Ken Kragen is a music manager and activist.
In 1985, he was instrumental in securing the talent that appeared on the fund-raising single We Are the World. Harry Belafonte, who had not been contacted by Geldof, contacted Kragen, who was then managing Lionel Richie and Kenny Rogers, about putting together a concert to help raise money for African causes.[1] Kragen didn't believe that a concert would make enough of a difference and suggested a charity single instead, including about a dozen artists. However, response from musicians was overwhelming, and Kragen turned down about 50 artists who wished to appear on the song.[1]
The group, known as USA for Africa, included Michael Jackson, Richie, Bruce Springsteen, Cindy Lauper, Rogers, and many other pop music stars of the day. John Denver, who had been actively campaigning against world hunger in the 1980s, had offered to participate in the recording, but was turned down. According to Ken Kragen, (who helped to produce the song), the reason John Denver was turned down, was due to the fact several people felt his image would hurt the credibility of the song.[2]
A year later, Kragen organized Hands Across America, a transcontinental human chain that involved five million people. Both projects raised millions of dollars to help hungry and homeless people around the world. Kragen had been the manager for musician Harry Chapin, who, before his death in 1981, was a leading anti-hunger activist.[3] Kragen, explaining his work on these benefit events, said, "I felt like Harry had crawled into my body and was making me do it."[4]
Kragen has also been Harry Belafonte's longtime agent and a professor at UCLA. He was also personal manager to country music star Kenny Rogers for many years.
References
- ^ a b "Behind the scene of a pop miracle". Los Angeles Times. 1985-03-25. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/music/la-archive-we-are-the-world-mar24,0,3073561.story.
- ^ [1]
- ^ Holden, Stephen (December 2, 1987), "The Pop Life", The New York Times, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE0D6113AF931A35751C1A961948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1
- ^ "Harry Chapin Is Gone, but Friends Carry His Song in Their Hearts", People, December 21, 1987, http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20097873,00.html
External links
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