Netflix has shared a trailer for The Greatest Night in Pop: a new documentary about the making of the 1985 charity single “We Are the World.”
The clip teases new footage from that fateful day in Jim Henson’s studio, as well as interviews with Bruce Springsteen, Smokey Robinson, Cyndi Lauper, Dionne Warwick, and Huey Lewis, among others. Directed by Bao Nguyen, The Greatest Night in Pop chronicles how Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie co-wrote “We Are the World” and assembled a supergroup of 45 musicians to perform it live in studio together.
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The movie will include never-before-seen footage and interviews with the artists, and uncovers new details about the storied song decades after its release. It sheds light on the all-star musicians who gathered together January 25, 1985, as they “checked their egos at the door and recorded a song to benefit African famine relief that would alter global pop culture history,” the official synopsis for the film reads. The Greatest Night in Pop will premiere January 19 at the Sundance Film Festival, and will arrive on Netflix on January 29.
As Richie explains in the trailer, the idea for “We Are the World” didn’t come from him or Jackson, but rather Harry Belafonte, who called him directly to ask if he could write a song to raise money for hunger relief in Africa. The proceeds raised from the single went to United Support of Artists for Africa (USA for Africa), a new nonprofit targeting food and relief aid to starving people in Africa, particularly Ethiopia as it then-experienced a famine.
Produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian, “We Are the World” went on to raise more than $63 million for the cause, which is over $160 million when adjusted for inflation. The song won four Grammy Awards and an American Music Award.
Watch the trailer for The Greatest Night in Pop below.
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Article Image: Black and white photo of various artists singing "We Are the World" in 1885. (Henry Diltz [Available through Public Domain] via Wikimedia Commons.)
