Netflix's 'The Greatest Night in Pop' Trailer Goes Behind the Scenes of the Making of 1985's 'We Are the World'

USA for Africa — the combined forces of pop stars Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and more — released one of the world's top-grossing charity songs of all time with “We Are the World.” of 1985. But on Netflix The Greatest Night in Popwhose trailer arrived on Tuesday (January 9), we learn that the track was incredibly close to not happening.

“The greatest artists of a generation came together to save some lives. But we only had one night to get it right,” Richie recalls in the trailer. “I got this call from Harry Belafonte and he wants to do a song about famine relief in Africa. Basically what he's saying is “I need you”.

Between archival footage, which features Quincy Jones, Cyndi Lauper and several musicians crammed into a small studio, Richie explained that the actual lyrics for the track didn't come together until Stevie Wonder joined the project. “I'm at home with Michael writing the song. He drenches every part, tapes and tapes with just layers and layers of his humming,” he said. “Stevie wouldn't call me back and the recording was done in a couple of days. Now we have a model with murmurs and no words – what are we going to do? We are speaking to the world, so we have to say this.”

The documentary follows the group of 45 all-star musicians who gathered on January 25, 1985, as they “talked their egos at the door and recorded a song to benefit African famine relief that would change global pop culture history,” the official synopsis for the film reads. The Greatest Night in Pop promises never-before-seen footage of the song's planning and writing process, as well as Henson Studios where the track was recorded.

In addition to Richie's interviews, Springsteen, Lauper, Smokey Robinson, Smokey Robinson, Kenny Loggins, Dionne Warwick and Huey Lewis will tell their side of the story as they relive the historic night that unfolded, as they remember it.

The Greatest Night in Pop will premiere on January 19th at the Sundance Film festival and arrive on Netflix on January 29th.

Watch the trailer below.