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I Just Can't Stop Loving You is a popular ballad by singer Michael Jackson featuring a duet with Siedah Garrett. Written and composed by Jackson, it was originally intended to be a duet between Jackson and his woman of choice: either Barbra Streisand or Whitney Houston. Even Aretha Franklin and Agnetha Fältskog (formerly of ABBA) were offered the song, but all four had other obligations.

However, songwriter and Quincy Jones protege Garrett, who wrote Jackson's song "Man in the Mirror", volunteered to sing with Jackson thus giving Garrett her first hit since Dennis Edwards' 1984 hit, "Don't Look Any Further". Garrett is quoted in The Billboard Book of Number One Hits by Fred Bronson that she was unaware she would be singing the song - although she had received a tape of it - until the day of the recording session, when Jones told her to step up to the microphone and sing it with Jackson.

The song became the first of five consecutive number-one Billboard Hot 100 singles from Jackson's Bad album. It also reached number one on the Billboard R&B and adult contemporary charts. It was Jackson's second number-one song on the AC chart (his first, coincidentally, had also been a duet: 1982's "The Girl Is Mine" with Paul McCartney). It was released without an accompanying music video.

Originally, the album version featured a spoken intro by Jackson backed with a longer version of the opening music. This intro was mixed out on future releases of the album.

Chart performance

"I Just Can't Stop Loving You" was the lead single off of Jackson's much-anticipated Bad album. The single debuted on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart at #37, the week of August 8, 1987. The single was the highest debuting single of 1987, and quickly traveled to the top quarter of the Hot 100, advancing to #16 in its second week, and soaring to #1 in its seventh week on the tally, the week of September 19, 1987.

However, due to the album title song's quick release as a single (it debuted on the Hot 100 at #40 in the same week that "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" hit number one), the duet had a relatively short chart run and fell out of the top 40 just five weeks after topping the chart, spending a total of 11 weeks in the top 40. Billboard ranked it as #43 on the year-end Hot 100 chart for 1987.

The track spent three weeks at number one on Billboard's Adult Contemporary singles chart, becoming only the second Michael Jackson single to top that chart and the last one to date (although "Man in the Mirror" would come close to topping the chart when it reached #2 in 1988). It also reached #1 in the UK Singles Chart for the week of August 11, 1987 and ranked #30 on the year-end UK tally.

In his autobiography, Moonwalk, Jackson stated the song was not written with someone in mind, but that he had been thinking of someone when singing the song live.

On stage rendition

Jackson performed the song on his Bad Tour with background singer Sheryl Crow and on his Dangerous Tour with Siedah Garrett. He would have performed it on This Is It with Judith Hill, but the concert series was cancelled due to his sudden death. However, this is a featured song in the movie Michael Jackson's This Is It. As a result of Jackson's death, Hill recorded and released a "sequel" to the song, entitled "I Will Always Be Missing You."

Track listing

1. "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" – 4:23
2. "Baby Be Mine" – 4:12

• Cd promo

1. I just can't stop loving you - 4:12

Mixes

1. Album Version – 4:25
2. 7" Version – 4:11
   • This version replaced the original version on the later releases of Bad
3. "Todo mi amor eres tu" Spanish Version – 4:06
4. "Je ne veux pas la fin de nous" French Version – 4:06

Personnel

• Written and composed by Michael Jackson
• Vocal duet with Michael Jackson and Siedah Garrett
• Bass: Nathan East
• Drums: N'dugu Chancler
• Guitar: Dan Huff
• Percussion: Paulinho Da Costa
• Piano: John Barnes
• Synclavier: Christopher Currell
• Synthesizers: David Paich and Greg Phillinganes
• Synthesizer programming: Steve Porcaro
• Rhythm arrangement by Quincy Jones
• Synthesizer arrangement by David Paich and Quincy Jones
• Vocal arrangement by Michael Jackson and John Barnes

References

1. Hyatt, Wesley (1999). The Billboard Book of #1 Adult Contemporary Hits (Billboard Publications), page 324.
2. "Swiss Singles Chart Archives". hitparade.ch. Retrieved July 18, 2009.
3. "UK Singles Chart". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 6 July 2009.

• 1987 singles
• Michael Jackson songs
• Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
• Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs number-one singles
• Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks number-one singles
• Number-one singles in Belgium
• Number-one singles in Denmark
• European Hot 100 Singles number-one singles
• Number-one singles in Italy
• Dutch Top 40 number-one singles
• Number-one singles in Norway
• UK Singles Chart number-one singles
• Oricon International Singles Chart number-one singles
• Vocal duets
• Pop ballads
• Songs written by Michael Jackson