16 musicians record S.D. version of ‘We Are The World’

If ever there was a time for a rebirth of the 1985 U.S.A. for Africa charity anthem, “We Are The World,” it is today.

San Diego videographer Thom Vollenweider is orchestrating just that, but with a pandemic-driven purpose.

He gathered local musicians with national and even global prominence to lend their voices and instrumental talent to the 1985 song composed by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and performed in 1985 by superstar singers.

“I started working on ‘We Are The World — Stay Strong San Diego,’ in April 2020, about two weeks into the shutdown, to keep myself busy instead of just sitting around during the pandemic,” explained the San Carlos photographer, 73.

His goal is twofold: to bring awareness to health care workers risking their lives to care for COVID-19 patients on the pandemic front lines and to support local musicians who lost their livelihoods almost overnight.

His first call was to bassist Bob Monroe, who wrote the hit “What Do All the People Know?” which his band, The Monroes, performed in the 1980s. He was happy to help. “Once Bob came in, I knew I could do it,” Vollenweider reports. A troop of talent followed. “They all said yes.”

The band aid group includes Laurie Beebe Lewis, who was lead singer with the reformed Mamas and Papas from 1986 to 1993; Eve Selis, a 15-time San Diego Music Award winner; and singer Lauren Leigh, guitarist Tom Quinn and drummer Bob Sale, who all took part in The Pink Floyd Experience tribute band tour.

When Vollenweider’s call came, blues singer Whitney Shay was on a 28-city tour with her band in Germany, and Sale was touring with a Simon and Garfunkel tribute band.

Recording studios were closed, so music arranger and keyboardist Wolfgang Grasekamp offered his condo living room for the project. For 20 years, Grasekamp was accompanist to British-born singer Tony Sheridan, who sang with the Beatles in 1961 on