Not even charity can kill Simon Cowell’s drive to crush the competition. The exiting American Idol judge recently coordinated an all-star lineup of vocalists — Susan Boyle, Mariah Carey and Rod Stewart, to name a few — to lend their voices to a remake of R.E.M.’s 1992 single “Everybody Hurts,” with all proceeds benefitting Haitian earthquake victims. Although the pre-orders for the song suggests the new “Everybody Hurts” will be Britain’s best-selling single in a decade, Cowell won’t be satisfied unless the charity single outsells Quincy Jones & Lionel Richie new star-studded rendition of “We Are the World.”
“Simon is competitive about everything he does,” a Fly on the Wall whispered to PopEater’s Naughty & Nice Column this week. “He has to clean his teeth better than anyone, he has to earn more money than anyone — and he is determined that his single to benefit Haiti has to outsell Quincy Jones’ record.”
More than 70 artists, including Barbra Streisand, Jennifer Hudson, and Snoop Dogg, were invited to sing on the “We Are The World,” a remake of the track that was first recorded to raise money for Africa in 1985. “We Are The World” went on to become the biggest-single charity single of all time. The group got together at the same Hollywood studio as the original was recorded. The new track will raise cash for the victims of the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti.
In an interview with London’s New! Magazine last month, Simon made no apologies for his need to be the best: “I don’t like the idea that other people in this business might be doing better than me,” Cowell confessed. “That really bugs me — I mean really bugs me. If you are happy to see someone who does the same thing as you do well — even someone within your own company — then you haven’t got it, it’s as simple as that!”