"I Just Can't Stop Loving You" is a 1987 duet ballad by

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the " King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over ...

and

Siedah Garrett Deborah Christine "Siedah" Garrett (born June 24, 1960) is an American singer and songwriter who has written songs and performed backing vocals for many recording artists in the music industry, such as Michael Jackson, the Pointer Sisters, Brand N ...

, and was the first single released from his seventh album, '' Bad''. The song was written by Jackson, and co-produced by Jackson and

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

. The presence of Garrett on the track was a last-minute decision by Jackson and Jones, after Jackson's first two choices for the duet both decided against participating. Garrett, a protégé of Jones's who co-wrote another song on ''Bad'', "

Man in the Mirror "Man in the Mirror" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson. It was written by Glen Ballard and Siedah Garrett and produced by Jackson and Quincy Jones. It was released on February 6, 1988, as the fourth single from Jackso ...

", did not know that she would be singing the song until the day of the recording session. It became her first hit since

Dennis Edwards Dennis Edwards Jr. (February 3, 1943 – February 1, 2018) was an American soul and R&B singer who was best known as the frontman in The Temptations, on Motown Records. Edwards joined the Temptations in 1968, replacing David Ruffin and sang ...

' 1984 song "

Don't Look Any Further "Don't Look Any Further" is a 1984 song by American singer Dennis Edwards featuring Siedah Garrett, and is written by Franne Golde, Dennis Lambert and Duane Hitchings. It is taken from the singer's debut album by the same name and peaked at No. ...

". "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" reached number one on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

R&B Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

and

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

charts, making it the first in a string of 5 number-one singles from ''Bad''. It was Jackson's second number-one song on the Adult Contemporary chart after "

The Girl Is Mine "The Girl Is Mine" is a song recorded by American singer Michael Jackson and English musician Paul McCartney. The track was written by Jackson and produced by Jackson and Quincy Jones. It was released as the first single for Jackson's sixth s ...

" with

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

. "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" was released without an accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

. Jackson and Garrett later recorded "Todo mi amor eres tú", a

Spanish-language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in the Am ...

version of the song, with lyrics translated by

Rubén Blades Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna (born July 16, 1948), known professionally as Rubén Blades (, but in Panama and within the family), is a Panamanian musician, singer, composer, actor, activist, and politician, performing musically most often in th ...

, and "Je ne veux pas la fin de nous", a

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in N ...

version, with translation by Christine "Coco" Decroix. All three versions are featured on the 2012 reissue album '' Bad 25''. The original English-language version was re-released as a single in 2012, as part of the ''Bad 25'' release.

Background, writing and recording

For the duet

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

"I Just Can't Stop Loving You," Michael Jackson wanted to share vocals with

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "Honorific nicknames in popular music, The Voice", she is Whitney Houston albums discography, one of the bestselling music artists ...

. Streisand took a pass on the invitation. Houston’s label,

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertain ...

, thought that, if she performed on the song, it might detract from the promotion of her sophomore album, '' Whitney''. Ultimately, a different singer duetted with Jackson on “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You:” Siedah Garrett. Interestingly, Garrett co-wrote another one of Jackson’s ballads called “Man in the Mirror” and performed backing vocals on it. Garrett remains known primarily for her work with Jackson to this day. The co-duet duties were given to

who had previously dueted on former

Temptations The Temptations are an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan, who released a series of successful singles and albums with Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top 1 ...

member

' "

." Garrett first came to the attention of producer

after auditioning for and winning a spot in the group Deco. She later signed as a recording artist with Jones' Warner Bros.-distributed Qwest Records. The singer was constantly sent song demos including one for "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", though she didn't know that the demo was a song written and sung by Jackson. While reporting for a recording session, Garrett thought that she was summoned to do overdubs for a song she'd co-written titled "

." Instead she was surprised to learn that she'd been chosen to sing a duet with Jackson. To some, the wispy ballad was reminiscent of Jackson's Motown classic "

Got to Be There ''Got to Be There'' is the debut solo studio album by American singer Michael Jackson, released by Motown on January 24, 1972, four weeks after the Jackson 5's ''Greatest Hits'' (1971). It includes the song of the same name, which was released ...

." The original album version of the song opened with Jackson cooing a spoken intro backed by a longer version of the opening music. According to Jackson, he recorded that part of his song while lying in bed. The intro went, in part, "I just want to lay next to you for a while. You look so beautiful tonight... A lot of people misunderstand me. That's because they don't know me at all. I just want to touch you and hold you..." This intro was mixed out on the 7" single, on future releases of ''Bad'' and on most compilation albums. An alternate version of the single, featuring the original mastered album version mix with the spoken word intro for "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" backed by the album outtake "Don't Be Messin' 'Round", was released in select Walmart stores in 2012 to mark the release of '' Bad 25''.

