The project also included contributions from Tommy Aldridge, Blue Öyster Cult, Dokken, Giuffria, Judas Priest, Mötley Crüe, Night Ranger, Ted Nugent, Queensrÿche, Quiet Riot, Rough Cutt, Twisted Sister, Vanilla Fudge, W.A.S.P.

In interview video footage taken during the event, Ronnie Dio said that while attending a 48-hour charity Radiothon for African famine relief at the radio station KLOS in Los Angeles, Bain and Campbell noticed that representation from hard rock and heavy metal stars was low.

and USA for Africa's "We Are the World", they forwarded the idea of a similar project exclusively built around artists from the hard rock and heavy metal genres to Ronnie Dio, and together the three co-wrote "Stars".

Lead vocals were shared between Ronnie James Dio, Rob Halford, Kevin DuBrow, Eric Bloom, Geoff Tate, Dave Meniketti, Don Dokken, and Paul Shortino.

Vivian Campbell, Carlos Cavazo, Buck Dharma, Brad Gillis, Craig Goldy, George Lynch, Yngwie Malmsteen, Eddie Ojeda, and Neal Schon (whose Journey bandmate, Steve Perry, was part of "We Are the World") all added guitar solos.

[4] Iron Maiden's Dave Murray and Adrian Smith were in the middle of their 'World Slavery Tour' at the time, and flew in to provide rhythm guitar lines for the main session, along with Campbell.

The "Stars" single, coupled with the album, a video documentary on the making of the record, and other ancillary products will raise money for famine relief efforts in Africa and around the world.

40 artists from the hard rock music community and hundreds of volunteers donated their time and talent over four months to make Hear 'N Aid a reality.

- Wendy Dio[3] The Classic Rock article also indicates the project leadership and participants were well aware that the funds raised from similar events such as Band Aid were squandered due to governmental corruption as well as suffering from general disorganization which led to things such as "food rotting on docks" - Paul Shortino (vocalist for Rough Cutt).

During the period of high popularity of MySpace, Ronnie James Dio's profile[20] contained an entry crediting the project with having raised $1 million within a year.

In a 2017 article written for Classic Rock, Ronnie's wife and manager, Wendy Dio, estimated the project's total amount raised to be over $3 million.

[21] On 26 July 26 1986 some of the members of Hear 'n Aid reunited to perform “Stars” as the encore for Dio’s concert at Southern California’s Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre.

In April 2015, Wendy Dio confirmed that a modern-day version of Hear 'n Aid was in the works to record a "new song" and released alongside the upcoming reissue of "Stars".