Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Lionel Richie: Why Prince Turned Down ‘We Are the World’

lionel richie (screenshot)

*Back in 1985 some of the biggest names in pop music famously “checked their egos at the door” and contributed to making of the mega charity song, “We Are the World.”

However, at the time, it was widely noted that Prince was not among the superstar line up.

Lionel Richie, who along with Michael Jackson, co-wrote the song, is finally speaking out about why Prince was a no-show

Richie told “Access Hollywood” that Prince refused to participate in the song because “that’s just Prince.”

Unfortunately, that’s just not a satisfying answer even =though it is what it is.

“I mean, I sat on the phone with him for the longest time,” said Richie. “I said, ‘Prince, we’re all down (here) waiting on you.’ He says, ‘Can I do it in a separate room?’ ‘Okay, I’ll call you back later.’”

“I would love to tell you that that’s different from anything else he’s ever done. That’s just Prince. Of course he’s not going to be at a group of singers at the time when we want him to show up.”

Richie also recalled the AMA ceremony that took place just before the recording of “We Are the World,” in which Prince was a big winner but resisted even attending the awards.

Ritchie, who was hosting the awards that year, recalled that it was hard “to talk him into showing up.”

“He wasn’t gonna come,” Richie said.

 

Meanwhile, Richie starts his “All the Hits” show Wednesday in Las Vegas at Planet Hollywood hotel-casino’s Axis Theater. He talked about the residency with 13 Action News on Tuesday.

“At the end they were all dancing to something they hadn’t quite heard yet, and then somewhere around the first month it was like that,” Richie said. “It was pandemonium all night long. We did that here in Las Vegas.”

Additionally, Richie chatted about the recent death of Prince, his friend and colleague.

“I feel blindsided as losing a parent. When I got in the business, there were a couple of us in the same band and when you start losing those … guys, I don’t even know if I accept it yet,” he said.

Richie says Prince knew about his Las Vegas residency and was planning on coming.

Read/learn MORE and check out the video interview at KTNV.

 

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