Critical reception

Richard Cromelin from the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' was negative with the song, and particularly the spoken word opening, writing: "The soliloquy is meant to be revealing, tender and vulnerable, but with his quivering timbre and the haunting music behind, it comes off a little creepy, like

Norman Bates Norman Bates is a fictional character created by American author Robert Bloch as the main antagonist in his 1959 thriller novel '' Psycho''. He has an alter, Mother, who takes from the form of his abusive mother, and later victim, Norma, wh ...

gearing up for "

Psycho IV ''Psycho IV: The Beginning'' is a 1990 American made-for-television slasher film directed by Mick Garris, and starring Anthony Perkins, Henry Thomas, Olivia Hussey, Warren Frost, Donna Mitchell, and CCH Pounder. It serves as both the third sequel ...

'." Davitt Sigerson from ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' wrote a review about the song, commenting:

"Churls may bemoan 'I Just Can't Stop Loving You,' Jackson's duet with the often indistinguishable Siedah Garrett, as a second unworthy entry. Without descending to musical
McCarthyism McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner. The term origin ...
and questioning the honor of anyone who can fault a record with both finger snaps and timpani, it need only be asked, Who, having heard the song at least twice, can fail to remember that chorus?"

Chart performance

"I Just Can't Stop Loving You" was the lead single from 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

, advancing to #16 in its second week, and soaring to #1 in its seventh week on the tally, the week of September 19, 1987. Despite the success, 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, out of a total of 14 weeks on the Hot 100. This was largely due to the quick release of the album title track as the second single (it debuted on the Hot 100 at #40 in the same week that "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" hit number one). ''Billboard'' ranked it as #43 on the year-end Hot 100 chart for 1987. The track spent three weeks at number one on ''Billboards

singles chart, becoming the second and last Michael Jackson single to top that chart. In the United Kingdom, the song peaked at the top of the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

on August 9, 1987 — for the week ending date August 15, 1987 — and remained at the top for two consecutive weeks until it was dethroned by "

Never Gonna Give You Up "Never Gonna Give You Up" is the debut single recorded by English singer and songwriter Rick Astley, released on 27 July 1987. It is one of Astley's most famous songs. It was written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman, and was released as ...

" by

Rick Astley Richard Paul Astley (born 6 February 1966) is an English singer, songwriter and radio personality, who has been active in music for several decades. He gained worldwide fame in the 1980s, having multiple hits including his signature song " Ne ...

. "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" became Britain's 30th best-selling song of 1987. 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.

Live performances

Jackson performed the song on his

Bad World Tour Bad was the first solo concert tour by American singer Michael Jackson, launched in support of his seventh studio album '' Bad'' (1987). Sponsored by Pepsi and spanning 16 months, the tour included 123 concerts for over 4.4 million fans across ...

(1987-1989) with background singer

Sheryl Crow Sheryl Suzanne Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, pop, country, folk, and blues. She has released eleven studio albums, five compilations and three ...

and on his

Dangerous World Tour The Dangerous World Tour was the second world concert tour by American singer Michael Jackson to promote his eighth studio album '' Dangerous.'' The tour was sponsored by Pepsi-Cola. All profits were donated to various charities including Jack ...

(1992-1993) with

. He also performed the song at the Royal Concert in Brunei in July 1996 with

Marva Hicks Marva Denise Hicks (May 5, 1956 – September 16, 2022) was an American R&B singer and actress. She signed with Polydor in the late 1980s, recorded her self-titled album in 1991, Biography at AllMusic/ref> and later worked in Broadway theatre and ...

. Live versions of the song are available on the DVDs '' Live at Wembley July 16, 1988'' and '' Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour''. Jackson would have performed it on This Is It with

Judith Hill Judith Glory Hill is an American singer-songwriter from Los Angeles, California. She has provided backing vocals for such artists as Michael Jackson, Prince, and Josh Groban. In 2009, Hill was chosen as Jackson's duet partner for the song "I Just ...

, 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 ''Michael Jackson's This Is It'' is a 2009 American documentary–concert film about Michael Jackson's rehearsals and preparation for the concert series of the same name scheduled to start on July 13, 2009, at the O2 Arena, but cancelled du ...

''. As a tribute to Jackson, Hill recorded and released a "sequel" to the song, entitled "I Will Always Be Missing You".

Releases

*CD promo: # "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" (7" Version) – 4:12 *US 7" single # "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" (With Spoken Intro) – 4:17 # "Baby Be Mine" – 4:20 *US 12" special edition single # "Todo Mi Amor Eres Tu" – 4:06 # "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" (7" Version) – 4:12 *US 3" CD single # "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" (7" Version) – 4:12 # "Baby Be Mine" – 4:20

Mixes

# Album version / Original album mix* – 4:25 # 7" version – 4:12 *This version replaced the original version on the later releases of ''Bad'' # "Todo mi amor eres tú" Spanish version – 4:06 (which means "You Are All My Love") # "Je ne veux pas la fin de nous" French version – 4:06 (which means "I Don't Want the End of Us") # Live version from '' Live at Wembley July 16, 1988'', included in the deluxe edition of '' Bad 25'' – 4:25 # Live version from Yokohama Stadium, included on the Wembley DVD # " You Are Not Alone"/"I Just Can't Stop Loving You," remix included on ''

Immortal Immortality is the ability to live forever, or eternal life. Immortal or Immortality may also refer to: Film * ''The Immortals'' (1995 film), an American crime film * ''Immortality'', an alternate title for the 1998 British film ''The Wisdom of ...

