When Quincy Jones posted a sign above the entrance to Am Studios in Los Angeles that read “Check Your Ego at the Door,” the night the producer and a group of 40 or so of the biggest singers of the ‘80s recorded the charity anthem “We are the World.”
It wasn’t exactly foolproof.
“The egos were still there; let’s not pretend they weren’t there,” says Kenny Loggins in the documentary The Greatest Night in Pop, now streaming on Netflix.
The Bao Nguyen film, which made its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, tells the story of how the single that raised more than $80 million ($214 million today) for humanitarian aid in Africa and the United States came to be, with commentary from entertainers such as Loggins, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper, Sheila E., Huey Lewis, and the key orchestrator who co-wrote the song with Michael Jackson and kept the...
It wasn’t exactly foolproof.
“The egos were still there; let’s not pretend they weren’t there,” says Kenny Loggins in the documentary The Greatest Night in Pop, now streaming on Netflix.
The Bao Nguyen film, which made its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, tells the story of how the single that raised more than $80 million ($214 million today) for humanitarian aid in Africa and the United States came to be, with commentary from entertainers such as Loggins, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper, Sheila E., Huey Lewis, and the key orchestrator who co-wrote the song with Michael Jackson and kept the...
- 2/10/2024
- by Brande Victorian
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Editor’s note: If you have watched the Netflix docu The Greatest Night in Pop, you saw the 40 biggest singers of the ’80s break into a spontaneous chorus of “Day-o” in tribute to Harry Belafonte for organizing the “We Are the World” global fundraiser that raised over $60 million to save starving, famine-stricken African families. So you understand why the late singer/activist/actor’s daughters were disappointed when an In Memoriam segment on the Grammys flashed his photo but omitted him from a special section honoring the giants. Here, daughter Shari reminds why her father meant so much to the world, and music.
Related: Harry Belafonte Dies: Actor, Singer & Civil Rights Icon Was 96
Being a woman of color and having been in the entertainment business literally All of my life, I’ve witnessed and have been exposed to many instances of what one would call “unjustified treatment.” But, don’t...
Related: Harry Belafonte Dies: Actor, Singer & Civil Rights Icon Was 96
Being a woman of color and having been in the entertainment business literally All of my life, I’ve witnessed and have been exposed to many instances of what one would call “unjustified treatment.” But, don’t...
- 2/9/2024
- by Shari Belafonte
- Deadline Film + TV
Harry Belafonte’s Daughters Criticize Grammys for Not Doing More to Recognize Singer During Ceremony
Harry Belafonte’s daughters, Shari and Gina, are calling out the Grammys for not doing more to recognize the late singer during the 2024 awards ceremony Sunday.
During the In Memoriam segment, Stevie Wonder, Annie Lennox, Fantasia Barrino and Jon Batiste took to the stage to perform emotional tributes for Tina Turner, Tony Bennett, Sinead O’Connor, Clarence Avant and more.
While they performed, images of other artists the music industry lost last year were displayed onscreen behind them, including Belafonte, while Batiste sang “The Best Is Yet to Come.”
But Shari and Gina feel the Grammys should have given the singer a special tribute, similar to the ones for Turner, Bennett, O’Connor and Avant.
“While the folks who had a bit more of a #shoutout on the #GrammyAwards this year were absolutely deserving of accolades, I’m a bit appalled that our father was not included in a #SpecialTribute and...
During the In Memoriam segment, Stevie Wonder, Annie Lennox, Fantasia Barrino and Jon Batiste took to the stage to perform emotional tributes for Tina Turner, Tony Bennett, Sinead O’Connor, Clarence Avant and more.
While they performed, images of other artists the music industry lost last year were displayed onscreen behind them, including Belafonte, while Batiste sang “The Best Is Yet to Come.”
But Shari and Gina feel the Grammys should have given the singer a special tribute, similar to the ones for Turner, Bennett, O’Connor and Avant.
“While the folks who had a bit more of a #shoutout on the #GrammyAwards this year were absolutely deserving of accolades, I’m a bit appalled that our father was not included in a #SpecialTribute and...
