Hear 'n Aid: Звёзды против голода в Африке

Hear 'n Aid was a charity record recorded by a large ensemble of 40 heavy metal musicians and released in 1986. The project was organized by Ronnie James Dio, Jimmy Bain, and Vivian Campbell, all from the band Dio. Proceeds from the album were used to raise over $3 million for famine relief in Africa. The 40 musicians were gathered together by Dio and recorded the single "Stars" together while the rest of the album was filled out with eight other tracks, several of which were contributed by artists who were on tour and unable to attend and participate in the mass recording session. A music video was released as well, produced during the recording sessions.

Dio originally intended the single and album to be released shortly after its recording, but contractual issues with the different artists' record labels delayed the release until 26 May 1986, somewhat diminishing the impact of its release. The compilation album titled Hear 'n Aid (or alternatively appearing as Hear 'n Aid (An All Star Album For Famine Relief))" was headed by "Stars", and included live tracks by Kiss, Motörhead, Dio, Accept, Rush, Scorpions, "Go for the Throat" by Y&T and a studio recording by Jimi Hendrix was released on vinyl and cassette tape formats. The "Stars" single was released on vinyl in both 7" and 12" versions. 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." 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. 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. The back cover for the documentary has the following description:

The single "Stars" peaked at No. 26 in the UK Singles Chart in April 1986. The music video for "Stars" received moderate airplay on MTV's Heavy Metal Mania and afterward on MTV's replacement program Headbangers Ball. During the period of high popularity of MySpace, Ronnie James Dio's profile 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. On 31 May 2004, VH1 premiered a five night documentary special titled "100 Most Metal Moments", narrated by Dee Snider. At the conclusion, Hear 'n Aid was ranked as the "No. 1 Most Metal Moment".

In interview video footage taken during the event, Ronnie said that 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", they forwarded the idea to Ronnie James Dio, also attending the Radiothon, and together decided to create a similar project exclusively built around artists from the hard rock/heavy metal scene. Together the three co wrote the song "Stars". The song "Stars" was recorded on 20 and 21 May 1985 with the first session at Sound City Studios and then the second session moving to A&M Studios Studio A, where "We Are The World" was recorded. It was edited and mixed at Rumbo Recorders and mastered at Artisan Sound. The project included contributions from Ted Nugent, Yngwie Malmsteen, Tommy Aldridge and members of Dio, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Quiet Riot, Dokken, Mötley Crüe, Twisted Sister, Queensrÿche, Blue Öyster Cult, Vanilla Fudge, Y&T, Rough Cutt, Giuffria, Journey, W. A. S. P. and Night Ranger as well as the parody band Spinal Tap. Lead vocals were shared between Ronnie James Dio, Rob Halford, Kevin DuBrow, Eric Bloom, Geoff Tate, Dave Meniketti, Don Dokken, and Paul Shortino. Vivian Campbell, Carlos Cavazo, Buck Dharma, Brad Gillis, Craig Goldy, George Lynch, Yngwie Malmsteen, Eddie Ojeda, and Neal Schon all added guitar solos. Iron Maiden's Dave Murray and Adrian Smith were in the middle of their 'World Slavery Tour' at the time and flew in to attend the main session.

There was a second planned song to benefit a charity that Dio was involved with for years ("Children of the Night"), that benefited runaway children. This was to be a song called "Throw Away Children". However, due to various reasons the project never materialized, and the song ended up appearing on the 2002 Dio album, Killing the Dragon. 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”. "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.