'' – 6:08

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

2012 reissue

On June 5, 2012, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Jackson's ''Bad'' album (on which "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" appears), the single was re-released to

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

stores in the United States, but was denied a digital release. The single included the original 1987 edit of "I Just Can't Stop Loving You," which included the spoken word intro that was removed from current versions of the ''Bad'' album, as well as "Don't Be Messin' 'Round," an untouched demo that was recorded for the album in 1986. On ''Billboard's Hot Singles Sales Chart, which ranks the best-selling physical singles of the week, "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" debuted at no. 1 with 5,000 copies sold. This gave Jackson his first no. 1 single on a ''Billboard'' chart since 2003, when " One More Chance" spent three weeks atop the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Singles Sales Chart. The vinyl single was released in USA on June 26, 2012.

Track listing

*CD single (88725414922) # "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" (Album Version) - 4:25 # "Don't Be Messin' 'Round" (Demo) - 4:19 *7" single # "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" (With Spoken Intro) – 4:17 # "Baby Be Mine" – 4:20

Release history

Covers

* In 1988, American pianist David Benoit included a version of the song on his album, '' Every Step of the Way.'' * In 2001,

Gloria Estefan Gloria Estefan (; born Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García; born 1 September 1957) is a Cuban-American singer, actress, and businesswoman. Estefan is a seven-time Grammy Award winner, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and has bee ...

& James Ingram performed the song in '' Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special''. * Contemporary jazz guitarist

Chuck Loeb Charles Samuel "Chuck" Loeb (December 7, 1955 – July 31, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist and a member of the groups Steps Ahead, Metro and Fourplay. Early years and education Loeb was born in Nyack, New York, near New York City. At a ...

presented his rendition from his 1987 album "My Shining Hour." * In 2009, the top 8 finalists of ''

Latin American Idol ''Latin American Idol'' was the Hispanic American edition of the popular British franchise of '' Idols'', well known for its American version ''American Idol''. The show aimed to discover the pop idol of the Hispanic American region. The show was ...

'' performed the Spanish version "Todo mi amor eres tú", directed by

Jon Secada Juan Francisco Secada Ramírez (born October 4, 1961), better known as Jon Secada, is a Cuban-born American singer. He has won two Grammy Awards and sold 15 million records, making him one of the best-selling Latin music artists. His music f ...

as a tribute to Michael Jackson. * In 2012,

Rachel Berry Rachel Barbra Berry is a fictional character and one of the two main protagonists, alongside Mr. Schue in the Fox musical comedy-drama series '' Glee''. The character is portrayed by actress Lea Michele, and appears in ''Glee'' from its pilot ...

(

Lea Michele Lea Michele Sarfati (; born August 29, 1986) is an American actress, singer, songwriter, and author. She began her career as a child actress on Broadway, appearing in productions of ''Les Misérables'' (1995–1996), ''Ragtime'' (1997–1999) ...

) and Finn Hudson ( Cory Monteith) performed the song in the '' Glee'' Michael Jackson tribute episode. * In 2012, Italian jazz trumpeter

Enrico Rava Enrico Rava (born 20 August 1939), is an Italian jazz trumpeter. He started on trombone, then changed to the trumpet after hearing Miles Davis. Career He was born in Trieste, Italy. His first commercial work was as a member of Gato Barbieri' ...

released a version on his tribute album '' Rava on the Dance Floor''. *In 2013, Toby Love covered the Spanish version of the song in

bachata Bachata may refer to: * Bachata (music), a genre of Latin American music **Traditional bachata, a subgenre of bachata music * Bachata (dance), a dance style from the Dominican Republic * Bachatón, a hybrid bachata/reggaeton music style * "Bachata ...

as the second single from his album ''Amor Total''. His version reached number one on the ''Billboard''

Tropical Songs The Tropical Airplay chart (formerly known as Tropical/Salsa and Tropical Songs) is a record chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine introduced in 1994. The first number-one song on the chart was " Quien Eres Tu" by Luis Enrique. Originally, ra ...

chart and in the Dominican Republic. Love's cover led to Rubén Blades receiving the

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

Latin Award on the Tropical category in 2014.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

Lyrics of this song
* {{authority control 1987 songs 1987 singles 2012 singles Michael Jackson songs Toby Love songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Number-one singles in Belgium Number-one singles in Denmark Number-one singles in the Dominican Republic 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 Number-one singles in Zimbabwe Oricon International Singles Chart number-one singles Songs written by Michael Jackson Song recordings produced by Michael Jackson Song recordings produced by Quincy Jones 1980s ballads Soul ballads Pop ballads Male–female vocal duets Bachata songs