30 years ago today.......

There are certain songs that, no matter how heavy a rotation they're played, give me goosebumps each and every time I hear them.

This would be one.

The all-star recording session for We Are the World, the biggest charity single of all time, took place 30 years ago Wednesday.

On Jan. 28, 1985, at A&M Recording Studios in Hollywood, following the American Music Awards, more than 40 artists gathered to record a song Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson had written to raise awareness of widespread, life-threatening poverty in Africa. Most of that show's winners — including Cyndi Lauper, Hall & Oates, Bruce Springsteen, Huey Lewis, Willie Nelson, Tina Turner, the Pointer Sisters, Kenny Rogers and the Jacksons — participated.

Inspired by the U.K. all-star charity single Do They Know it's Christmas?, released a few months earlier, We Are the World was released March 7, 1985, and went on to sell more than 20 million copies. The more than $75 million raised by non-profit organization USA for Africa helped to fight poverty on the continent. The song also won three Grammy Awards in 1986, including song and record of the year.

If you're fascinated by fascinating facts (like I am) then the entire USA Today story entitled 'We Are the World' at 30: 12 tales you might not know is a must read.

One anecdote missing was one which Kenny Loggins shared regarding a conversation he had with Paul Simon. Loggins claimed that Simon was looking around the room at the who's who of music superstars. Upon soaking in the cavalcade of talent, Simon allegedly turned to Loggins and said "If a bomb were to hit this place, John Denver would be #1 again."

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