- 2/8/2024
- by Carly Thomas
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
From singing backup at Elvis Presley’s 1968 comeback TV special to writing Michael Jackson’s “She’s Out of My Life” to arranging the vocals on Billy Joel’s An Innocent Man, longtime Quincy Jones collaborator Tom Bahler has had an improbably jam-packed music career. But as he sees it, the peak of it all came in January of 1985, when Jones called upon him to arrange the array of superstar vocals on “We Are the World.”
With a new documentary on the song, The Greatest Night in Pop, out now on Netflix,...
With a new documentary on the song, The Greatest Night in Pop, out now on Netflix,...
- 1/31/2024
- by Brian Hiatt
- Rollingstone.com
No event in the history of pop music is so widely remembered and retrospectively underestimated as the 1985 recording of “We Are the World." Envisioned as a philanthropic drive by the likes of Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, Harry Belafonte, and producer Ken Kragen, the single sold over 20 million copies, raised upwards of $168 million for famine relief in Africa, and remains the definitive example of an all-star "charity single" for the benefit of worthy causes. It also became shorthand for cheesy Hollywood piousness and, when it swept the Grammy Awards the following year, mistaking good intentions for good art.
- 1/30/2024
- by Joe Reid
- Primetimer
“The Greatest Night in Pop” is a documentary for anyone who loves “We Are the World” (that would include me), or even for those who look at that legendary charity single with some serious questions but are fascinated by the phenomenon of it (that’s me as well). In a sense, “We Are the World” always was a documentary — the famous music video that captures the song as it was being recorded, in an into-the-night session that took place at A&m Recording Studios in Los Angeles immediately after the American Music Awards on January 28, 1985. (The organizers of USA for Africa realized that only by pinning the recording session to that night could they be sure all the stars they needed for the song would be in one place at the same time.)
That music video has always been more than just a video. It’s a pop-stars-reveal-themselves psychodrama in miniature.
That music video has always been more than just a video. It’s a pop-stars-reveal-themselves psychodrama in miniature.
- 1/29/2024
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Plot: In late 1984, inspired by the success of Band-Aid in the UK, legendary producer Quincy Jones decides to make a charity single including all of the biggest pop stars in the country. Due to the complicated schedules of all involved, they only have one evening to complete what will become one of the best-selling singles of all time, “We Are the World.”
Review: If you’ve seen the music video for “We Are the World,” you’ll know that pretty much every pop-rock icon of the first half of the eighties was there for its recording. In addition to co-writers Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie, there was Huey Lewis, Hall & Oates, Diana Ross, Kenny Loggins, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Kenny Rogers, Paul Simon, Steve Perry and so many more. Even Dan Aykroyd showed up singing in the chorus.
The song was a charity single...
Review: If you’ve seen the music video for “We Are the World,” you’ll know that pretty much every pop-rock icon of the first half of the eighties was there for its recording. In addition to co-writers Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie, there was Huey Lewis, Hall & Oates, Diana Ross, Kenny Loggins, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Kenny Rogers, Paul Simon, Steve Perry and so many more. Even Dan Aykroyd showed up singing in the chorus.
The song was a charity single...
- 1/28/2024
- by Chris Bumbray
- JoBlo.com
Everyone knows that (almost) all of America’s biggest pop and rock stars crammed into a Los Angeles recording studio on the night of January 28, 1985 in order to lay down the vocals for the charity single “We Are the World,” a semi-tolerable earworm that would ultimately raise more than $68 million to provide food and relief aid to people suffering from starvation in Africa. What Bao Nguyen’s light and fluffy new Netflix documentary presupposes is that it would be entertaining to revisit the room where it happened and watch as this legendary session nearly devolved into an absolute shitshow that threatened to fall apart in 100 different ways due to the egos and insecurities of the singular artists involved.
And while “The Greatest Night in Pop” may not amount to anything more than a sanitized and somewhat masturbatory look back at one of the wildest get-togethers in the modern history of music,...
And while “The Greatest Night in Pop” may not amount to anything more than a sanitized and somewhat masturbatory look back at one of the wildest get-togethers in the modern history of music,...
