In January 1985, more than three dozen musicians gathered at a recording studio in Los Angeles, California to sing “We Are the World” — a song penned by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie with the intention of raising money for famine relief in Ethiopia.
There was a novelty to the medley of musicians who gathered to record that night: Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Huey Lewis, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper — the list goes on and on.
Before recording began, producer Quincy Jones scribbled out a sign at the entrance of the studio that said “Leave your egos at the door,” highlighting the gravity of the task at hand.
According to the Netflix documentary “The Greatest Night in Pop,” the song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and the record sold 1 million copies in its first weekend alone.
“Since the release, ‘We Are the World’ has raised over $80 million — equivalent to approximately $160 million in 2024 — for humanitarian causes in Africa and continues to raise money to this day,” the documentary explained through text on screen.
“I think every individual in the world wants to contribute and they don’t know how,” Diana Ross said in 1985, in an archival clip from the documentary. “I got a feeling that we’re creating a shift in what’s going on in the world today, about helping other people. It’s [about] compassion.”
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A version of this article originally appeared in the 2024 Music Edition of the Goodnewspaper.
Header image via Netflix / The Greatest Night In Pop
