Rogers: "There is no question that this is the single most important thing I have ever done." And Quincy Jones admits, "I had goose bumps all night long." The song is sappy and overextended, but go ahead and tell that to the teenagers who are buying five copies at a time at Tower Records, then giving them to their friends on condition they each go out and buy five more. Go ahead. Tell them. Then buy a record.

With reporting by Denise Worrell/Los Angeles