Music producer Ken Kragen tells how he helped Lionel Richie, Quincey Jones and Michael Jackson gather megastars like Dylan, Springsteen and Diana Ross for the song
Lifesavers: The charity hit featured big names like Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, Tina Turner, Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson, Al Jarreau, Bruce Springsteen, Daryl Hall, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Dan Aykroyd, Harry Belafonte, Lindsey Buckingham, Bob Geldof, La Toya Jackson, Marlon Jackson, Randy Jackson, Tito Jackson, Bette Midler, John Oates, and Smokey Robinson
With a stellar line-up boasting 45 of the biggest names in music, We Are The World raised more than £40million to combat famine in Africa.
But 30 years after the hit topped the UK charts, it’s been revealed for the first time what went on behind the closed doors of the LA recording studio in 1985 - including how it almost fell to pieces following an explosive rant from Bob Geldof.
Legendary music manager Ken Kragen today relives the pressure of putting together the supergroup, telling how Prince failed to turn up to record the song because he was scared of being around people; Bob Dylan got stage fright and Michael Jacksonwas so intimidated, he hid in the toilets.
It’s a glimpse into the lives of the worlds biggest pop stars that few would ever have.
Now 78 and living in LA, Ken still can’t quite believe he and friend Quincy Jonespulled it off.
He says: “We never intended to have 45 artists there. That itself was a huge undertaking. But Quincy coined a fabulous phrase: ‘Leave your egos at the door.’
“And we had that on a sign in the studio as you entered the room.”
Ken - whose clients included Lionel Richie - was used to dealing with big stars, but having 45 icons in the same room, most at the same time, all with different ideas was always going to be a challenge.
He and his industry pals came up with the idea of a US supergroup when Bob Geldof pooled the best British talent to record Do They Know It’s Christmas? after being left distraught by images of starving people in Ethiopia and Sudan.
Touched by Bob’s efforts, Ken asked his client Lionel to write a song with pal Quincy and superstar Jacko.
He then set about getting the rest of the artists - by scanning the top of the charts and calling up agents.
Ken says: “On the 2nd January, I decided that I’m going to get two artists a day, and I’m going to work from the top of the record charts… I already had Michael who was number one, Lionel was maybe number three, Prince was number two.
“My idea was, by the time I got into bed, I would add two artists until I got to 15-18 artists.”
But Ken says his biggest move was convincing Bruce Springsteen to do the single – after that he didn’t need to pick up the phone at all.
He said: “There are certain artists that are magnets. Lionel Richie has a great line, he says, ‘you are who you hug’.
“Everybody wanted to hug Bruce Springsteen. Everybody wanted to stand next to Bruce Springsteen. Bruce was The Boss. And certainly, with the rockers, if Bruce is there they want to be there.”
The wheels were in motion - but all wasn’t smooth running.
Just a day before they were set to record at the famous A&M Studios in LA one globally renowned rock group – that Ken refuses to name – threatened to pull out of the project because they thought it would harm their street cred.
According to Ken, it was divine intervention from Springsteen that saved the day.
Ken says: “Bruce told the band: ‘I didn’t come out here to walk away. I came here to save lives - I came here to feed people. I’m going to be there’.
“If Bruce stayed and the other rockers had left, they would’ve looked terrible. The next day, everybody was there.”
Ken recalls another story involving ‘The Boss’ which he says epitomises the man .
On the night of the recording, the stars began arriving in stretch limos.
“There was a huge crowd of people outside and I was standing at the front of the studios welcoming the artists,” says Ken.
“All of a sudden, through the crowd, this guy pushes his way to the front. He’s in a leather jacket, wearing cut-off gloves, and it’s Bruce.
“And he says to me, ‘I got a great parking space there over by La Brea.’
“That’s his opening line to me. Everybody else came by limo, Bruce drove himself and parked across the street, walked through the crowd, and they didn’t even realize it was Bruce coming through.”
