Wendy Dio Plans to Reissue Hear N’ Aid’s ‘Stars’

Pop fans may have had ‘We Are the World’ but metal had their own monster charity super group in the ‘80s that brought together bands like Motley Crue, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Dio called Hear N’ Aid, and now thanks to Wendy Dio, Hear N' Aid will live on.

Hear N’ Aid was the brainchild of Dio members Vivian Campbell and Jimmy Bain who then brought the idea to the late, great, Ronnie James Dio. The legendary metal singer, fully on board with the cause, headed up the project that raised money and awareness for famine relief in Africa. Dio tapped into his little black book of metal masters recruiting his friends and contemporaries to write and record a song together for charity and the song ‘Stars‘ was born.

Dio shared the role of lead vocals with Rob Halford, Kevin DuBrow, Geoff Tate and Don Dokken, just to name a few. And what’s any good ‘80s metal tune without some guitar shredding, ‘Stars’ provided that in abundance. The guitar solo extravaganza saw the likes of everyone from George Lynch to Yngwie Malmsteen to Ted Nugent, and Brad Gillis -- duking it out on their six strings.

The song was included on an album of the same name with live tracks from Kiss, Rush, Motorhead, Scorpions, and more. However, due to some record company contractual shenanigans, the album wasn’t released until almost a year after recording leaving it to fall flat.

Now, years later, Dio’s widow Wendy is going to make right by the boys. She tells Rolling Stone, "I’m going to rerelease ‘Stars’ because it only ever came out on vinyl and cassette. So it’ll come out on DVD and CD.” She also noted that she has loads of outtakes for the video which should make for some interesting footage!

Since the tragic loss of Ronnie James Dio, his beloved wife Wendy has been keeping herself busy with many Dio related charities, helping his kind heart and rock 'n' roll spirit live on. Tonight (Nov 1.) she will be raising funds for the ‘Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund’ at the charity’s First Annual Awards Gala.  Find out all about it here.

Watch the Original Video for ‘Stars’