Simon Cowell And Quincy Jones Plan Haiti Charity Singles

Twenty-five years after the recording of “We Are The World,” Quincy Jones, who produced the 1985 charity single, is teaming up with the song’s co-writer Lionel Richie to pull together a new version of the tune, reports Billboard. “We Are The World” was originally being dusted off to simply mark its anniversary, but Billboard now notes that all the proceeds will go toward Haiti relief efforts.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, Simon Cowell has been asked to produce a charity effort of his own for Haiti.

“We had a request from the prime minister and the Sun newspaper—would we put a record together?” Cowell announced this week at the National Television Awards in London. “We haven’t got an awful lot of time, but we are going to do something and attempt to raise as much money as possible. I’ve got to try and get it all together in about 48 hours.”

He’s apparently deciding which cover version would be appropriate to record. Admittedly, we’re a bit worried Simon may realize there’s isn’t a song in existence he hasn’t already had one of his artists cover.

As for Quincy Jones’ updated “We Are The World,” the recording session is said to be going down the weekend of the Grammys at L.A.’s Nokia Theatre. Billboard mentions that so far Usher, Natalie Cole and John Legend have been invited to lend their vocals, but more artists will be added to the list in the coming week.