Lionel Richie on the continuing power of “We Are the World”

In the world of 1980s pop music, there’s one song that’s especially hard to shake. In 1985, “We Are the World” was made to raise money for food aid in Africa. The song and the saga of recording it are now the subject of a Netflix documentary, “The Greatest Night in Pop.”

Lionel Richie co-wrote the song and was the one who helped 46 of the biggest music stars on the planet record it in a crazy all-night session in January 1985.

How did he do it? “Naivety, number one,” he replied. “And number two, we had no distractions. There was no internet. There was no cell phone. There was nothing but the purity of a thought, an idea and how to accomplish it.”

It all started with “Do they know it’s Christmas?” the British charity single aimed at raising awareness (and opening wallets) for food aid to famine-ravaged Africa. Singer and philanthropist Harry Belafonte thought American artists could do the same, so he called upon super-agent Ken Kragen to help gather talent, and Kragen had Richie and Michael Jackson write a song. “In the beginning there was no terror, because we had no deadline – Whenever you can write it, we can write it. No problem” said Richie.

They wrote at Jackson’s house, with all his pets, including a big snake, which shook Richie: “I’m trying to write the lyrics to this song, and I’m screaming, and he says, ‘He wants to play with you, Lionel. .'”

But Kragen continued to call on more big names to participate, and the project began to snowball. “And the next thing I know, Kragen calls and says, ‘Oh, Bruce is in. Dylan is.’ ‘Dylan, you mean, Bob Dylan? What are you talking about? ‘Well, Ray is coming.’ ‘Ray?’ ‘Carlos. Ray is coming. Then suddenly we went from just la-la-la panic!”

Finally, with the song written, they planned to record it the night of the American Music Awards in January 1985, when all the big names in music were in Los Angeles. Richie performed the three-hour show that night, but his main event began later, when mega-stars began arriving for an unforgettable recording session: Diana Ross, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles and many more.

Richie described it as “a room full of five-year-olds, and we’re all surprised that we’re there with each other and getting used to each other. I call it the first day of first grade. So, you’re all in the room without your parents and we don’t know exactly what we’re doing. And Quincy is the father and he got it.

So how did Quincy Jones keep the big talent and all those big egos in line? Peer pressure. “I kept saying to Quincy, ‘Is everyone going to get in a booth and sing their part?’” Richie recalled. “He said, ‘No, we’ll put them in a circle and they’ll be perfect every time we sing.’ Why? Because you’re standing and looking at the rest of the class. go be perfect always. And it was true. A little intimidating. In fact, I said one small intimidating? I mean, now that I talk about it, it was terrifying!“

But the best moments of the night were when the immortals present let their guard down a little, like when Diana Ross asked Daryl Hall for an autograph. “You just couldn’t get enough of it,” Richie said. “And then just sitting down and saying, ‘Hey, man, I just want to say I’m a big fan,’ and then we kind of merged into this family.”

The session lasted until the next morning and, for those present, it was difficult and triumphant.

Asked if there was a moment when he thought they wouldn’t make it, Richie replied: “Several times. It was just fatigue at one point, when you get to four in the morning, and now we’re putting individual parts together. Springsteen left the building on the last thing we put on this record at eight o’clock. So around 7:30, 8:00 was his last la-la.

The single was released in March 1985. It went straight to number one and grossed tens of millions of dollars.

For a brief moment, the world seemed to come together, just a little. “We actually thought we were going to end hunger around the world,” Richie said. “All we had to do was tell a few people, and the rest of the world would take over, and the whole world would run next door and save their neighbors in their cities and communities. And then, about three years later, the world has gone back to sleep.”

But since the documentary premiered in January, there has been renewed interest. The song “We Are the World” returned to the Billboard charts and donations began flowing again – in the last six months, more than $600,000 and counting.

For Lionel Richie, it’s not so much a song as a gift, one that keeps on giving. “We raised a lot of money, yes,” Richie said. “We were thinking, Okay, let’s donate $5 million. Okay, we hope to increase ten. When you reach your 40s and 50s? Wow. What the hell happened?

“But I remember calling Quincy. I said, ‘Did we say we were donating half the money or all the money?’ He said, ‘Don’t try, Lionel, don’t try. We are committing all the money.’ I said, ‘Ah, oh, yes, I just wanted to make sure!’ But then you realize we keep trying to stop ‘We Are the World’. Okay, we’re wrapping this up now. And the next thing we know, $2 million came in. He’s still breathing.”

To watch the trailer for “The Greatest Night in Pop” click on the video player below:

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Story produced by John D’Amelio. Editor: Steven Tyler.