- 1/24/2024
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
At one point as the supergroup dubbed “USA for Africa” was assembling on January 28, 1985, at A&M Recording Studios in Hollywood, Paul Simon reportedly joked, “If a bomb lands on this place, John Denver’s back on top.” Such was the magnitude of mid-‘80s music luminaries on hand, everyone from Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick and Tina Turner through Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel and beyond. Unless you’ve spent your whole life under a rock, sometime or other, the resulting charity single, “We Are the World,” has likely gotten stuck in your head. The song achieved instant global saturation, selling out the initial run of a million copies in the first weekend of its release.
Of course, this is pre-downloads, so we’re talking actual vinyl sales, and it’s audiences with fond recollections of those analog days and the music stars who dominated the charts during the...
Of course, this is pre-downloads, so we’re talking actual vinyl sales, and it’s audiences with fond recollections of those analog days and the music stars who dominated the charts during the...
- 1/20/2024
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Ken Fritz, was a personal manager of Tom and Dick Smothers for the better part of 60 years. In 1964 and recently out of college, Fritz started out as a sort of advance man for their tours before becoming their full-time road manager. Later, he co-managed them with Ken Kragen and eventually assumed solo management for all aspects of their careers. He was also an executive producer on many of their projects, including the groundbreaking The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. His other clients have included Neil Diamond, Peter, Paul and Mary and George Benson. Here, Fritz reflects on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour as well as Tom Smothers as a comedian, businessman and friend.
In 1966 William Morris pitched CBS a new variety show starring The Smothers Brothers and CBS wanted it. We were very firm with the network that they were not going to buy the live versions of the nightclub shows,...
In 1966 William Morris pitched CBS a new variety show starring The Smothers Brothers and CBS wanted it. We were very firm with the network that they were not going to buy the live versions of the nightclub shows,...
- 12/29/2023
- by Ken Fritz
- Deadline Film + TV
Harry Belafonte, the singer who became one of the first Black leading men in Hollywood and later a major voice in the civil rights movement, died Tuesday at age 96.
Belafonte’s extraordinary career includes as a singer, movie star and TV producer (winning an Emmy for CBS’s Tonight with Belafonte).
Related: Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries
His legacy was cemented by his work as an activist and political change-agent. A confidant of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Belafonte and was one of the organizers of the 1963 March on Washington. He backed several political and social causes including speaking out on behalf of the anti-apartheid movement, equal rights for women, juvenile justice, climate...
Belafonte’s extraordinary career includes as a singer, movie star and TV producer (winning an Emmy for CBS’s Tonight with Belafonte).
Related: Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries
His legacy was cemented by his work as an activist and political change-agent. A confidant of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Belafonte and was one of the organizers of the 1963 March on Washington. He backed several political and social causes including speaking out on behalf of the anti-apartheid movement, equal rights for women, juvenile justice, climate...
- 4/25/2023
- by Robert Lang
- Deadline Film + TV
Harry Belafonte, the actor, singer and civil rights trailblazer, died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at his New York home, with his wife Pamela by his side. He was 96.
Belafonte is considered among the most successful Caribbean-American music stars of all time and one of the first Black leading men in Hollywood, making a name for himself during the 1950s and ’60s. An activist and social campaigner by nature, he was an early supporter of the Civil Rights movement and became a major figure in the American social and political history of the 20th century.
He was a confidant of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and backed many historic political and social causes and events, including the anti-apartheid movement, equal rights for women, juvenile justice, climate change and the decolonization of Africa. He was one of the organizers of the 1963 March on Washington, leading a delegation of Hollywood including best friend Sidney Poitier,...
Belafonte is considered among the most successful Caribbean-American music stars of all time and one of the first Black leading men in Hollywood, making a name for himself during the 1950s and ’60s. An activist and social campaigner by nature, he was an early supporter of the Civil Rights movement and became a major figure in the American social and political history of the 20th century.
