From the first seed of an idea to the creative chaos of cramming 40-plus celebrities into a single recording studio, The Greatest Night in Pop, the new documentary from director Bao Nguyen (Be Water) chronicles every obstacle and behind-the-scenes story that led to the iconic song we all know and love. Still performed at karaoke bars and school recitals all over the globe, “We Are the World” gathered together dozens of pop and rock luminaries on one unprecedented night to raise millions of dollars in humanitarian aid for African famine relief. Upon its release in 1985, it quickly became the first single to be certified multiplatinum. The song was produced by the late Quincy Jones, and co-written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson at the height of their fame — in an interview with Tudum, Richie says Jones “organized chaos” to pull of the legendary recording session. “We Are the World” featured solos by Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Cyndi Lauper, Stevie Wonder, and Kenny Rogers, among many more musical superstars. Today, it’s considered a classic.
In The Greatest Night in Pop, the story of how it all came together is told by the people who made it happen, including camera crew, engineers, assistants, and musicians like Richie himself, who served as an executive producer of the film. And despite its popularity, there are still origin stories that you probably didn’t know. Below are five of the most incredible moments of the film — including some you may be surprised by.
“Michael [Jackson]’s house was colorful,” Richie tells Tudum. The pair had known each other since Richie’s days in The Commodores and Jackson’s in The Jackson 5, but when it came time to pen a new song together, Richie found himself visiting Jackson’s home for the first time. With both stars in high demand, the writing session turned out to be a bit chaotic, but it wasn’t just their packed schedules and other creative projects that proved to be a distraction. Richie recalls Jackson encouraging him to get friendly with Bubbles, his pet chimpanzee, while in another room, a myna bird and dog squawked and barked incessantly.
At one session, the songwriters were interrupted by another member of Jackson’s menagerie. “Out of the corner of my eye, I see some albums falling over,” Richie says in the film. The culprit? Jackson’s pet python. Jackson, who thought the snake had gone missing, was happy it had apparently been coaxed out of hiding by their sweet melodies. For his part, Richie remembers thinking, “I gotta get out of here quick.”
“I love Huey [Lewis],” says Tom Bahler, who created the “We Are the World” vocal arrangement, in the film. “But not every artist was going to sing a solo.” The song’s architects hadn’t quite secured an appearance from Prince, but they held out hope until the last possible minute, even reserving a brief solo for the Purple One directly opposite Jackson, his rival on the pop charts. As the night wore on, however, it became clear that Prince was going to be a no-show. (In those days, no one could simply text Prince, “r U going 2 show up 4 Ur solo?”) Another soloist was needed; Kenny Loggins suggested Lewis, who’d had a string of recent hits with songs like “I Want a New Drug” and “Heart of Rock ’n’ Roll.”
“Those are pretty big shoes to fill,” Lewis says in the film of the Prince solo that wasn’t. “It was just one line, but my legs were literally shaking.”
When Stevie Wonder suggested, mid-recording, that a Swahili phrase be added to the lyrics, not everyone was on board. Amid the ensuing creative debate, a member of the chorus dropped out.
“We lost Waylon [Jennings] right there,” says Richie in the doc. Ken Woo, who was tasked with filming the recording session, recalls hearing Jennings say, “Well, ain’t no good ol’ boy ever sung Swahili. Think I’m out of here.”
As the hours ticked away, Sheila E. also began to feel disillusioned with the project. She’d been told that she would have a solo, but as her time at the mic kept getting postponed, she started to suspect that she’d only been invited to participate as a means of luring Prince, her creative collaborator.
“It was getting late and I was looking forward to singing one of the verses, but they kept asking, ‘Well, do you think you can get Prince here?’ ” Sheila E. says in the film. “They never intended on having me sing a verse, which was a little bit heartbreaking.” She decided to leave the studio.
“Sheila E. told us that she has never spoken about this publicly,” Nguyen tells Tudum. “At the same time, she had no regrets [about] being part of that project. She still looks upon [it in a] really positive way today.”
Richie initially hoped to have Wonder help write the song. When multiple calls went unanswered, the project went on without him.
“When Stevie says, ‘I’ll call you back,’ you just wait for him to call you back,” Richie explains in the documentary.
By the time Wonder eventually checked in with the team weeks later, ready to pen a hit, the song had already been written. But although Wonder missed out on the songwriting process, his presence in the recording studio went the extra mile to help the superstar egos in the room collaborate smoothly. When it came time for individual artists to perform in front of the group, Wonder — perhaps sensing the nervous energy in the room — made light of the situation. “Stevie screws it up — playfully, as only Stevie can,” Lewis says of the legend’s first solo attempt. “Kind of on purpose.” The flub brought a much-needed touch of levity to the situation.
“One of my favorite scenes is seeing Stevie Wonder help Bob Dylan out,” Nguyen says. “That was such a heartwarming scene.” When called to the microphone to sing ad-libs over the chorus, Dylan struggled to muster the right notes until Wonder sat down at the piano and sang some sample riffs — while doing a pitch-perfect Dylan impression. The impromptu performance made Dylan smile, and gave him the guidance he needed to nail his solo.
The recording of “We Are the World” began just after Richie hosted that evening’s American Music Awards ceremony and lasted, in the words of one of his greatest hits, all night long. As the exhausted participants trickled out of the studio, Bahler noticed that Diana Ross had begun to cry. “Quincy said, ‘Diana, are you OK?’ and she said, ‘I don’t want this to be over,’ ” he recalls in the doc. “It was the sweetest thing I think I ever heard.” While the gathering of so many stars in one room had made for an exciting yet at times awkward mood, the thrill of collaboration and the idealism behind the project made fast friends of many.
“By 7 o’clock in the morning, we became a family,” Richie tells Tudum. “You’d have thought we’d been together for the last 100 years.”
Watch The Greatest Night in Pop on Netflix now.
