"We Are the World" is a song and charity single recorded by USA for Africa in 1985. It was recently re-recorded and updated in 2010 by a different set of artists as "We Are the World 25 for Haiti", to benefit survivors (pictured) of this year's devastating earthquake in Haiti. The song was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and originally co-produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian for the album We Are the World. The recording sessions for both versions of the song have brought together some of the biggest artists in the music industry. The original anthem was released on March 7, 1985, as the only single from We Are the World. The single was a worldwide commercial success and was promoted in several ways. The promotion aided the success of "We Are the World", which was eventually named the biggest selling single of all time. The USA for Africa single has sold over 20 million units and raised over US$63 million for humanitarian aid in Africa and the US. "We Are the World" has demonstrated that diverse musicians can productively work together, and has further influenced the movement within pop music to create songs that address humane concerns.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Are_the_World

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

161:

Following the death of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus agreed to become co-Emperors in an unprecedented arrangement in the Roman Empire. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Aurelius

1887:

The North Carolina General Assembly established North Carolina State University, today the largest university in North Carolina, as a land grant institution. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_State_University

1945:

World War II: In Operation Lumberjack, Allied forces seized the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine in Remagen, enabling them to establish and expand a lodgement on German soil that changed the entire nature of the conflict on the Western Front. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludendorff_Bridge

1950:

The Soviet Union issued a statement denying that German nuclear physicist Klaus Fuchs had served as a Soviet spy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Fuchs

1965:

African-American Civil Rights Movement: Civil rights demonstrators marching from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, were brutally attacked by police on Bloody Sunday . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selma_to_Montgomery_marches

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

putative (adj): Commonly believed or deemed to be the case; accepted by supposition rather than as a result of proof http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/putative

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and to know what he ought to do. --Thomas Aquinas http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas