Netflix will release a documentary titled The Greatest Night in Pop on January 29, 2024, showcasing the making of the We Are the World music video. However, ahead of its OTT release, it will premiere on January 19 at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
Directed by Bao Nguyen, The Greatest Night in Pop will narrate the story of the historic event that took place on January 25, 1985, in Los Angeles. Furthermore, it will explain how the organizer managed to pull off the seemingly impossible task of assembling 46 of the world’s most famous singers to record a track in one night. Interestingly, the event happened before the era of cell phones and the internet.
The Greatest Night in Pop will feature unseen interviews and footage of names such as Smokey Robinson, Cyndi Lauper, Kenny Loggins, Dionne Warwick, and more. In addition, the upcoming documentary will include conversations with musicians, engineers, and production crews as they talk about the historic event from their point of view.
According to Tudum by Netflix, the description of The Greatest Night in Pop reads, “Featuring never-before-seen footage, the film shows how Lionel Richie (who’s also a producer on the film) and Michael Jackson — each of them riding wild successes that year but never having worked together — co-wrote the now iconic song ‘We Are the World.'”
It further states, “Their star power got other major artists of the time on board. The film also features interviews with many of the artists who were there, 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.”
The Greatest Night in Pop on Netflix: Who were the writers of We Are the World?
We Are the World was written by legendary singers Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie. The project’s aim was to raise funds for the African famine that killed over a million people. In 2016, Kevin Spacey interviewed Richie at the Beverly Hills’ Wallis Annenberg Center. Richie mentioned that during the making of We Are the World, Harry Belafonte asked him, why “plenty of white folks saving black folks, but not a lot of black folks saving black folks.”
According to Billboard, We Are the World was originally going to feature four artists—Richie, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, and Quincy Jones. However, thanks to Richie’s then-manager, Ken Kragen, more than 40 talented individuals participated in the project.
During the interview, Lionel Richie said, “I’m at Michael’s house trying to write ‘We Are The World’ and his dog is barking and his Mynah bird is yelling ‘Shut up’ [repeatedly at the dog]. I see albums falling over. I look again and see more falling over and there’s an albino python [coming toward me].”
He ended his statement by saying, “I will admit I was screaming like a white woman. Michael goes, ‘Oh my God, Lionel. There he is, he wants to play with you.’ I know you want a spiritual tale about how we brought this song you, but that’s how it was for three days.”
Ken Kragen died on December 14, 2021, at the age of 85. As a tribute to his former manager, Lionel Richie, Quincy Jones and more artists re-recorded a new song. Besides Richie, Kragen was the personal manager of artists such as Trisha Yearwood, Travis Tritt, Dottie West, and Kenny Rogers.