He was a confidant of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and backed many historic political and social causes and events, including the anti-apartheid movement, equal rights for women, juvenile justice, climate change and the decolonization of Africa. He was one of the organizers of the 1963 March on Washington, leading a delegation of Hollywood including best friend Sidney Poitier,...
- 4/25/2023
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Producers of this Monday’s Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony have some difficult decisions to make about who to honor during the emotional In Memoriam segment. John Legend will perform “Pieces,” a new song he has written for the tribute. Kenan Thompson will host the 2022 Emmys for NBC at 8 p.m. Et; 5 p.m. Pt.
Our list below includes almost 100 people who made a strong contribution to television and have died since mid-September of 2021 following the previous Emmys ceremony. Only about 40-45 of these people will probably be in the video segment. Certain to be featured will be TV Academy Hall of Fame members actress Betty White and director Jay Sandrich.Other prominent names almost certainly chosen are: Mary Alice (acting winner), Louie Anderson (acting winner), James Caan (acting nominee), Anne Heche (acting winner), Howard Hesseman (acting nominee), William Hurt (acting nominee), Gregory Itzin (acting nominee), Ray Liotta (acting winner), Burt Metcalfe...
Our list below includes almost 100 people who made a strong contribution to television and have died since mid-September of 2021 following the previous Emmys ceremony. Only about 40-45 of these people will probably be in the video segment. Certain to be featured will be TV Academy Hall of Fame members actress Betty White and director Jay Sandrich.Other prominent names almost certainly chosen are: Mary Alice (acting winner), Louie Anderson (acting winner), James Caan (acting nominee), Anne Heche (acting winner), Howard Hesseman (acting nominee), William Hurt (acting nominee), Gregory Itzin (acting nominee), Ray Liotta (acting winner), Burt Metcalfe...
- 9/12/2022
- by Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Ken Kragen, best known for his work in putting together the massive ‘We are the World’ and ‘Hands Across America’ projects, has a posthumous venture launching today. The goal is to fundraise with NFTs for charities focused on climate, world hunger, cancer and Ukraine.
Teaming with tech firms Cosmic Wire, an Nft arm that has done several prominent projects, including “Rolling Stone Lips Art”, and OneOf, a sustainable blockchain company, Hands For Humanity is Kragen’s final gift of philanthropy. He died on Dec. 14, 2021.
A portion of all proceeds from Nft sales will be shared amongst the Ken Kragen Foundation, Unicef \Ukraine, WhyHunger, F Cancer/Generaize , Nrdc (Natural Resources Defense Council) and Ocean Conservancy.
Operating expenses for the project are capped at 40, which will allow 60 to go to the Kragen Legacy, The Kragen Memorial Foundation Metaverse, which is being created as an additional revenue source for charities, and then shared...
Teaming with tech firms Cosmic Wire, an Nft arm that has done several prominent projects, including “Rolling Stone Lips Art”, and OneOf, a sustainable blockchain company, Hands For Humanity is Kragen’s final gift of philanthropy. He died on Dec. 14, 2021.
A portion of all proceeds from Nft sales will be shared amongst the Ken Kragen Foundation, Unicef \Ukraine, WhyHunger, F Cancer/Generaize , Nrdc (Natural Resources Defense Council) and Ocean Conservancy.
Operating expenses for the project are capped at 40, which will allow 60 to go to the Kragen Legacy, The Kragen Memorial Foundation Metaverse, which is being created as an additional revenue source for charities, and then shared...
- 4/22/2022
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Ken Kragen, a prolific manager and producer in entertainment and a central organizer behind the 1985 charity single “We Are the World,” died from natural causes in his Brentwood, Calif. home on Tuesday. He was 85 years old.
Kragen’s death was confirmed to Variety by his spokesperson and friend Cheryl J. Kagan.
“While I am of course immensely proud of everything he has accomplished professionally, he has also been the best dad to me that I could have ever asked for,” Ken Kragen’s daughter, Emma Kragen, said in a statement.
Kragen was born in Alameda, Calif. on Nov. 24, 1936. Kragen graduated from Harvard Business School before embarking on a career across film, television and music.
