We know that the project was spearheaded by two important people for her: both Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson...
any stories to be told?? .......bizarre or otherwise??
We know that the project was spearheaded by two important people for her: both Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson...
any stories to be told?? .......bizarre or otherwise??
What a beautiful manifestation:
So we can see that Michael shared with Diana his vocal parts
And she is standing between Michael and Stevie and the three are holding hands.
Last edited by Boogiedown; 12-02-2023 at 11:59 AM.
more observations:
Michael is inserted , he and Diana do not sing together as are shown with other duets ... [neither do Bruce and Stevie.] Michael's voice is also thickened and the most enhanced .
Some performer's clothes change : Stevie wears three different outfits. {correction : two ]
Diana at some point is chosen? convinced? requests? to be first row wearing the WE ARE THE WORLD sweatshirt.
Last edited by Boogiedown; 11-16-2023 at 05:27 PM.
There's a great "behind the scenes" featurette of WATW hosted by Jane Fonda.
Last edited by Boogiedown; 11-16-2023 at 05:28 PM.
oh wait I didn't have the whole thing, SORRY MB !!!!
from
https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebri...up-usa-5714491
The recording itself went through the night. And to this day, Ken still remembers the sheer relief and adulation he felt once artists had come through the studio door to record their part of the song.
“We finished at eight in the morning. Left in the studio was Diana Ross, Quincy, myself and Tom Bahler – who was the vocal arranger for the song,” he says.
“You know, we were just sitting on the floor of the studio, hugging and crying. But I knew this wasn’t the end. This was only the beginning.”
its great.
Do I think for one second Jane Fonda was there .....
wow - kudos to you for identifying a topic that, if ever brought up, has been rarely discussed!!
I'm at work at the moment and so can't watch the video. but will later
didn't the artists sort of come in one by one and do their parts?
Diana was also in the Top 10 with Missing You when WATW was #1. she was the only artist on the song that had a Top 10 simultaneous hit
having just recently worked with Lionel on Missing You and recently with MJ on Muscles [[plus she and he were still quite close), it's no surprise they included her
what's more entertaining are the Jacksons that were NOT included lol
They recorded the song after the American Music Awards of 1985. Some of the performers at the show like Diana, Lionel, Tina, and the Pointer Sisters also took part in WE ARE THE WORLD. Most of the Jacksons except Jermaine and Janet also participated.
They recorded as an ensemble first, then they did the solos. On subsequent days, Quincy brought back Ray Charles and James Ingram to do additional vocals.
Last edited by reese; 11-16-2023 at 07:13 PM.
So let's ponder this ..... are Diana and Stevie "dueting" here....are they warming up to sing a shared segment of this song ?? Or, why are they sharing a mic .... was it an idea that was falling flat and was dropped??
Did Stevie sound so terrible here that they then asked him back on a different day for further and more focused [less distracted] vocals ??
Is this why a fake segment of Michael and Diana "dueting" was then created??
Last edited by Boogiedown; 11-26-2023 at 11:08 PM.
If you mean Janet.....it isn't as though she wasn't around ....they show her in the audience at the Awards show ... Brother Michael failed to mention the session to her??
another topic that's not been looked at .... after Lionel Richie hosts the AMAs both in '84 and '85; the next year Diana Ross hosts ....how did she do ??
Last edited by Boogiedown; 11-19-2023 at 03:36 PM.
She must've done well to be asked to do it again right away. It might be interesting to compare her two stints .....the second year likely went more smoothly now on familiar turf ....just as Lionel seems very comfortable in '85 his second year . [but I haven't compared it to his hosting the '84 show which might make for an interesting thread elsewhere ....]
According to some Jackson insiders, Janet got pissed with MJ for not telling her of the WATW session. LaToya and Rebbie went but Janet didn't. Maybe that's one reason when MJ asked her to do a duet in the late '80s/early '90s, she turned him down because she still felt some type of way of MJ doing that to her.
Lionel may have meant Top 10 R&B. Missing You struggled on the pop charts while rising to #1 R&B. The song was falling from its #46 peak when it rebounded into the pop top 10. Many feel that the attention given to the song during the AMA’s is the reason it became a top 10 pop hit.
I was just getting ready to write this when I saw your post.
The next year, Diana performed CHAIN REACTION on the show. It had already bombed at #95 on the pop chart. But after the performance, pop radio took renewed interest and a remix was issued. Unfortunately, it only reached #66 the second time around.
This is true, the AMA showing of the "Missing You" video and the tribute to Marvin helped it. I think also Motown had just released "Nightshift", another Marvin-ish tribute and that was rising on the charts as well. It had a better performance on the pop charts [[#3) than Diana's.
