We Are The World

Perhaps no controversy in Prince's entire career can compare to the We Are The World fiasco. Directly after the 1985 American Music Awards, a group of star artists gathered under the name USA For Africa to perform the Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie penned "We Are The World." Conducted by Quincy Jones, the single and subsequent album was released to deliver "services to the most seriously-affected African nations." Prince, who attended the awards, was invited to participate in the sing along, but declined for a then unknown reason. This led to an assault by the press on Prince for his nonappearance. The musician later stated in an interview that he did not appear because he was afraid he would clam up in front of all the other superstars. On the single, Huey Lewis sings the part Prince was originally intended to. Prince later responded to much of the We Are The World criticism in a B-Side track titled "Hello." The song was later included on The Hits & The B-Sides along with an acoustic take of "4 The Tears In Your Eyes." When originally contacted, Prince offered to donate a song to the album. The eventual track, titled "4 The Tears In Your Eyes," was a hunting melodic song performed by the entire Revolution. A black and white video clip for the song was shown during the USA For Africa concert. At the 1995 American Music Awards, the 10 year anniversary of the original sing along, Quincy Jones dragged onstage to join a sing along of "We Are The World." While the other artists sang, The Artist stood at the top of the stage defiantly sucking on a lollipop. Jones attempted to hand a microphone at one point to which the Artist offered him a lick of his lollipop. made no comment, but The New York Daily News reported that after the failed reconciliation Quincy Jones had some choice words for The Artist backstage: "You may call yourself the Artist Formerly Known As Prince, but you're still a [something that rhymes with brick]." It has never been completely clear why has taken the continued stance he did on this matter. It is possible that it is a reaction to many of the artists getting paid for their appearances on the album or perhaps as he wrote in "Hello", "there's just as much hunger here at home." However, many of The Artist's recent actions, such as his plan to help needy people in Spain, do not jive with his statement early in his career.

General Data

Label	PolyGramRecords
Release Date	1985
Cat. Number	824-822-2

Track Performed By Prince

• 4 The Tears In Your Eyes