‘STELLAR’ LIST OF PERFORMERS : AMERICANS TO RECORD SINGLE TO AID AFRICANS

More than a dozen American pop stars will record a single this month in Los Angeles as part of a campaign to raise millions of dollars for African famine victims, it was confirmed Wednesday.

A source close to the project said that Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder have agreed to write the song, and a “stellar” list of pop, rock, country and R&B; artists are committed to singing on the record.

The participants are believed to include Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Rogers, Linda Ronstadt, Willie Nelson, Tina Turner and Quincy Jones.

The charity effort is the outgrowth of the highly successful “Do They Know It’s Christmas” single, recorded late last year in London by British rock stars. Proceeds from the “Christmas” record--which has sold more than 6 million copies worldwide--will be used to aid famine-stricken Ethiopians.

Among the British musicians who recorded the song under the group name Band Aid were Sting, Boy George, Paul Young, Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon and U2’s Bono Hewson.

The “Christmas” project was spearheaded by Boomtown Rats leader Bob Geldof. During interviews last month, Geldof challenged American pop artists to make a record of their own also to aid famine victims.

Although plans for the African famine drive were apparently already under consideration by some U.S. musicians, the success of the Band Aid project gave focus to the American effort. “Because there are plans for an album as well as a single, the money raised by the new campaign could be considerably more than the Band Aid project,” the source said.

Richie and his manager, Ken Kragen, have been the most active in organizing the new recording effort, according to the source, who asked not to be identified. While neither Richie nor Kragen would comment on the project, a spokesperson for Kragen’s office acknowledged that machinery is in motion.

Harriet Sternberg, vice president of Kragen & Co., said the campaign is being kept under wraps for security and other reasons. “But yes,” she added, “there will definitely be a record and the lineup will be a historic one.”