Diana Ross Asked Daryl Hall for His Autograph While Recording We Are the World: ‘I’m Your Biggest Fan’

There were more than three dozen superstars at A&M Studios in Los Angeles on the night of Jan. 28, 1985 — but Diana Ross focused on just one.

During the recording of the Grammy-winning charity single “We Are the World,” the legendary singer asked Hall and Oates star Daryl Hall for an autograph, setting off a chain reaction of stars asking other stars for autographs, according to a new Netflix documentary. The biggest night in pop (streaming now).

“Diana is one of my favorite artists I’ve ever worked with, but she’s so into it at first that you better be ready for her.” So I had my eye on her and I saw her coming toward Daryl,” the song’s vocal arranger Tom Bahler told PEOPLE about that special moment. “Diana was walking towards Daryl, and when she got there, she opened her book like a little girl getting an autograph and said, ‘Daryl, I’m your biggest fan. Would you please give me an autograph?’”

Bahler says the gesture drew a surprised response from the star-studded room — but soon the floodgates opened for others to do the same.

Diana Ross; Daryl Hall.

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Lionel Richie, Bruce Springsteen and other stars look back on the making of ‘We Are the World’ in a new documentary

Michael Jackson, Diana Ross and more accept Grammy for We Are the World. ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

“For the next 45 minutes we were all signing each other’s music. It was like, ‘Wow. When were we all in the same room at that time?” says Bahler. “When Diana said, ‘Would you give me an autograph?’ suddenly we realized what was happening. When it was over, we were family. We were in this together.”

Cameraman Ken Woo also recalls the sweet moment, saying it started something of a “love fest” among the lineup, which included everyone from Stevie Wonder and Bruce Springsteen to Cyndi Lauper, Bob Dylan and Tina Turner.

“I don’t think a lot of these artists have met other artists before,” says Woo. “And those were the biggest guys on the radio, of our generation, of our time. It was amazing.”

“We Are the World” is the brainchild of Harry Belafonte and famous music manager Ken Kragen, and it came to life thanks to the songwriting of Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson and the production of Quincy Jones.

The biggest night in pop pulls back the curtain on the organized chaos of creating a song, from its inception to help starving people in Ethiopia, to how Richie, Kragen and co. wrangled all their talent the same night Richie hosted the American Music Awards.

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Source: HIS Education