OMG no wonder they never dueted
I remember reading she had something to do with securing the participation of Bruce Springsteen
and also Stevie was also brought back ....a
This American Music awards show was stellar in its own right albeit a little too Lionel heavy :
Diana is at the end .....and does NOT perform [??] her current Top 10 hit but instead a video is played....
there are credits at the beginning. They mention Gladys Knight .... but ??
here's Diana:
^this poster doesn't want to be generous but its link still works
Last edited by Boogiedown; 11-18-2023 at 01:50 PM.
I remember taping this show on my first vcr but I had no idea how much I didn't keep.
I kept none of my faves like the Pointer Sisters or Tina Turner winning their awards. I did keep their performances though, as well as Lionel's and Diana's paying tribute to celebrities who had passed the year before.
Gladys and the Pips presented an award at 1:51:47
Thank you reese. Strikes me as a bit odd that all four of them are there just to be presenting an award, but this reflects the cohesion of these four that they would all be there. Maybe they were performing in LA and it lined up for them to attend....I don't think they were nominated ...
Not really odd. They saved the performance slots for the host and the hottest acts of the preceding year and Gladys and the guys had not had a hit since 1983. But I think they won for Favorite Soul Group at the 1984 ceremony. Plus being there reminded folks that they were still around, as their next album LIFE was due to be released in a few months.
Last edited by reese; 11-20-2023 at 01:42 PM.
I say odd because do groups typically show up at awards shows to present when they themselves aren't in the running [ or performing] as they are there really for that reason??
I'd like to see some examples. Not saying it's unheard of, but odd in that its uncommon. Having said that I agree with you 100% that doing so was very smart of them for visibility sakes and and again it really displays their shared commitment to advancing their group [ otherwise just Gladys being there could've sufficed.]
Last edited by Boogiedown; 11-20-2023 at 11:12 AM.
Was this the AMA where Lionel Ritchie attempted to turn "Outrageous" into a National catch phrase as he said it every time he accepted an award, or had mic time?
I wonder if Barbra Streisand was ever asked to participate?. Would have loved to have seen she and Diana in the same studio.
You don't like the Streisand comparison?
I was an early big fan of Bette. Saw her in one of her earliest shows and it was terrific... and then saw her again ...also good ... I also wrote her a fan letter [most unlike me]...[and got a reply!]. After her first couple of albums, her sound wore thin on me. But she is definitively a big name talent and for whatever reason : no solo for her!!
How you gonna deny John Denver? JOHN "ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH", "TAKE ME HOME COUNTRY ROADS" DENVER?! The guy who made humanitarianism COOL? Oh even when folks were bragging about how they didn't come in the studio with any ego there still were egos. JOHN DENVER NOT BEING ALLOWED TO BE ON WATW?! Give me a break. LOL yeah I bet they did have regrets, they need to. YEESH.
I agree with your outrage.
Yes it sounded like that decision kind of haunted them ...wish I could remember who expressed that regret.
I'm imagining the logistics here were so enormous....trying to keep it under wraps ....and then as certain people found out ...like John Denver .....keeping things on time which was so limited, they couldn't keep adjusting the scheduling of the participants' voices to fit in each person popping up. Who knows who all got turned down ....only Denver was mentioned as a specific regret.
Plus there was the balancing act of it not getting too this or that ....too country with Waylon and Willie and Kenny already in there. Too retro.
I'd love to know how Ray Charles got included . Pure genius. I vote his performance as what took this record over the top ...
Added:
Ken Kragen set a goal for himself to secure two major artists each day until he had 15 to 20. "I made call after call all day but none was more important than the one on which I convinced Bruce Springsteen's manager, Jon Landau, to get him to do it," he said. "After that, the flood gates opened and I had to turn all sorts of people down. John Denver was the hardest one -- several people felt his image would hurt the credibility of the recording as a pop/rock anthem. I didn't agree."
Last edited by Boogiedown; 01-23-2024 at 04:12 AM.
I just remembered Quincy Jones and Ray Charles were very tight when still young and struggling in the Seattle area. I bet Quincy wanted his good buddy to be included in this monumental occasion. I bet it is he is who chose to give Charles so much prominence.
I also bet Quincy was 70% , no make it 85% the reason the whole WE ARE THE WORLD recording was pulled off.
Oddly enough, when this song was remade for Haiti, Streisand sang Diana’s part.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/poor%20man%27s
Well they both have comedic careers while also being serious singers, Streisand [arguably?] being the more elevated of the two.
If you had a dollar in your pocket, you went and saw Barbra, 50 cents, Bette.
