Hear 'n Aid was a charity record released in 1986. The record featured a supergroup of 40 heavy metal musicians on a track called "Stars". A music video was released as well, produced during the recording sessions. Proceeds from the album were used to raise over $3 million for famine relief in Africa.[2]
In interview video footage taken during the event, Ronnie Dio said that while attending a 48-hour charity Radiothon for African famine relief at the radio station KLOS in Los Angeles, Bain and Campbell noticed that representation from hard rock and 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", they forwarded the idea of a similar project exclusively built around artists from the hard rock and heavy metal genres to Ronnie Dio, and together the three co-wrote "Stars".
"Stars" was recorded on 20 and 21 May 1985 with the first session at Sound City Studios and the second session moving to A&M Studios Studio A, where "We Are The World" was recorded.[3] It was edited and mixed at Rumbo Recorders and mastered at Artisan Sound.
The single and album were originally intended to be released shortly after its recording, but contractual issues with the different artists' record labels delayed the release until New Year's Day 1986, somewhat diminishing the impact of its release.[5]
The "Stars" single was released on vinyl in both 7" and 12" versions. Both included a 4:43 edit of the track, and a "4 1/2 Minutes News" interviews with musicians who participated in the project. The 12" featured the original 7:04 version as well.[7] The back of the record sleeve for the single had the following description:
"On May 20 and 21, 1985, 40 artists from the hard rock music community gathered at A&M Records Studios to participate in the making of a record called "Stars", as part of a very special project known as Hear 'N Aid. The "Stars" single, coupled with the album, a video documentary on the making of the record, and other ancillary products will raise money for famine relief efforts in Africa and around the world.
40 artists and hundreds of volunteers donated their time and talent over four months to make Hear 'N Aid a reality. "Stars" is a plea for unity in the fight against world hunger."[8]
The project also released a 30 minute Sony home video documentary, Hear 'n Aid: The Sessions, which was shot during the recording process and released on VHS and Video8 formats.[12] The back cover for the documentary has the following description:
"'Hear 'N Aid: The Sessions' documents the making of a record, a very special record called 'Stars', that will raise money for famine relief. It is a behind-the-scenes journey through the process of rock 'n roll record-making, from the basic tracks through vocal solos an chorus to performances by 11 stellar guitarists that form a single guitar solo. 40 artists from the hard rock music community and hundreds of volunteers donated their time and talent over four months to make Hear 'N Aid a reality. 'Stars' is a plea for unity in the fight against world hunger."
On 31 May 2004, VH1 premiered a five-night documentary special titled "100 Most Metal Moments", narrated by Dee Snider.[13] At the conclusion, Hear 'n Aid was ranked as the "No. 1 Most Metal Moment".[14]
The following CD release info needs verification as Wendy Dio indicated as late as 2011 that it was only ever released on vinyl and cassette.[15]
"The Hear 'n Aid album was released in CD format in the U.S. in May of 1994. (Mercury/Phonogram 826-044-2 (US, CD Reissue, 5/94). Allmusic references a CD re-release on 13 June 2000 with catalog of PolyGram #4218.[16]Kissmonster references a CD re-release: Japanese import Vertigo PHCR-4218 (Japan, CD Reissue, 11/94)"[17]
Prior to the album release, and indicative of their business acumen and commitment to the project's success, Ronnie Dio, Bain and Campbell established Hear 'n Aid as a full fledged non-profit, presumably to avoid experiencing similar missteps and pitfalls encountered with previous African aid efforts. "Hear ’n Aid had to be a non-profit organisation… We had to set up a board of directors, fourteen people, and all decisions had to be made by the board. My role was getting the licensing." - Wendy Dio[3]
The Classic Rock article also indicates the project leadership and participants were well aware that the funds raised from similar events such as Band Aid were squandered due to governmental corruption as well as suffering from general disorganization which led to things such as "food rotting on docks" - Paul Shortino (vocalist for Rough Cutt). The funds raised through the Hear 'n Aid project were instead used to purchase and ship agricultural machinery.
During the period of high popularity of MySpace, Ronnie James Dio's profile[20] contained an entry crediting the project with having raised $1 million within a year. In a 2017 article written for Classic Rock, Ronnie's wife and manager, Wendy Dio, estimated the project's total amount raised to be over $3 million.[3]
Re-issue and potential sequel
Ronnie Dio planned on recording a second benefit single called "Throw Away Children" for "Children of the Night", a charity that he was involved with that benefited runaway children. For various reasons, the project never materialized, and the song ended up appearing on the 2002 Dio album, Killing the Dragon.[21] On 26 July 26 1986 some of the members of Hear 'n Aid reunited to perform “Stars” as the encore for Dio’s concert at Southern California’s Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre.[4]
On 2 November 2011, Dio's widow Wendy announced that the song "Stars" would be re-released. She told Rolling Stone: “I’m going to re-release [Stars] because it only ever came out on vinyl and cassette. So it’ll come out on DVD and CD, I have loads of outtakes for the video”.[15]
On 30 March 2015, Wendy Dio spoke with Eddie Trunk on his SiriusXM satellite radio show Eddie Trunk Live. "We are in talks right now with a couple of record labels to reissue HEAR 'N AID, with the funds going to [the Ronnie James Dio] Stand Up And Shout [Cancer Fund, the charity founded in memory of the late singer]".[22] "We have so much stuff that was never released before — behind-the-scenes stuff that was shot during the whole time. We have photos galore of everybody that was involved in it, and I think it'll be fantastic. We just have to work on it. It may not come out this year, because I want everything to be perfect, as Ronnie would want it to be, but I am in talks about it, and that will be coming out, definitely."
In April 2015, Wendy Dio confirmed that a modern-day version of Hear 'n Aid was in the works to record a "new song" and released alongside the upcoming reissue of "Stars". She had stated that "legal stuff" was the cause of the reissue delay.[23]
