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"'''We Are the World'''" is a [[charity record|charity single]] recorded by the [[charity supergroup|supergroup]] '''USA for Africa''' in 1985. It was written by [[Michael Jackson]] and [[Lionel Richie]] and produced by [[Quincy Jones]] and [[Michael Omartian]] for the album ''[[We Are the World (album)|We Are the World]]''. With sales in excess of 20 million
Soon after the British group [[Band Aid (band)|Band Aid]] released "[[Do They Know It's Christmas?]]" in December 1984, musician and activist [[Harry Belafonte]] decided to create an American benefit single for African famine relief. With fundraiser [[Ken Kragen]], he enlisted several musicians. Jackson and Richie completed the writing the night before the first recording session, on January 21, 1985. The event brought together some of the era's best-known musicians. One musician deliberately omitted was [[John Denver]], who had asked to participate but was rejected despite his previous commitment to charity work. Ken Kragen said it was due to some people feeling that Denver's image would affect the credibility of the song as a pop-rock anthem. "I didn't agree with this assessment," Kragen said, but reluctantly turned Denver down.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.harrychapin.com/circle/winter05/behind.htm |title=Behind the Song: "We Are the World" |website=HarryChapin.com |first=Mike |last=Grayeb | date=2005 |access-date=May 9, 2011}}</ref> Denver recalled the rejection in his 1994 autobiography "Take Me Home", stating that "It broke my heart not to be included."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://danmiller.typepad.com/dan_millers_notebook/2006/07/by_dan_miller_o.html | title=The Snubbing of John Denver | date=October 12, 2004 | first1=Dan | last1=Miller | website=Dan Miller's Notebook}}</ref>
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