Netflix Examines ‘The Greatest Night in Pop’ With Rare Footage From ‘We Are The World’ Special
It is a rare sight to see so many iconic music artists in one place at the same time, apart from award ceremonies. Even more special when they come together for a song. A new Netflix documentary aims to explore one of the greatest nights in pop music history when 46 artists came together to record the song “We Are the World” in 1985, which ended up winning a Grammy.
The song was recorded at Henson Studios to help benefit African famine relief and features Bruce Springsteen, Dionne Warwick, Smokey Robinson, and many, many more (see the full list below!). Yet, there were some big artists that were left off the list including Prince and Madonna. The new film will examine why they were not a part of the song and video. The documentary director Bao Nguyen explained, “The film explains it really well. [Producer] Ken Kragen and his staff, [producer] Harriet Sternberg – Harriet wanted Madonna. Ken didn’t want Madonna because he thought that Cyndi [Lauper] sort of served the purpose of being the female pop icon at that time, and it was as simple as that. They wanted voices that really were distinct from each other and that represented their genre.” Prince on the other hand reportedly turned down the offer because he wouldn’t have been comfortable.
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It was written by the late Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones. Richie opens up in the documentary’s trailer about how it wasn’t just difficult to get so many artists together on one night but it was hard to create the perfect song.
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He shared, “The greatest artists of a generation came together to sing some lines. But we only had one night to get this right. I’m at the house with Michael (Jackson) writing the song. He hums every part. Tapes and tapes of just layered and layered of him humming. Stevie (Wonder) wouldn’t call me back and the recording was in a couple of days. We now have a template with mumbles and no words. What do we want to do? We’re talking to the world, so we have to talk this out.”
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“We Are the World” became a huge smash hit and generated over $60 million to help Africa. On the song’s 25th anniversary, it was re-recorded with new artists for Haiti and featured artists such as Justin Bieber, Tony Bennett, Celine Dion, Miley Cyrus, and Janet Jackson.
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The Greatest Night in Pop will be released on Netflix on January 29, 2024. Watch the trailer and let us know if you’ll be watching to learn about one of the best nights in pop music history!
The full list of artists who appeared in “We Are the World” in 1985:
Conductor
• Quincy Jones
Soloists (in order of appearance)
• Lionel Richie
• Stevie Wonder
• Paul Simon
• Kenny Rogers
• James Ingram
• Tina Turner
• Billy Joel
• Michael Jackson
• Diana Ross
• Dionne Warwick
• Willie Nelson
• Al Jarreau
• Bruce Springsteen
• Kenny Loggins
• Steve Perry
• Daryl Hall
• Huey Lewis
• Cyndi Lauper
• Kim Carnes
• Bob Dylan
• Ray Charles
Chorus (alphabetically)
• Dan Aykroyd
• Harry Belafonte
• Lindsey Buckingham
• Mario Cipollina (of Huey Lewis and the News)
• Johnny Colla (of Huey Lewis and the News)
• Sheila E.
• Bob Geldof
• Bill Gibson (of Huey Lewis and the News)
• Chris Hayes (of Huey Lewis and the News)
• Sean Hopper (of Huey Lewis and the News)
• Jackie Jackson
• La Toya Jackson
• Marlon Jackson
• Randy Jackson
• Tito Jackson
• Waylon Jennings
• Bette Midler
• John Oates
• Jeffrey Osborne
• Anita Pointer (of the Pointer Sisters)
• June Pointer (of the Pointer Sisters)
• Ruth Pointer (of the Pointer Sisters)
• Smokey Robinson
’80s Where Are They Now
March 2023
Who can forget all the great TV shows, movies and music of the ‘80s? See what your favs are up to now!
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