(Credits: Far Out / Album Cover / Netflix)
When it comes to the biggest charity singles of all time, no one ever considers the possibility of cutthroat high-stakes drama behind the scenes, but best believe it does still happen. It may all be in the name of philanthropy and goodwill, but would it really be the music industry if there weren’t a few egos and flared tempers at play? He may have certainly seemed like a musical Messiah on this front, but it turns out that Quincy Jones was just as brutal as on ‘We Are The World’.
Although the spirit of charity was at the heart of the song, following the UK’s lead with ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ to raise money for the famine in Ethiopia, it seemed that same giving nature was never extended to the gargantuan list of artists who wanted a place on the bill. Some might say the more the merrier, but with the enclosed space of a recording studio barely able to handle the calibre of star and inflated self-importance that would grace its midst, producer Jones had to put some offers on the chopping block.
With over 45 musicians taking part in the song, and another 50 turned away, it’s a fair assessment to say that ‘We Are the World’ was one pretty hot ticket. As the likes of Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, and Tina Turner all stood front and centre, you wouldn’t necessarily notice that there were some absentees from that stacked line-up. But indeed, for egos or otherwise, there were some fairly prominent missing names, some of whom lived to regret their oversight.
One of the most notorious was Prince, who would have participated in the single, but on the condition that he could be provided a separate room to record a guitar solo in, which Richie refused to indulge. The singer’s taste had already been soured, however, when co-organiser Bob Geldof had previously branded him a “creep,” and thus, chances of Prince ever gracing the charity front again were flatlined. Indeed, it was a similar story when it came to Live Aid, where he only agreed to appear in a pre-recorded video as he didn’t believe the concert was good enough for his standards. Ouch.
Who else was turned away from ‘We Are The World’?
That said, His Royal Badness was not the only one to give ‘We Are the World’ the cold shoulder, intentionally or otherwise. In this vein, Wonder had requested Eddie Murphy to be part of the line-up, but the comedian-turned-singer declined the offer as he was too busy recording the single from his debut album, ‘Party All the Time’. Murphy did confess that after he “realised what it was, [he] felt like an idiot,” but it was too little, too late. A nice piece of karma, however, was that his song was kept from the top spot of the charts, by whom, you ask? Richie, one of the spearheads of the tune, he turned down.
Elsewhere, there were other prolific artists who pined for a place on ‘We Are the World’, but were pretty unceremoniously snubbed from the effort. Among the most shocking was the Queen of Pop herself, Madonna, who, despite having whipped up a storm in recent years prior to that point, was not allowed to feature on ‘We Are the World’ as Richie’s manager preferred Cyndi Lauper over her. Then there was John Denver, who offered himself up gladly, given his previous charity work, but was controversially turned down. He later said, “It broke my heart not to be included.”
Missing out on what eventually transpired to be the eighth best-selling song of all time is bound to serve a pretty bitter blow, whether it was for the selfish reasons of the status or more admirable inclinations. Either way, for those involved, ‘We Are the World’ is always going to represent a particular high point – and for those left behind, a pretty sharp sting.
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