1985 · Behind the Songs
Four voices, one cause — the gold standard of charity singles.
Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager had written That’s What Friends Are For years earlier — Rod Stewart recorded it for the film Night Shift in 1982 — but it took Warwick to hear its higher purpose. In 1985 she gathered Elton John, Gladys Knight, and Stevie Wonder to record it as a charity single benefiting AIDS research through amfAR.
It spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year, and raised millions for the cause. The record’s warmth is genuine: four distinct voices blending without ego, led by Warwick’s steady grace. It remains the gold standard of the charity single — a great song, a great cause, and not a wasted note.