“One World” is currently #34 Mediabase Chart,
and has been adopted as an anthem by the United Nations for their cause to stop human trafficking
Pamela wrote the lyrics in Moscow during a Glasnost-era coming together of US and Soviet songwriters in Moscow/Helsinki/Leningrad and Estonia.
Her 3 co-writers on the song, first recorded by Earth Wind & Fire, were Oscar winner Franke Previte, and Estonians Sergei Manoukyan & Mikk Targo.
Revised and re-released in April 2020, produced by Jon Gilutin and featuring “Voices 4 One World”—some of the world’s most brilliant heroes of music, a Who’s Who of studio singers and musicians–
“One World” www.oneworldoursong.com benefits four charities: Musicians Foundation, Actors Fund, Children of First Responders, and NAACP Judicial Defense Fund.
Career lyricist Pamela Phillips Oland is a 3x Grammy-nominated and Genie-nominated songwriter (for best song in a motion picture), with more than 500 songs recorded in a multiple of genres and in film & TV.
She was a staff writer at A&M Records for 5 years, taught advanced lyric writing at UCLA for 8 years, and was Lyricist and co-Book writer for “Soldier of Orange,” an immersive musical that’s the most successful show in Dutch history, which has sold over 3 million tickets during its 9-1/2 year run. It’s in line for a London production in 2021.
Her songs have been recorded by The Jacksons, Selena, Gladys Knight, Whitney Houston, Anne Murray, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, The Four Tops, Reba McIntyre, Karen Souza, Earth Wind & Fire, The Whispers, the Spinners, and many others.
Her popular music industry books are “The Art of Writing Great Lyrics,” and “The Art of Writing Love Songs.” www.pamoland.com
I am unabashedly a woman in a man’s world.
A night like this had only happened once before in Estonia —when President Reagan was being feted by them
I had written hundreds, maybe thousands of songs already when I was invited to participate in Music Speaks Louder Than Words. It was the first-ever arts exchange between Soviet and American artists, and it wasn’t ballet or Beethoven. It was American songwriters going to Russia to co-write and collaborate with our Soviet counterparts.
It was during glasnost and Gorbachev, and it was a magical experience. Along on the trip were some great women songwriters like Brenda Russell (“Piano in the Dark”), Franne Golde (“Night Shift”), Holly Knight (“Love is a Battlefield”), and Diane Warren (every other song on the radio!).
I had no illusions about why I was invited with all these divas. It was because I was a competent lyricist who could sit in a room with almost anyone and write a good song. I’d written for Frank Sinatra (“Monday Morning Quarterback”), Whitney Houston (“Nobody Loves Me Like You Do”), and I at the time I had a single out with Aretha Franklin & The Four Tops (“If Ever A Love There Was”). These were Russians we’d be writing with, so bringing along at least one English-speaking lyricist was sine qua non, indispensable.
In Moscow, we were introduced to the most wonderful array of songwriters, and I found myself in my suite at the ancient communist hotel Hotel Rossya with two talented Estonians — Mikk Targo and Sergey Manoukyan — and the Oscar-winning American songwriter Franke Previte who had written “(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life” for the film Dirty Dancing.
Where to begin? With a title — I always think of a title as a roadmap for a song. Otherwise, it’s like getting in a car with no destination in mind. The idea we agreed on was “One World,” and we spent a few very special hours writing it.
Now and again, I had the impish impulse to lift the lampshade and ask the KGB (I was sure they were listening in) “Did you like that line?” which got giggles from my new friends. Two film crews, from Finland and from the US, came and filmed us in progress.
And Franke went out and negotiated with four charities:
Musicians Foundation,
Actors Fund,
First Responders Children’s Foundation,
and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
Our idea was to give everyone who donated to these charities a free download of our song “One World” as a thank you for being generous. All of the money that we make on this goes directly to these charity partners. Helping people out is a great feeling, and, by the way, I’m very proud to be the only woman on this creative team — as usual!
Please watch the music video and donate here.