Lionel Richie speaks on his one regret during the making of the 1985 hit, “We Are The World.”
During a recent interview with Jimmy Kimmel, Richie revealed that he regrets not including Madonna on the track. He along with the other producers added Cyndi Lauper instead. “It’s probably one of the most interesting questions in the world because we had only a half a line to sing,” the singer said. “We had to have voices that people knew right away.”
He added that they chose Lauper because her voice was more identifiable, “And for whatever reason, Cyndi just had that,” he explained. When asked why he didn’t have both Lauper and Madonna on the song together, Richie said that he made a mistake leaving her out.
“I’m going to say this now on national and international television, you’re right,” the singer said. Lionel Richie, Quincy Jones, and Michael Jackson came together to write the song and included pop icons such as Diana Ross, Ray Charles, Tina Turner, Paul Simon, Dionne Warwick. Bruce Springsteen, Smokey Robinson and many others were on the USA for Africa’s “We Are the World” song.
The song went on to be one of the top-selling singles of all time and raised over $60 million for the cause. The documentary about the historic night is currently on Netflix and it’s named “The Greatest Night In Pop.”