In May of 1986, over five million people attempted to join hands in a chain that stretched across the Continental United States as a promotion for a campaign to raise money for Africa, organized by a group called U.S.A. for Africa. Sally, Chasy, Chrissy, and I were a part of that chain standing on a curb on Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, OH.

In conjunction with that event, a group of celebrities came together and in one day recorded a song initiated by Harry Belafonte, written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian, for the album We Are the World, which sold over 20 million copies, making the title song the eighth best-selling single of all time. Many people have seen the video of that song, as it first appeared on MTV and has since been featured on You Tube and Facebook, to name the more popular media outlets where it’s been featured.

A great trivia question to ask someone might be to try and name as many celebrities that were involved in that video as they could from that 36-year-old song and video. Chasy, Sally and I recently tried to do that, and we did fairly well, but couldn’t get than all. A look back at the video shows a number of celebrities who have passed away, and a number of them who obviously sported a much younger look, almost making you chuckle when seeing them.

The Voice from the Bullpen has decided to make it easy on you today and just give the list of all the celebrities who had a hand, a face, and/or a voice, be it as a soloist or chorus member, in the video of this eighth best-selling single of all time, We Are the World.

1.) Lionel Richie

2.) Michael Jackson

3.) Stevie Wonder

4.) Quincy Jones

5.) Paul Simon

6.) Kenny Rogers

7.) Al Jarreau

8.) Diana Ross

9.) Harry Belafonte

10.) Bruce Springsteen

11.) James Ingram

12.) Tina Turner

13.) Billy Joel

14.) Christie Brinkley

15.) Ray Charles

16.) Dionne Warwick

17.) Bob Dylan

18.) Willie Nelson

19.) Kenny Loggins

20.) John Oates

21.) Steve Perry

22.) Daryl Hall

23.) Huey Lewis

24.) Cyndi Lauper

25.) Kim Carnes

26.) Smokey Robinson

27.) Bette Midler

28.) Anita Pointer

29.) Dan Aykroyd

30.) La Toya Jackson

31.) Jeffrey Osborne

32.) Lindsey Buckingham

33.) Ruth and June (the other Pointer Sisters)

34.) Marlon, Tito and Jackie Jackson (of the Jackson 5)

35.) Members of The News (Backups to Huey Lewis)

36.) Bob Geldof

37.) Waylon Jennings

38.) Sheila E

39.) Mario Cipollina

40.) Johnny Colla

41.) Bill Gibson

See LOMBARDO, Page E2

42.) Chris Hayes

43.) Sean Hopper

Along with musicians:

44.) David Paich

45.) Michael Boddicker

46.) Paulinho da Costa

47.) Phil Collins

48.) Louis Johnson

49.) Michael Omartian

50.) Greg Phillinganes

51.) John Robinson

I remember our participation in Hands Across America, and Chas and Chris walking around our neighborhood before the event with a couple of pint-sized cardboard milk cartons from school, collecting money to donate to U.S.A for Africa, and then standing on that Euclid Avenue curb in Cleveland, which makes hearing We Are the World or seeing the video, a little more meaningful and special to remember.

So, if you remember We Are the World, or Hands Across America, or U.S.A for Africa, and can recall the song and its video, and remember all of those entertainment artists in that video, or you were part of the attempted chain of people who joined hands somewhere in this country, the VFTB hopes you happily reminisced these past few minutes and remembered something that brought many people together for a good cause to help a lot of other people. Maybe, in the near future, someone might inspire or create another project or event that might bring many people together again, showing that we can be a people united.