We Are the World 2010 - Music Industry Teams Up for Haiti

By Joe Leary

Above: I hung out with musical superstar Wyclef Jean, who's at the forefront of Haitian relief.

You could say it was a quarter of a century in the making and took another catastrophe of global proportion to even bring together, but the recording sessions for the updated version of ‘We Are the World’ are now in the can and the list of participants reads like a veritable who’s who of the music industry.

And just as the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Michael Jackson did for African famine relief for the original in 1985, this latest version assembled a number of today’s biggest and brightest chart-toppers; and at the very A&M Studios Hollywood soundstage, known today as Henson Recording Studios.

Rumored participants Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake didn’t end up being involved, but there was no shortage of star power; including even Michael Jackson’s vocals from the original recording.

Among the roster of artists contributing to this latest effort: Wyclef Jean, Will.I.Am, Miley Cyrus, Kanye West, Usher, Zac Brown, Justin Bieber, Carlos Santana, Barbara Streisand, Tony Bennett, Celine Dion, Akon, T-Pain, Joel and Benji Madden of Good Charlotte, Jennifer Hudson, Jason Mraz, Jamie Foxx, Pink, Snoop Dogg, LL Cool J, The Jonas Brothers, Drake, Jordin Sparks, Maroon 5’s Adam Levine and Brian Wilson and Al Jardine of Beach Boys fame, along with a host of others, including 3T - a group formed by Michael Jackson’s nephews Taj, Taryll and TJ - as well as Rashida Jones, the daughter of Quincy Jones, who produced both the original and this latest version. There's also Nicole Richie whose father Lionel Richie penned the original ‘We Are the World’ alongside Michael Jackson 25 years ago.

Meantime, the charity single organized by Simon Cowell will be available for download this weekend. The song is a cover of REM’s 1992 ballad ‘Everybody Hurts’ and features an all-star lineup including Mariah Carey, Jon Bon Jovi, Rod Stewart, Leona Lewis, Mika, Susan Boyle and our own Michael Buble’ among others.

It too will support the ‘Helping Haiti’ fund.

"We have a short time to do this but already we are getting some fantastic support," Cowell told Britain's Sky News while the project was in production. "Right now this is an absolute priority for us all. The people of Haiti need as much help as we can give them as soon as possible. Every day the situation becomes more desperate.”

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The Razzies

Hot on the heels of the Academy Award nominations acknowledging the best in film come the Golden Raspberry Awards, which counters with the worst screen performances from the past year of celluloid fare.

And while Sandra Bullock is having a great award season thus far, having been duly honoured with a nomination for ‘The Proposal’ and has already received both a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for ‘The Blind Side’, she’s also up for the Razzie for ‘All About Steve’, where she’s nominated for ‘Worst Actress’, while she and co-star Bradley Cooper vie for coveted title of ‘Worst Screen Couple’.

In other words, there is a chance, however remote, that an actor or actress could – for the first time - win both an Oscar and a Razzie in the same year!

Bullock will battle Beyonce, Miley Cyrus, Megan Fox and Sarah Jessica Parker for ‘Worst Actress’, while Will Ferrell, Eddie Murphy, John Travolta, Steve Martin and all three Jonas Brothers will compete for the title of ‘Worst Actor’.

‘All About Steve’, ‘G.I. Joe’, ‘Old Dogs’ ‘Land of the Lost’, and ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ all vie in the category of ‘Worst Picture’, while the latter two titles rank as 2009’s most decorated; each amassing seven Razzie nods.

This year, the Razzies will also be handing out trophies for ‘Worst Actor’, ‘Worst Actress’ and ‘Worst Picture’ of the Decade.

Nominees for that distinction include such perennial bombs as ‘Battlefield Earth’, ‘Freddy Got Fingered’, ‘I Know Who Killed Me’, ‘Swept Away’ and ‘Gigli’.

The Razzies will be awarded on March 6th, the night before the Academy Awards.