Will You Be There

"Will You Be There"
"Will You Be There"
Song
B-side	"Man in the Mirror"; "Girlfriend"

"Will You Be There" is a song by Michael Jackson which was released as a single in 1993. The single was taken from the 1991 album Dangerous and also appeared on the soundtrack to Free Willy.

Jackson was sued for this song by Italian artist Al Bano, who alleged that it plagiarized his song I cigni di Balaka. Italian judges stated that the two songs, both being very similar, are inspired by a traditional Indian song.

Song information

The song was one of the bigger hits from Dangerous, staying in the top 40 for over six weeks in the UK. The single achieved even greater success in the U.S., where it sold over 500,000 copies and stayed in the top 10 for six weeks, peaking at number 7 and later being certified Gold.^[2] In Europe, the single reached number one in the MTV Eurochart, though it missed the top 10 in many of the other European charts, including Germany and France. The single has sold 1,312,000 copies worldwide.^[3]

Video clip

The video cleap was released...

Music video

The video was a mix of footage from Free Willy, the Dangerous World Tour and Jackson's performance of the song at MTV's 10th anniversary show in 1991. Audio is dubbed from the soundtrack.

Awards

"Will You Be There" won the MTV Movie Award for "Best Song in a Movie" in 1994. It was also included in the album All Time Greatest Movie Songs, released by Sony in 1999.

Other performances

Jennifer Hudson performed this song at the Memorial of Michael Jackson on July 7, 2009.

Track listing

"Will You Be There" (Edit) – 5:22
"Man in the Mirror" – 5:15
"Girlfriend" – 3:04
"Will You Be There" (Album version) – 7:40

Mixes

Album version – 7:40
Edit – 5:22
Radio edit – 3:39
Instrumental - 3:25^[4]

Charts

Chart (1993)	Peak position
Austrian Singles Chart	10
Canadian Singles Chart	3
Dutch Singles Chart	3
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles	7
French Singles Chart	29
German Singles Chart	12
Irish Singles Chart	3
Israeli Singles Chart	4
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart	2
Swiss Singles Chart	11^[5]
UK Singles Chart	8
US Billboard Hot 100	7
US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks	53
US Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks	5
Chart (2009)	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart	42^[6]
Austrian Singles Chart	21
Danish Singles Chart	14
German Singles Chart	26
New Zealand Singles Chart	29^[7]
Swedish Singles Chart	22
Swiss Singles Chart	3^[5]
UK Singles Chart	51^[8]
U.S. Billboard Hot Digital Songs	10^[9]

Credits

Written and composed by Michael Jackson.
Produced by Michael Jackson.
Co-produced by Bruce Swedien.
Recorded and mixed by Bruce Swedien and Matt Forger.
Solo and background vocals: Michael Jackson.
Rhythm arrangement by Michael Jackson and Greg Phillinganes.
Orchestra arranged and conducted by Johnny Mandel.
Vocal arrangement by Michael Jackson.
Choir arrangement by Andrae and Sandra Crouch, featuring the Andrae Crouch Singers.
Keyboards: Greg Phillinganes and Brad Buxer.
Synthesizers: Michael Boddicker.
Synthesizers and synthesizer programming: Rhett Lawrence.
Drums and percussion: Brad Buxer and Bruce Swedien.
Percussion: Paulinho Da Costa.
Prelude: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Opus 125: Presto (Beethoven)
- Performed by the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus.
  - Directed by Robert Shaw.
- Performed by the Cleveland Orchestra.
  - Conducted by George Szell.

References

^ "Dangerous". Sputnik. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
^ "HIStory: 1990's". Official Michael Jackson site. Retrieved 2007-01-06.
^ "Chart Action Wanted". MJJ Charts. Retrieved 2007-01-06.
^ THE JACKSONFAMILY-DATABASE - Michael Jackson
^ ^a ^b "Swiss Singles Chart Archives". hitparade.ch. Retrieved July 18, 2009.
^ "Australian Singles Chart". Australian Record Industry Association. Retrieved 14 July 2009.
^ "New Zealand Singles Chart". RIANZ. Retrieved 14 July 2009.
^ "UK Singles Chart". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
^ U.S. Billboard Hot Digital Songs

External links

"Will You Be There" - An Ode to Song - exploratory theories behind the "true" meaning of the song.
Lyrics at AllMichaelJackson.com
Official YouTube video

[Dangerous-1] "Dangerous". Sputnik. Retrieved 2009-06-21.

