I remember thia as a boy with him in this video with all the other pop stars of the time singing, he seemed displeased. I remember hearing they forced him to participate and provide a song for the album the U.S.A was making for Africa. You could buy t-shirts and buttons and stickers and it would all make Africa happier. It's a good song though.
@stevenj777 It was a long time ago, so it's to be expected that some might misremember the events. If I may just provide people with the details of what actually happened.
@stevenj777 It was a long time ago, so it's to be expected that some might misremember the events. If I may just provide people with the details of what actually happened.
Following the success of the UKs Band Aid project and the single "Do They Know Its Christmas?", musical artists in the US (spearheaded by Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson) decided to put something similar together (a "supergroup" of the talent of the time singing a charity single) and help raise more money to help with the awful famine in Ethiopia.
Following the success of the UKs Band Aid project and the single "Do They Know Its Christmas?", musical artists in the US (spearheaded by Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson) decided to put something similar together (a "supergroup" of the talent of the time singing a charity single) and help raise more money to help with the awful famine in Ethiopia.
Many artists agreed to be...
Many artists agreed to be on the "We Are The World" charity single and, of course, Prince was invited too (being, along with Madonna and MJ, arguably the biggest stars of the time). However, Prince declined. This wasn't through arrogance, or being a snob, or because he didn't want to help....far from it. In fact, he offered to write and record his own song himself and have that as his contribution (that being 4 The Tears In Your Eyes and is a far more personal and, in my view, worthwhile endeavour. Of course, the media twisted the events to sell papers, making all sorts of ludicrous and wicked accusations.
There was, of course, a massive rivalry between Prince and MJ then and the media made much of that, but the reason given by Prince at the time was that he simply wouldn't be able to perform - he would clam up being in the same room as all the other big talents. The media treated this as a weak excuse (but it was likely completely true - despite his larger than life persona, Prince was actually a criminally shy person and, for every single album of his, when it came down to laying his own vocals, he always kicked everyone else out of the studio (even the recording engineer!) and cut the vocals on his own, doing the engineering himself. So viciously and relentlessly did the media pursue him over this, Prince did something quite rare and wrote and released a song that directly addressed and criticised what was happening! That song is "Hello" and can be found on The Hits/The B-Sides - well worth checking out.
I remember thia as a boy with him in this video with all the other pop stars of the time singing, he seemed displeased. I remember hearing they forced him to participate and provide a song for the album the U.S.A was making for Africa. You could buy t-shirts and buttons and stickers and it would all make Africa happier. It's a good song though.
@stevenj777 It was a long time ago, so it's to be expected that some might misremember the events. If I may just provide people with the details of what actually happened.
@stevenj777 It was a long time ago, so it's to be expected that some might misremember the events. If I may just provide people with the details of what actually happened.
Following the success of the UKs Band Aid project and the single "Do They Know Its Christmas?", musical artists in the US (spearheaded by Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson) decided to put something similar together (a "supergroup" of the talent of the time singing a charity single) and help raise more money to help with the awful famine in Ethiopia.
Following the success of the UKs Band Aid project and the single "Do They Know Its Christmas?", musical artists in the US (spearheaded by Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson) decided to put something similar together (a "supergroup" of the talent of the time singing a charity single) and help raise more money to help with the awful famine in Ethiopia.
Many artists agreed to be...
Many artists agreed to be on the "We Are The World" charity single and, of course, Prince was invited too (being, along with Madonna and MJ, arguably the biggest stars of the time). However, Prince declined. This wasn't through arrogance, or being a snob, or because he didn't want to help....far from it. In fact, he offered to write and record his own song himself and have that as his contribution (that being 4 The Tears In Your Eyes and is a far more personal and, in my view, worthwhile endeavour. Of course, the media twisted the events to sell papers, making all sorts of ludicrous and wicked accusations.
There was, of course, a massive rivalry between Prince and MJ then and the media made much of that, but the reason given by Prince at the time was that he simply wouldn't be able to perform - he would clam up being in the same room as all the other big talents. The media treated this as a weak excuse (but it was likely completely true - despite his larger than life persona, Prince was actually a criminally shy person and, for every single album of his, when it came down to laying his own vocals, he always kicked everyone else out of the studio (even the recording engineer!) and cut the vocals on his own, doing the engineering himself. So viciously and relentlessly did the media pursue him over this, Prince did something quite rare and wrote and released a song that directly addressed and criticised what was happening! That song is "Hello" and can be found on The Hits/The B-Sides - well worth checking out.