Exclusive Pictures From ‘We Are the World 25′

by Roger Friedman - February 4, 2010 12:00 am

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Life in a fishbowl: Rock stars brave the heat for "We Are the World 25"

Here are just a few photos taken by Martin Aiono during the taping on Monday of “We Are the World” 25th anniversary for Haiti.

Off their Rockers: Maroon 5's Adam Levine and Matchbox Twenty's Rob Thomas

It’s still a mind-blowing memory of 80 stars all in one place, working hard and fast to get this job done. The windowless studio got so hot that air conditioning had to be pumped in from a temporary rig set up at the last minute. I overheard one assistant who ran to the A-list talent coordinator Tisha Fein, yelling, “We need fans!”

Q is for Quality: Quincy Jones gets in the middle of it

No one complained, though. And everyone was a team player, including 83-year-old Tony Bennett, who stood in the studio for five hours, never took a break or a snack. His manager/son Danny was worried about him, but Bennett characteristically soldiered on.

Ececutive producer Randy Phillips really pulled this extravaganza off. What a year he’s had: Phillips also shepherded the Michael Jackson film “This Is It” after Michael’s sudden death. Contrary to a wrong report yesterday, Phillips assembled the talent with the respected Fein based on requests from artists to participate after clearing their names with Quincy Jones. Of special pride was the inclusion of Motown great Gladys Knight. “She has to be there,” Jones told me a few days earlier. And so she took a “midnight train” from Las Vegas to be there.