BON JOVI SINGS STAND BY ME FOR IRAN

Jon Bon Jovi has recorded a new version of Ben E. King's Stand By Me in Farsi in a bid to promote peace and unity in Iran.

The rocker has teamed up with exiled Iranian singer Andy Madadian and Was (Not Was) star Don Was to record the track and an accompanying video.

A statement suggests the song, produced by Was, is "a musical message of worldwide solidarity" to the Iranian people, in the wake of violence following the country's controversial recent election.

Was tells Billboard.com the song was recorded in Los Angeles on 24 June, after he and pal Madadian discovered Bon Jovi and bandmate Richie Sambora eating lunch outside the studio they had hired to work on new material.

Was and Madadian were already planning to record the tune "just to send out a little message of solidarity... believing music can change things," and they asked the rockers to join them.

Was recalls, "They asked what we were doing, I told them, and Jon said, 'Look, man, if you do it right now we'll do it with you.' So we did."

Bon Jovi even sings the first verse of the song in Farsi - the first language of Iran.

Sambora plays guitar on the track and Was played bass.

The producer adds, "We just cut it and the video is the session. It took about four hours and just fell into place nicely... It is not for sale, it wasn't intended to be on the Billboard charts, it wasn't meant to be a hit record or even pressed on a CD. It's intended to be downloaded and shared by the Iranian people. The whole idea was to get it into Iran and tell them... to carry on, that the world is watching and we're with you."

Madadian has lived in America since the Iranian revolution in 1979.