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The sessions began on the evening of January 28, 1985 at A&M Studios in Hollywood, California, and ended well after sunrise on the morning of January 29. At that point, it was clear that there was nothing quite like We Are the World. ‘ may happen again. great night of popNetflix’s new documentary brings it all vividly to life. Co-writers Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie are joined by Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and an incredibly long list of other superstars. Produced by Quincy Jones, they were crammed into a room to record the most overcrowded group of cuts in human history.
To celebrate the release of the new documentary and the 39th anniversary of the recording session, we take an exclusive look back at the groundbreaking mega-collaboration on a new episode of . rolling stone music now, speaking with documentary director Bao Nguyen. Quincy Jones’ longtime associate Tom Baylor arranged the vocals for “We Are the World.” and one of the singers that night, Sheila E. Some highlights follow. To listen to the entire episode, visit your podcast provider of choice here, listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or press the play button above.
Sheila E. felt cheated by the song’s producer. In the podcast, she expands on the revelations from the documentary, explaining that she felt cheated when the promise of a solo vocal part never materialized. Instead, the producers kept asking her to call Prince, her close collaborator at the time, to come to the sessions, which of course he didn’t do. “Lionel and Quincy kept saying, ‘Why don’t we call Prince?'” she says. rolling stone music now. “Everyone took turns trying to get me to call them back and get them to come down…I just thought, wow, they were all my friends. That’s cold-blooded.” (According to Nguyen) (For example, Lionel Richie, one of the producers of the new documentary, did not object to Sheila E.’s account.)
Bruce Springsteen spoke for the documentary after Lionel Richie personally contacted him. “In a way, life imitated art,” Nguyen says. [the original song] All the artists called each other and said, “This is going to be a hit.” ”
When it came to choosing the parts for the many singers, Quincy Jones left the choice primarily to arranger Tom Baylor, but he had some defining ideas of his own. “‘I have two requests for you,'” Jones recalled telling Baylor. “One is that Lionel first wrote this and started writing this, so he should be the first voice we hear. Then Michael came in and we finished it together, so Michael should sing the first chorus.” And this is his humor, he said, “And I think we should have Diana in the second half of the first chorus, because I don’t think they’re the same person.” There are some people who think so.”
Much of the behind-the-scenes footage from the sessions did not have audio, but once the filmmakers found out, they were able to painstakingly restore the audio. life Magazine journalist David Breslin kept all of them as his own lo-fi recordings. “Our archive producer was like, ‘Oh, let me get in touch with you about this.'” life Become a magazine reporter and see what he has. ” Nguyen says. “He was like, ‘Oh yeah, I have a dictaphone for hours.'” So we got lucky. ”
A viral TikTok suggesting Michael Jackson was dissatisfied with Huey Lewis’ performance is not accurate. As the documentary details, Lewis did not include a solo on the song until well into the recording sessions, when it became clear that Prince, who the producers had expected for the part, would never show up. Rather, Jackson’s stoic expression during that part of the session merely reflected his own shyness and everyone’s stress at the sudden switch.
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