Star-struck singers, rappers and actors, including Barbra Streisand, Kanye West and Miley Cyrus, checked their egos at the door to record a new version of We Are The World for Haiti earthquake victims, 25 years after the song raised awareness of the famine in Africa.

None of the singers of the original song were invited to participate in the update, which was recorded at the same Hollywood studio once again under the oversight of Quincy Jones and the song's co-writer Lionel Richie.

In all, more than 70 stars lent their voices to the song, and they all seemed in awe of each other.

"As celebrities, we're fans of one another, so we're all looky-looing in there, and getting autographs and numbers," said Natalie Cole.

Ms Streisand, Celine Dion and Tony Bennett appeared to inspire the most stares. Fifteen-year-old Canadian heartthrob Justin Bieber, who sang the opening line originally performed by Ms Richie, joked that he would ask his new friend, R&B singer Akon, to get the telephone number of Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls.

Ms Streisand, a noted perfectionist, ran through multiple takes of the line originally sung by Diana Ross, each one seemingly better than the previous one. Jazz singer Patti Austin came into her recording booth to coach her.

Guitar virtuoso Carlos Santana sang along, even though he is not a singer. Two members of The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson and Al Jardine, appeared to ignore each other.

Simon Cowell's single hits airwaves

A new charity single for Haiti featuring Mariah Carey, Jon Bon Jovi, Susan Boyle and Robbie Williams hit the internet and airwaves yesterday.

The cover version of REM's famous ballad Everybody Hurts was hastily put together by TV personality and music producer Simon Cowell, who gathered more than 20 stars to raise funds for survivors of the earthquake that killed up to 200,000 people. The song will be available for download on Sunday and hit the shops the following day, according to The Sun newspaper, which teamed up with Mr Cowell to promote the record.