One of Kragen’s first key ventures was the Kragen-Fritz management company that he created with his business partner Ken Fritz in the ’60s. For over five years they worked together as co-executives of the “Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,...
Kragen’s death was confirmed to Variety by his spokesperson and friend Cheryl J. Kagan.
“While I am of course immensely proud of everything he has accomplished professionally, he has also been the best dad to me that I could have ever asked for,” Ken Kragen’s daughter, Emma Kragen, said in a statement.
Kragen was born in Alameda, Calif. on Nov. 24, 1936. Kragen graduated from Harvard Business School before embarking on a career across film, television and music.
One of Kragen’s first key ventures was the Kragen-Fritz management company that he created with his business partner Ken Fritz in the ’60s. For over five years they worked together as co-executives of the “Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,...
- 12/15/2021
- by J. Kim Murphy
- Variety Film + TV
Ken Kragen, producer of Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, among others, organizer of humanitarian projects including “We Are The World” and “Hands Across America and personal manager to Kenny Rogers, Lionel Richie and many others, died Tuesday of natural causes at his home in Brentwood, CA, a family spokesperson announced. He was 85.
A graduate of Harvard Business School, Kragen’s decades-long career transcended the music and entertainment industries, where he managed some of the world’s top entertainers including Kenny Rogers, Lionel Richie, The Bee Gees, Olivia Newton-John, Burt Reynolds, The Smothers Brothers, and Trisha Yearwood, among others.
He created and organized historic humanitarian projects including “We Are the World,” and “Hands Across America,” for which he was honored with the United Nations’ Peace Medal, as well as Cisco System’s “NetAid.”
Kragen also produced a variety of film and TV projects, from the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on CBS to...
A graduate of Harvard Business School, Kragen’s decades-long career transcended the music and entertainment industries, where he managed some of the world’s top entertainers including Kenny Rogers, Lionel Richie, The Bee Gees, Olivia Newton-John, Burt Reynolds, The Smothers Brothers, and Trisha Yearwood, among others.
He created and organized historic humanitarian projects including “We Are the World,” and “Hands Across America,” for which he was honored with the United Nations’ Peace Medal, as well as Cisco System’s “NetAid.”
Kragen also produced a variety of film and TV projects, from the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on CBS to...
- 12/15/2021
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Billy Joel, Darryl “Dmc” McDaniels, Pat Benatar and more appear in the new trailer for Harry Chapin: When In Doubt, Do Something, out October 16th.
Directed by Rick Korn, the clip opens with Chapin performing his 1974 classic “Cat’s in the Cradle.” The film chronicles his early life as the son of a jazz drummer and his 1968 documentary Legendary Champions. It examines his rise as a singer-songwriter, his shift to philanthropy with WhyHunger (which he co-founded in 1975), his role as a husband and father, and his untimely death in a...
Directed by Rick Korn, the clip opens with Chapin performing his 1974 classic “Cat’s in the Cradle.” The film chronicles his early life as the son of a jazz drummer and his 1968 documentary Legendary Champions. It examines his rise as a singer-songwriter, his shift to philanthropy with WhyHunger (which he co-founded in 1975), his role as a husband and father, and his untimely death in a...
- 9/16/2020
- by Angie Martoccio
- Rollingstone.com
Oscar Winner A.R. Rahman this past week teamed with a variety of musicians and artists for the first of several recording sessions planned around the world in the next month for an amazing new song called “Hands Around the World” in the spirit of the global hit “We Are the World.”
The song lyrics were written by Stephen Schwartz and the “Hands Around the World” music team. The piece began recording this past week at composer Nathan Barr’s Bandrika Studios in Los Angeles. The song is to be the anthem for the www.hands.world project – a yearlong campaign to inspire 1 Billion+ people hold hands in a virtual selfie chain around the world for climate change. All funds raised will go to critical climate change projects to make real impact.
Featured vocalists and participants in the first session included Cody Simpson, Natasha Bedingfield, Major, Mary Mary and Tay Da Prince.
