The single night recording of We Are the World, a charity single for African famine relief, and the collaborating personalities involved was history in the making.
With the UK charity single release in December 1984 of Do They Know It’s Christmas?, the initiative by Bob Geldof and Band Aid, musician and activist Harry Belafonte looked to an American response. With music manager, producer and consultant Ken Kragen, Belafonte approached Lionel Richie – and from there are on in, the idea snowballed. And quickly. Action was needed immediately. The ceremony for the American Music Awards on 28 January 1985 was identified – the industry would be descending on LA. That gave Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson mere weeks to write the song, artists to be contacted and confirmed, practical arrangements made and Quincy Jones to produce.
As The Greatest Night in Pop shows, it was tight. Extended commentary from Richie himself on the whole process along with insights from the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper, Dionne Warwick, Huey Lewis, Sheila E., Smokey Robinson as well as technicians and cameramen involved support the gist of Bao Nguyen’s documentary – the footage of the A&M recording session on that one January 1985 night/morning.
With Richie as our tour guide, The Greatest Night in Pop is a blast – the chaos of 40+ artists, their commitment, the vocal control of Michael Jackson, the wizardry of Stevie Wonder, the discomfort of Bob Dylan, the calm of Quincy Jones.
Rating: 74%
Director: Bao Nguyen (Live From New York!, Be Water)
An Opinion or Two 