[2] "HIStory: 1990's". Official Michael Jackson site. Retrieved 2007-01-06.

[3] "Chart Action Wanted". MJJ Charts. Retrieved 2007-01-06.

[4] THE JACKSONFAMILY-DATABASE - Michael Jackson

[switzerland-5] "Swiss Singles Chart Archives". hitparade.ch. Retrieved July 18, 2009.

[6] "Australian Singles Chart". Australian Record Industry Association. Retrieved 14 July 2009.

[7] "New Zealand Singles Chart". RIANZ. Retrieved 14 July 2009.

[8] "UK Singles Chart". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 6 July 2009.

[9] U.S. Billboard Hot Digital Songs

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v t e Michael Jackson songs
Singles Songs Unreleased songs
1970s	"Got to Be There" "Ain't No Sunshine" "I Wanna Be Where You Are" "Rockin' Robin" "Love Is Here and Now You're Gone" "You've Got a Friend" "Ben" "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" "My Girl" "Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day" "We've Got a Good Thing Going" "With a Child's Heart" "Morning Glow" "All the Things You Are" "Happy" "Too Young" "Music and Me" "We're Almost There" "Just a Little Bit of You" "You Can't Win" "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" "Rock with You" "Working Day and Night" "It's the Falling in Love"
1980s	"Off the Wall" "Girlfriend" "She's Out of My Life" "One Day in Your Life" "The Girl Is Mine" "Billie Jean" "Beat It" "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" "Human Nature" "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" "Thriller" "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)" "Lonely Teardrops" "That's What Love Is Made Of" "Farewell My Summer Love" "Girl You're So Together" "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" "Bad" "The Way You Make Me Feel" "Speed Demon" "Liberian Girl" "Just Good Friends" "Another Part of Me" "Man in the Mirror" "Dirty Diana" "Smooth Criminal" "Leave Me Alone" "Twenty-Five Miles"
1990s	"Black or White" "Jam" "In the Closet" "Remember the Time" "Heal the World" "Who Is It" "Give In to Me" "Will You Be There" "Gone Too Soon" "Dangerous" "Come Together" "Scream" "Childhood" "They Don't Care About Us" "Stranger in Moscow" "This Time Around" "Earth Song" "D.S." "You Are Not Alone" "Tabloid Junkie" "HIStory" "Smile" "Blood on the Dance Floor" "Ghosts" "Is It Scary" "On the Line"
2000s	"Speechless" "You Rock My World" "Heaven Can Wait" "Butterflies" "Cry" "One More Chance" "Cheater" "(I Like) The Way You Love Me" "Fall Again" "This Is It"
2010s	"Hold My Hand" "Hollywood Tonight" "(I Can't Make It) Another Day" "Behind the Mask" "Don't Be Messin' 'Round" "I'm So Blue" "Price of Fame" "Love Never Felt So Good" "Chicago" "Loving You" "A Place with No Name" "Slave to the Rhythm" "Blue Gangsta"
2020s	"She's Trouble"
Other	"We Are the World" "Mind Is the Magic" "What More Can I Give" "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" "Blood on the Dance Floor x Dangerous" "Diamonds Are Invincible"
Featured	"A Brand New Day" "Ease on Down the Road" "Who's Right, Who's Wrong" "Night Time Lover" "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" "State of Independence" "Muscles" "Say Say Say" "Somebody's Watching Me" "Don't Stand Another Chance" "Centipede" "Tell Me I'm Not Dreamin' (Too Good to Be True)" "Eaten Alive" "Get It" "2300 Jackson Street" "Do the Bartman" "Whatzupwitu" "Why" "I Need You" "We Be Ballin'" "Girls, Girls, Girls" "All in Your Name" "There Must Be More to Life Than This" "Low" "Don't Matter to Me"
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