Hear ‘n Aid – Stars
Remember when rock musicians wanted to make a difference? Well, they still do, there are a lot of charitable things being done by today’s musicians – here is a little throw back to the big hair metal days of 1985 – too bad many of the singers shown are no longer with us! Below is a complete listening of everyone involved – looked like they were having fun for a good cause!
Background Information: Hear N’ Aid – Stars
Hear N’ Aid was a one-time collaboration of various individual heavy metal/hard rock artists in 1985 to raise money for famine relief in Africa. According to Ronnie James Dio’s MySpace profile, the project raised $1 million within a year but because a part of the money raised was used to fund The Children Of The Night facility in Van Nuys, Ca.
While attending a 48-hour charity Radiothon at the radio station KLOS, Dio members Jimmy Bain and Vivian Campbell noticed that representation from hard rock or heavy metal stars was low. In light of the success of Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” and USA for Africa’s “We Are the World”, Initially Vivian & Jimmy recruited other metal musicians to get involved and were joined by Sharon Weiss who offered the two access to her offices & phones.
Sharon’s publicity company W9 worked on getting the word out. After Jimmy & Vivian met with Ken Kragan who loved the idea it decided to get Ronnie Dio involved. Ronnie had been approached at the start but thought that it would conflict with work on the 3rd Dio album Sacred Heart. Ronnie got involved and wrote the “Stars” lyrics & melody with Jimmy & Vivian’s music. Together the three co-wrote the song “Stars.”
Lead Vocals: Hear N’ Aid – Stars
– Eric Bloom (Blue Öyster Cult)
– Ronnie James Dio (Dio)
– Don Dokken (Dokken)
– Kevin DuBrow (Quiet Riot)
– Rob Halford (Judas Priest)
– Dave Meniketti (Y&T)
– Paul Shortino (Rough Cutt)
– Geoff Tate (Queensrÿche)
Lead Guitar Solos: Hear N’ Aid – Stars
– Vivian Campbell (Dio)
– Carlos Cavazo (Quiet Riot)
– Buck Dharma (Blue Öyster Cult)
– Brad Gillis (Night Ranger)
– Craig Goldy (Giuffria)
– George Lynch (Dokken)
– Yngwie Malmsteen
– Eddie Ojeda (Twisted Sister)
– Neal Schon (Journey)
Rhythm Guitar Melody Lines:
– Dave Murray (Iron Maiden)
– Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden)
Bass:
– Jimmy Bain (Dio)
Drums:
– Vinny Appice (Dio)
– Frankie Banali (Quiet Riot)
Keyboards:
– Claude Schnell (Dio)
Hear N’ Aid – Stars [Official Video HQ-1080p??]