Lionel Richie announced that We Are The World would feature a very important artist at the time, but certain creative decisions led to her being excluded (Source: Netflix)
In 1985, Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson were responsible for writing “We Are The World,” a song intended to raise funds to fight the famine Ethiopia. For the ambitious project, Richie was responsible for inviting some of the most famous musicians of the time, such as: Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, Cyndi Lauper, Tina Turner, Billy Joel, Diana Ross, Willie Nelson and Ray Charles. Although the song was a resounding success and has now become an anthem of peace and unity, Richie confessed in a recent interview that there is something he deeply regrets about the issue: Not inviting Madonna.
By 1985, the Material Girl was already a pop culture icon, so her inclusion in a song about to go viral was practically obvious. However, during a conversation with host Jimmy Kimmel, Richie revealed that Madonna was left out because It needed voices that were recognized immediatelysomething they apparently didn't find in the Like a Virgin interpreter.
Lionel Richie revealed that Madonna was not invited to record “We Are The World” because they felt she did not have an immediately recognizable voice (Photo by Bill Marino/Sygma via Getty Images)
So Madonna was replaced by another very important figure of the 80s: Cyndi Lauper. However, the Girls Just Want To Have Fun singer's involvement was also questionable for a while.
“We needed voices that people would immediately recognize. By the way, for some reason we didn't know if Cyndi was coming. Because after the show I said to Cyndi, “Are you coming? And she said, “I talked to my friend and he said he didn't think it was a success.” And I said, “Don't miss this session,” and she came and did great things. The thing is, you have to have an identifiable voice. For whatever reason, Cyndi had this… that's it.“Lionel Richie shared.
After Madonna was excluded, Cindy Lauper was chosen. However, the singer was not entirely sure about her participation
Lionel didn't elaborate on why they didn't use both voices. However, Kimmel shared his opinion on the matter, stating that it was a mistake not to include Madonna, to which the singer of songs like Say You, Say Me and Stuck On You simply responded: “I’m saying this now on national and international television: you’re right.”
Lionel Richie confessed that not inviting Madonna to We Are The World was a complete mistake. (Pictured is Lionel Richie reviewing the lyrics to “We Are The World” with Cindy Lauper) (Source: The Greatest Night in Pop – Netflix)
Richie's statements come a month after the premiere of The Greatest Night in Pop, a Netflix documentary directed by Bao Nguyen and was released in January and offers an intimate look at the creation of this piece in a single evening.
It is worth noting that, although it was a historical recording, not everything was so perfect and it was the participation of Cyndi Lauper that caused some tension. Quincy Jonesproducer of We Are The World, even confessed that it was very difficult to work with the artist because he didn't really like the song and sent his manager to talk to Jones and do something about it.
Cindy Lauper's participation in “We Are The World” caused some tension because she didn't like the song, and it was a real challenge to pair her voice with singer Kim Carner (In the photo, Cindy Lauper is obviously singing next to one frustrated Kim Carner)
Cyndi later admitted that filming was complicated as there were knocks with her bracelets and necklaces between takes, which significantly delayed the project. As the icing on the cake, Lauper had to sing a duet of the song Kim Carnes and the very different singing styles of both artists resulted in the voices failing to establish harmony, requiring several additional hours of rehearsals. Behind the scenes of the creation of We Are The World you can see the frustration of both artists.