The song lyrics were written by Stephen Schwartz and the “Hands Around the World” music team. The piece began recording this past week at composer Nathan Barr’s Bandrika Studios in Los Angeles. The song is to be the anthem for the www.hands.world project – a yearlong campaign to inspire 1 Billion+ people hold hands in a virtual selfie chain around the world for climate change. All funds raised will go to critical climate change projects to make real impact.
Featured vocalists and participants in the first session included Cody Simpson, Natasha Bedingfield, Major, Mary Mary and Tay Da Prince.
- 2/19/2020
- Look to the Stars
Spencer Mullen Apr 1, 2019
Elon Musk, Hands Across America, Aidy Bryant, and more in today's daily Link Tank!
Here's why the organizer of Hands Across America wants to talk to Jordan Peele.
"Ken Kragen hasn’t seen Us, but the organizer of Hands Across America really wants to talk to Jordan Peele. Since the March 22 release of Peele’s new horror movie that frames the 1986 charity into something sinister, there is a renewed interest in the Gen-x cultural touchstone that the Washington Post dubbed “the most Eighties thing to happen in the 1980s.” Kragen tells Inverse he just wants to make sure Peele’s darker portrayal doesn’t outshine the original event."
Read more at Inverse.
Saturday Night Live's Aidy Bryant shines as a frustrated female astronaut.
"Last week, we found out that being a woman is a struggle not only on Earth, but in space as well. After promoting...
Elon Musk, Hands Across America, Aidy Bryant, and more in today's daily Link Tank!
Here's why the organizer of Hands Across America wants to talk to Jordan Peele.
"Ken Kragen hasn’t seen Us, but the organizer of Hands Across America really wants to talk to Jordan Peele. Since the March 22 release of Peele’s new horror movie that frames the 1986 charity into something sinister, there is a renewed interest in the Gen-x cultural touchstone that the Washington Post dubbed “the most Eighties thing to happen in the 1980s.” Kragen tells Inverse he just wants to make sure Peele’s darker portrayal doesn’t outshine the original event."
Read more at Inverse.
Saturday Night Live's Aidy Bryant shines as a frustrated female astronaut.
"Last week, we found out that being a woman is a struggle not only on Earth, but in space as well. After promoting...
- 4/1/2019
- Den of Geek
For those of you who just saw Jordan Peele’s “Us” and wondered where the writer-director got that ingeniously insane idea for Hands Across America in the 1980s-set portion of the film, wonder no more.
It came from history. Hands Across America was a real thing that totally actually happened in 1986. Like, for real.
The idea was hatched in 1985 by Ken Kragen, a music manager and film and TV producer. Kragen was a founding member of USA for Africa, of which Hands Across America was a part. It followed the famed charity single “We Are the World” that featured artists such as Michael Jackson, Lionel Ritchie, Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner and a host of other popular musicians during that era.
Also Read: The Long, Twisted Story Behind 'I Got 5 on It,' the Secret Weapon of Jordan Peele's 'Us'
USA for Africa, as the name suggests, was established to ease...
It came from history. Hands Across America was a real thing that totally actually happened in 1986. Like, for real.
The idea was hatched in 1985 by Ken Kragen, a music manager and film and TV producer. Kragen was a founding member of USA for Africa, of which Hands Across America was a part. It followed the famed charity single “We Are the World” that featured artists such as Michael Jackson, Lionel Ritchie, Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner and a host of other popular musicians during that era.
Also Read: The Long, Twisted Story Behind 'I Got 5 on It,' the Secret Weapon of Jordan Peele's 'Us'
USA for Africa, as the name suggests, was established to ease...
- 3/22/2019
- by Trey Williams
- The Wrap
Alec Bojalad Mar 21, 2019
Jordan Peele's newest horror film, Us, uses Hands Across America as a commentary on what America is and what it could have been.
The following contains Huge spoilers for the movie Us. Do not read on unless you've seen the film.
On Sunday, May 25, 1986, America held hands.
Hands Across America was a massive charity and publicity event devised by music manager and non-profit consultant Ken Kragen. The idea was a simple one. Those sea-to-shining-seas you hear so much about? Let’s connect them by forming a human chain.
