Lionel Richie smells corona opportunity for We Are The World

It is exactly 35 years ago this month that artists sang ‘We Are The World’ together. The global corona crisis and anniversary seem like good reasons Lionel Richie (70) to do it again, he tells People.

“We experience it all together”

Lionel co-wrote the song in 1985 with Michael Jackson to raise money for hunger in Africa. They sang it along with artists such as Cyndi Lauper, Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross and raised over $ 63 million. The song has haunted Lionel’s mind a lot in recent days. “The people who are able to help, do we do that for our brothers and sisters? Or do we leave them out in the cold?”

The crisis forced the 70-year-old American to take a step back and think about how he can help. “What happened in China and in Europe is now also here,” explains the singer. “It affects all of us. We all experience it together.”

Ten years ago, a new version of We Are The World was released to raise money for the earthquakes in Haiti. Lionel would like to do the same now. “We said two weeks ago that we didn’t want to do anything with the anniversary because it’s not the time to sell an anniversary. But the message is so clear.”