I Just Can't Stop Loving You

"I Just Can't Stop Loving You"
Single by Michael Jackson featuring Siedah Garrett
from the album Bad
B-side	"Baby Be Mine"
Released	July 20, 1987
Format	7" / 12" / CD single
Recorded	May 1987
Genre	R&B, Pop, adult contemporary
Length	4:25 (Album Version) 4:11 (7" Edit)
Label	Epic
Writer(s)	Michael Jackson
Producer	Quincy Jones Michael Jackson (co-producer)
Michael Jackson singles chronology
"We Are the World" (1985) "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" (1987) "Bad" (1987)
Bad track listing "Man in the Mirror" (7) "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" (8) "Dirty Diana" (9) HIStory Begins track listing "Bad" (6) "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" (7) "Man in the Mirror" (8) This Is It track listing "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" (7) "I Just Can't Stop Loving You'" (8) "Thriller" (9) Audio sample file info · help

"I Just Can't Stop Loving You" is a popular ballad by singer Michael Jackson featuring a duet with Siedah Garrett. He created "Todo Mi Amor Eres Tu", a Spanish version of the song. 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 track'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). In the United Kingdom, the song reached #1 on 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 also performed the song at the Royal Concert for the Sultan of Brunei with Marva Hicks. Jackson would have performed it on This Is It with Judith Hill, but the concert series was canceled 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."

Chart performance

Chart (1987)	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart	10
Austrian Singles Chart	5
Belgium Singles Chart	1
Canadian Singles Chart	2
Danish Singles Chart	1
Dutch Singles Chart	1
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles	1
French Singles Chart	12
German Singles Chart	2
Irish Singles Chart	1
Japan Singles Chart (International Singles)	3
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart	3
Norwegian Singles Chart	1
Spanish Singles Chart	1
Swedish Singles Chart	4
Swiss Singles Chart	2
UK Singles Chart	1
US Billboard Hot 100	1
US Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks	1
US Billboard Hot Black Singles	1
US Billboard Hot Latin Songs (Spanish Version)	11
Chart (2009)	Peak position
Swiss Singles Chart	40
UK Singles Chart	78

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 tú" Spanish Version – 4:06 (which means "You Are All My Love")
4. "Je ne veux pas la fin de nous" French Version – 4:06 (which means "I Don't Want the End of Us")

Personnel

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

Covers

• In 2001, Gloria Estefan & James Ingram performed the song in Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special.
• Contemporary jazz guitarist Chuck Loeb (pronounced Lobe) presented his rendition from his 2002 album "My Shining Hour."
• In 2009, the top 8 finalists of Latin American Idol performed the Spanish version "Todo mi amor eres tú", directed by Jon Secada as a tribute to Michael Jackson.

• In 2012, Glee performed the song on their Michael Jackson Tribute Episode

References

Preceded by "La Bamba" by Los Lobos	UK number-one single 9 August 1987 - 23 August 1987	Succeeded by "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley
Preceded by "Love Power" by Dionne Warwick & Jeffrey Osborne	Billboard Adult Contemporary number-one single August 29, 1987	Succeeded by "Didn't We Almost Have It All" by Whitney Houston
Preceded by "La Bamba" by Los Lobos	Billboard Hot 100 number-one single September 19, 1987	Succeeded by "Didn't We Almost Have It All" by Whitney Houston
Preceded by "Love is a House" by Force M.D.'s	Billboard Hot Black Singles number-one single September 19, 1987 - September 25, 1987	Succeeded by "I Need Love" by LL Cool J