[hey, fifty-cent bet ..... "FIFTY-CENT BETTE" .... coulda/ shoulda been a Midler album title ]
As far as their both being Jewish , that wasn't part of my comparison but I guess you could include that when lumping them together, they are both pretty relentless about pointing that out about themselves.
Last edited by Boogiedown; 11-22-2023 at 05:09 PM.
More pondering. Stevie is not feeling this. He is not smiling [beyond his singing style] nor having a good time.
Diana is being too aggressive and silly and is wailing with the same off-key note throughout. By the end, Stevie has lost his momentum as Diana out shrills him and at one point she even shakes and grips him to try to bring him around.
He may be having Syreeta flashbacks or is thinking, this is why I usually duet with guys ....
I believe he says @ 1:35 "I don't want to do this" [with Diana?] as Diana protests that she's "easy to get along with" and Diana chides him for being difficult and speaks for both of them to continue , that they are ready....and she goes right back to shrieking only now worse than ever right 'til the moment they cut it off.
In the end they get one snippet from Stevie @1:45 out of this for use in the finalized release.
From Diana, they use nothing.
So, how did Stevie wind up returning to add so much more at a follow-up session? Did he know he didn't accomplish his goal? Did he request a chance to perform more?
Or , did they call Stevie and say there isn't much here for us to use , would you be interested in coming in again.
Who called who??
Or, another idea: did they know all along that there would be additional input from him, so this bit with Diana wasn't do or die ??
Last edited by Boogiedown; 11-29-2023 at 12:10 AM.
I used to have an internet friend who worked as a sound technician [[something like that) on We Are teh World and I asked him specifically about what DR was like on the set. He said she could not have been nicer or easier to work with. He did say that all he remembered specifically was that she wanted to stand next to Michael Jackson in the video, and then she wanted to be by Stevie Wonder, so they put her in between them. He didn't see it as ego or anything--more like she knew them the best out of all the singers. My memory is a bit cloudy at this point, but I could swear that he said DR was originally supposed to be next to the Pointer Sisters, but didn't want to for whatever reason.
Knowing of her history with fellow female performers, she likely felt intimidated. Diana strikes me as "I like to be with the guys" type going back to the early years. That could be it. Another reason may have been "they are part of the Motown family so I wanna be with them". Though that's probably not true since Smoke was cut out of this. LOL we'll probably never know.
I really appreciate knowing the perspective of someone who was actually there. Diana being between Michael & Stevie only seems natural and perfect to me. Motown music, influence and spirit pervades the room.
Interpretations are [almost always] interesting here. It didn't occur to me that some might mistake the Pointers as Supremes, and so Diana might want to avoid that.I find it interesting how some of you interpreted Diana not wanting to stand next to the Pointers! What came to my mind was a little different. I assumed she thought people might think the Pointers were the Supremes, and she was at that point a very established solo star. We completists know the Supremes when we see them, but as a college kid in 1985, I can tell you the average person on the street really didn't know who was who. Kind of like how most of the public assumed Aretha was a Motown artist, even though she never was.
Aretha mistaken as a Motown artist has always been disturbing to me. I wonder how the Queen of Soul felt about it?
Good stuff! I've been wondering how Diana got placed between Michael and Stevie [had it been Michael that requested being beside her?] and your account of it answers my suspicions.
There is very little footage of Michael. He definitely was aloof [or they would've featured the footage*] and didn't take an active leading role in guiding the performances the way Lionel and Quincy did. He didn't seem as committed.
Also Quincy made it very clear that this was not to be anyone's time to show up glitzy and to come in your most regular street clothes ... this whole thing isn't about you .....but there was Michael showing up in his Bee Gees /Sargent Peppers. And then for some reason they went out of their way to include a pan up showing Jackson's sparkly socks and gloves. [??!!]
I bet Quincy had nothing to do with that !!
*Especially nothing with him and Diana. The two didn't try to actually sing together that entire night before resorting to a faked duet??
Last edited by Boogiedown; 12-08-2023 at 04:10 PM.
I thought it odd that Michael wasn't at the AMAs since he / Thriller was nominated several times and was obviously in town that night. Now I see he skipped them so as to lay down a leading vocal track that everyone else could follow. Maybe he had intended to go to the awards show switching at the last minute and that is why he is garbed up.
Can't confirm if Quincy Jones had anything to do with the AMAs that night....
Stevie Wonder really got himself involved here....participating at the first gathering with Quincy and Michael and Lionel, appearing the night of the recording , and coming back to do more for a third time.
[to add some Diana here: it seems the USA FOR AFRICA sweat-shirt came her way right away ....]
Last edited by Boogiedown; 12-13-2023 at 11:45 AM.
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