Of course, one single line of human beings stretched across the continental United States was impossible to pull off. There is impassible terrain to contend with as well as everyone’s busy schedules and eventual boredom. Instead Hands Across America opted to focus on the major cities, amassing a crowd of people who numbered high enough to connect both coasts in theory,...
Jordan Peele's newest horror film, Us, uses Hands Across America as a commentary on what America is and what it could have been.
The following contains Huge spoilers for the movie Us. Do not read on unless you've seen the film.
On Sunday, May 25, 1986, America held hands.
Hands Across America was a massive charity and publicity event devised by music manager and non-profit consultant Ken Kragen. The idea was a simple one. Those sea-to-shining-seas you hear so much about? Let’s connect them by forming a human chain.
Of course, one single line of human beings stretched across the continental United States was impossible to pull off. There is impassible terrain to contend with as well as everyone’s busy schedules and eventual boredom. Instead Hands Across America opted to focus on the major cities, amassing a crowd of people who numbered high enough to connect both coasts in theory,...
- 3/20/2019
- Den of Geek
Quincy Jones is traditionally viewed as the mastermind behind the apex of all charity singles, but it was actually Harry Belafonte who instigated the idea in the wake of Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” Seeking to make a star-studded Yankee equivalent to alleviate the Ethiopian famine, Belafonte contacted entertainment manager and fellow activist Ken Kragen, who drafted clients Lionel Richie and Kenny Rogers, as well as Stevie Wonder. But the production escalated once Jones and his extensive Rolodex were brought into the mix. He called in...
- 1/29/2019
- by Jordan Runtagh
- Rollingstone.com
Hollywood talent manager Larry A. Thompson will be inducted into the Personal Managers Hall of Fame. The film and Broadway producer, attorney, book packager, author and motivational speaker will join other previously inaugurated members, including Bernie Brillstein, Shep Gordon, Charles H. Joffe, Ken Kragen and Jack Rollins, among others. Clinton Ford Billups Jr. is the president of the National Conference of Personal Managers (Ncopm), which recognizes outstanding careers in personal management and awards the highest recognition bestowed upon a personal manager. Other members of the 2016 class are Rushion McDonald, Doc McGhee, Edie Robb, Jerry Solomon and Jeff Wald. New posthumous inductees include George.
- 2/16/2016
- by Tony Maglio
- The Wrap
It's hard to believe but it was 30 years ago tomorrow that "We Are The World" was released. Smokey Robinson was among the music superstars who were there and Et asked Smokey to relive that historic day back in 1985.
News: Pop Culture History Lesson: "We Are the World" Turns 30
"I had no idea that all those people were going to be there, but everybody in show business was there!" Smokey told Et.
The song featured 45 artists all together, including Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Tina Turner, Billy Joel, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Al Jarreau, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Steve Perry, Huey Lewis and Cyndi Lauper. Michael and Lionel wrote the song and charity single meant to raise funds for USA for Africa.
The charity, aimed at easing famine, is still active today and has raised more than $75 million.
News: Pop Songs Meant For Other Singers
The mastermind behind USA for...
News: Pop Culture History Lesson: "We Are the World" Turns 30
"I had no idea that all those people were going to be there, but everybody in show business was there!" Smokey told Et.
The song featured 45 artists all together, including Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Tina Turner, Billy Joel, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Al Jarreau, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Steve Perry, Huey Lewis and Cyndi Lauper. Michael and Lionel wrote the song and charity single meant to raise funds for USA for Africa.
The charity, aimed at easing famine, is still active today and has raised more than $75 million.
News: Pop Songs Meant For Other Singers
The mastermind behind USA for...
- 3/7/2015
- Entertainment Tonight
Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie are reportedly recruiting an all-star lineup to re-record 'We Are The World' to celebrate the song's 25th anniversary. The duo have allegedly urged stars to stay in Los Angeles an extra night after the Grammy Awards this weekend to celebrate a quarter-century since Ken Kragen, Richie and Michael Jackson organised the original 'We Are the World' with Jones. (more)...
- 1/21/2010
- by By David Balls
- Digital Spy
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