The real reason Prince and Madonna didn’t join Michael Jackson for ‘We Are the World’: doc
nypost.com“We Are the World” was a once-in-a-generation meeting of musical giants when it was recorded Jan. 28, 1985 — and released two months later on March 7 — to benefit African famine relief.Anyone who was anyone in music at that moment — a who’s who of legends, including everyone from Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and Bob Dylan to Billy Joel, Tina Turner and Bruce Springsteen — showed up to support the cause.Written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones and ’80s hitmaker Michael Omartian, the single sold a whopping 20 million copies.
But two ’80s pop royals — Prince and Madonna — were missing from the megawatt mix on that star-studded night at A&M Recording Studios in Hollywood, right after the American Music Awards.The documentary “The Greatest Night in Pop” — which premiered Friday at the Sundance Film Festival and will begin streaming Monday on Netflix — reveals why the two icons didn’t participate in the historic recording.Prince — who was rumored to be in a feud with Jackson for pop supremacy after his 1984 “Purple Rain” blockbuster — was actually courted by his singer-drummer protégé Sheila E., who was invited by Richie to the all-star session in hopes that she would convince her enigmatic mentor to participate.“Man, you should come — it’s really cool,” she told Prince, who was chilling at the Mexican restaurant Carlos ’n Charlie’s after taking home three trophies and performing “Purple Rain” at the AMAs.But Prince would only come if he could record a guitar solo in a room all by his regal self.“I knew he wasn’t going to come because there were too many people,” says Sheila E.
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