One notable absentee that night however was Prince - who was too shy to perform in front of his peers.
Ken says: “One of the reasons Prince didn’t turn up, and Prince later recorded a song for the We Are The World album, is because he always recorded alone and not with an engineer.
“He would go into the studio, do his own engineering and record every instrument and sing and no one else would be there. All of a sudden, he couldn’t be in a room with his peers.
“He knew it was a mistake. It was unfortunate that he didn’t show.”
But Ken was most surprised that Bob Dylan struggled with stage fright.
“I’m a huge fan of his, and when he had to record his part of the song it just didn’t sound like Bob,” he says.
“Quincy and Lionel cleared the studio, and they had him go up to the microphone, they sat down at the piano, did his part and imitated what he should sound like, then he went up to the microphone and did it.
“Bob’s a very shy guy to begin with, and to make him perform like he was used to, they had to record his part alone.”
If recording the vocals was troublesome, it was nothing compared to taking the record cover photo.
When they came to take it, the man who co-wrote the song – Michael Jackson – was missing.
“The picture that was taken for the album cover, and was the front cover of Time magazine, was done first but we couldn’t find Michael,” remembers Ken.
“I went looking for him all through the studio until I found him in the bathroom curled up on the counter. He was so intimidated. He had never recorded with all these superstars.
“I said to him, ‘Michael, you’ve gotta come out. You wrote the record.’”
As if this wasn’t drama enough, there was nearly another major fallout when Ken invited Bob Geldof to come and see the work they were doing - only for him to be left aghast when he saw them all munching on food and treats in the green room.
Grabbing the microphone, he nearly threatened to bring down the whole thing, not realising the food had been donated for free.
“I don’t know who, but someone had contributed complete catering,” recalls Ken. “We had this huge layout of food. And we created a little stage with a microphone in case any of the artists want to come in and talk to the group.
“So I’m in the studio, and someone comes in and says to me Geldof is talking to the group and to come quick.
“I go into the room and Geldof is on the stand telling these people, cursing away, saying, ‘You people are here eating all this food when there’s people starving in Africa’.”
“He’s thinking that money has been spent on catering, but everything was free.
“Geldof went on saying when he did Do They Know It’s Christmas?, he went out and got Kentucky Fried Chicken or McDonald’s for the group that was that. But here we’ve got this elaborate selection of food.
“About a third of the room left, at least half the people. We lost a bunch of people because they felt guilty that Bob thought they were partying.”
Ken still had an enormous amount of talent on the track - but there were some stars that Ken, who now teaches at the Herb Alpert School of Music at UCLA, still wishes were on it.
“Barbra Streisand,” he exclaims. “She originally agreed, but then one of her advisors talked her out of it. She always regretted it.
“Like a number of artists they start worrying if they should do it or not. Remember, nobody knew We Are The World was going to be a success.”
But he also regrets turning some others down - including country music legend John Denver.
“He had been a client of mine, I knew him well, and he was a tremendous activist for hunger and poverty in America,” muses Ken.
“Quincy felt that he would skew it too far towards the commercial pop area. And he wasn’t that hot at that time, his big hey-day was in the 70s. He was right, but I felt really bad about that.
“If I had it to do it again, I certainly would’ve seen that John would be part of it.”
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.”
Two months after releasing We Are The World, the charity USA for Africa, the same name as the supergroup, received its first check for its record sales. Armed with that money, Ken went straight to Africa to help.
Ken says: “The first check we picked up was for $5 million, and we picked that up in May. Then, we immediately put a trip together to go to Africa and we flew up a huge cargo plane full of supplies.”
Ken and a group of 26 made the trip to Sudan including charity board members and doctors and then spent the next few years making sure the money went to those who needed it the most.
Today, Ken still can’t believe the impact they were able to make.
“I will always consider it the most remarkable achievement of my life, not just career. I was able to help. I was able to contribute to a continent that needed our support. And, to this day, that will always make me proud.”
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