Was Al Jarreau a part of We Are the World? The Greatest Night in Pop reveals fascinating details

The Greatest Night in Pop is a documentary by Vietnamese-American director Bao Nguyen (known for Julian, Live from New York!) released on Netflix on Jan. 29, 2024.

The music documentary traces the process of creation that went behind the popular song We Are the World. It includes never-seen-before behind-the-scenes footage focusing on the world-renowned artists who got together to create the song for the USA for Africa charity.

We Are the World is part of the album with the same title as the song, featuring ten tracks from various donating artists.

The Greatest Night in Pop documents the supergroup that got together to create the song to raise money for Africa in 1985, which included legends like Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, and Quincy Jones.

Pop star Al Jarreau was among the numerous artists who got together to create the magical song, and the Netflix documentary has revealed some exciting details about him that are explored in this article.

---

The Greatest Night in Pop reveals that Al Jarreau faced some difficulties in delivering his part in the song We Are the World

The Greatest Night in Pop discusses how We Are the World was created to raise awareness and funds for the African famine epidemic that affected the continent at that time.

Inspired by the success of the charity song Do They Know It's Christmas, UK supergroup Band Aid and American pop singers formed a supergroup to raise charity funds for Africa.

The song was initially the brainchild of Harry Belafonte who, along with fundraiser Ken Kragen, started to contact musicians to create the song.

We Are the World was written by the King of Pop Michael Jackson along with Lionel Richie and produced by the famous Quincy Jones. What resulted was a seven-minute song that even featured solo sections from an array of talent which included the famous R&B pop singer Al Jarreau.

The documentary by Bao Nguyen delves into the creative process behind the scenes and features an interesting snippet about Al Jarreau's part in the song too.

As one of the solo vocalists on the song, Al Jarreau carried a massive responsibility of nailing his part. However, as revealed in the documentary, the pop singer had turned up intoxicated at the recording studio.

The drunk Jarreau faced difficulties in recording the song and required more takes than usual to finish recording his part.

However, he was in jovial spirits and even added humor to the group. As shown in the documentary, producer Quincy Jones wanted to honor the mastermind behind the song, Harry Belafonte with a shoutout and hushed the large group to do so.

This is when Al Jarreau broke out to sing Belafonte's song Day-O (The Banana Boat Song) without any warning, prompting his talented contemporaries to chime in too.

The Greatest Night in Pop is a documentary that takes viewers down memory lane with several wholesome footage like the one featuring Al Jarreau.

The song featured more than 40 musicians including the likes of Bob Dylan, Prince, Ray Charles, Cyndi Lauper, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, and Smokey Robinson among others.

The song was released on March 7, 1985, and went on to be honored with four Grammy Awards, one People's Choice Award and one American Music Award.

---

The Greatest Night in Pop was released on Jan. 29, 2024, and is currently available for streaming on Netflix.