Logistically, the task seemed impossible: Gather 46 of the world’s most massive musical stars in a Los Angeles studio and record a hit song, all in a single night (and all without cell phones or email, by the way). Oh, and the reason for this ambitious endeavor? To raise a record-breaking amount of money to benefit African famine relief and forever alter global pop culture.
No pressure or anything.
On Jan. 28, 1985, that’s exactly what happened during the recording session for “We Are the World.” The story of The Greatest Night in Pop is told in a new documentary film from director Bao Nguyen (Be Water): the idea, the song, and the long, wild night in the studio with some of the most significant musicians of the 20th century.
“This story starts with a call from Harry Belafonte,” Nguyen tells Tudum, referring to the late singer and activist’s idea to have a benefit concert (an idea that evolved into recording a song) with the biggest stars of the moment. “To think about how that has reverberated, even again 40 years later, as a song that most people around the world still sing.”
Featuring never-before-seen footage, the film shows how Lionel Richie (who’s also executive producer of the film) and Michael Jackson co-wrote the now iconic song “We Are the World.” Each of them were riding immense successes that year but had never worked together — and their star power got other major artists of the time on board.
“We were all aware of each other, but in a lot of cases, we were meeting for the first time,” Richie tells Tudum. “To bring that much star power to one room, number one, to bring that much ego to one room, and on top of that, hoping that we all get along... it was [like] a big corporate meeting where you sit around and try to get used to each other, but everybody had power.”
In addition to Richie, the film also features interviews with many who sang on the recording, including Richie, Bruce Springsteen, Smokey Robinson, Cyndi Lauper, Kenny Loggins, Dionne Warwick, and Huey Lewis, as well as some of the musicians, engineers, and production crew who made it happen.
“You had Quincy Jones on production. You have [legendary entertainment manager] Ken Kragen and company wrangling all this amazing talent. You have some of the most iconic musical artists of the time writing the song,” Nguyen says. “If there was a team to make this song and make it happen, it was them. But at the same time, they had to execute it all in the span of a very short period of time.”
One of the story’s most essential characters is Jones, the American music giant who was responsible for bringing such an iconic group together. Jones died on Nov. 3, 2024, and in The Greatest Night in Pop, he’s cited as the maestro who was serenely in control of a room full of ego and personality.
“I asked Quincy Jones at the end, ‘How did you organize that?’ ” Richie says. “And he said, ‘You know what an arranger is, don’t you?’ ” And I said, ‘Yes, they put all the music together.’ He said, “No, no — we organized chaos.’ ”
Ultimately, Richie and Nguyen share the sentiment that what was created on that legendary night has staying power — to the point where, nearly 40 years later, it’s still instantly recognizable and beloved.
“People ask me to this day, ‘Hey, Lionel, are you thinking about writing another song like ‘We Are the World?’ ” Richie says. “I say, just play ‘We Are the World’ again. It’ll hold up.”
Watch The Greatest Night in Pop on Netflix now.
