Bloomington High School South, The Gothic, 1985, Page 19

Description:	Miscellaneous, etc.Stars turn popularity into food for hungryRecording starsturned their popularityinto power in 1985,raising money to aidthe hungry in Africaand other countries.Proceeds fromrecords made by groupsof stars from theUnited States, Canada,and Latin America, inareas from gospel toheavy metal, are goingto feed the hungry andhomeless in famine-stricken Ethiopia andelsewhere. Benefitconcerts by other pop,jazz, and classicalmusicians are beingorganized.A group of Britishpop stars, known asBand Aid, started thetrend with its single,Do They Know ItsChristmas? Therecord raised millons ofpounds for Africanvictims of famine, andwas a No. 1 single inBritain.The Americancounterpart, USA forAfrica, however, hadthe greatest impactwith the No. 1 singleand Top 5 album WeAre The World. As ofpublication deadlines,four million albums,three million singles,400,000 posters, and140,000 copies of WeAre The World bookshave been sold.The album includesthe single We Are TheWorld by a host ofAmerican superstars,plus previouslyunreleased songs byPrince, BruceSpringsteen, TinaTurner and others.Sales had generated$20 million atpublication deadline.Other groups raisingmoney for faminevictims and other needyinclude: Hermanos, agroup of LatinAmerican music stars,which is donating muchof its proceeds to needyin Latin Americancountries; a group of 65gospel artists; Britishreggae stars who arecombining with a groupof African pop stars torelease singles inBritain; Hear n Aid, agroup of heavy metalartists. Benefit concertsare being given by jazzartists and the NewYork City Ballet.Benefit concerts forhumanitarian andissue-oriented groupssuch as the ARMSconcert put on byRonny Lane in 1984have been around sincethe sixties.However, theconcept of bringingtogether a number ofpop stars, making hitrecords, and giving theproceeds to benefitfamine relief,originated withBoomtown Rats leadsinger Bob Geldof inthe fall of 1984. Heassembled the group ofBritish pop stars tomake a recording ofDo They Know ItsChristmas?, whichGeldof co-wrote.Shortly thereafter,American pop starsrecorded the singleWe Are The World,as well as the album ofthe same name. Thesingle was co-writtenby Lionel Ritchie andMichael Jackson, andhas been quitesuccessful. On April 5,1985, a simultaneousbroadcast of the songwas made by hundredsof radio stations acrossthe country andabroad.The album containssome previouslyrecorded butunreleased material bysome of the biggestnames in pop music, aswell as songs speciallywritten for theoccasion. Tears AreNot Enough is a singleon the album sung byNeil Young, BryanAdams, and otherCanadian musiccelebrities.The USA for AfricaFoundation is hoping tocontribute to long termsolutions for someAfrican Problems,along with immediaterelief, according to thefoundations executivedirector, Marti Rogol.Ten percent of thefunds raised will also goto help the hungry andhomeless in America.The foundation alsohad help fromBloomington. On May4, 1985, a yard sale andbake sale were held tohelp the foundationraise money.Information for thisarticle came from anarticle by RobertPalmer in the April 29,1985 issue of The NewYork Times.C-MJOffefflrA yard sale held downtown on Kirkwood Avenue raised money to help the USA for AfricaFoundation.Student Life 19
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomsouth/id/2186
Collection:	Bloomington High School South

Further information on this record can be found at its source.