''Forever, Michael'' is the fourth studio album by American singer

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 a ...

, released by Motown Records on January 16, 1975. The album is credited as having songs with funk and

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...

material.

Eddie Holland Edward Holland Jr. (born October 30, 1939) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Holland was born in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Although he was an early Motown artist who recorded minor hit singles such as "Jamie", he ...

Brian Holland Brian Holland (born February 15, 1941) is an American songwriter and record producer, best known as a member of Holland–Dozier–Holland, the songwriting and production team that was responsible for much of the Motown sound, and numerous h ...

Hal Davis Harold Edward Davis (February 8, 1933 – November 18, 1998) was an American songwriter and record producer. Davis was a producer and writer for Motown Records for nearly thirty years, and was a key figure in the latter part of the Mot ...

Freddie Perren Frederick James Perren (May 15, 1943 – December 16, 2004) was an American songwriter, record producer, arranger, and orchestra conductor. He co-wrote and co-produced songs including "Boogie Fever" by the Sylvers, "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gay ...

, and Sam Brown III served as producers on ''Forever, Michael''. It is the final album before Jackson's solo breakthrough with his next album, '' Off the Wall'' (1979). Except for the peak position of number 101 on the ''Billboard'' Top LPs & Tape chart and number 10 on the ''Billboard'' Top Soul Albums chart, both in the United States, ''Forever, Michael'' failed to chart in other countries. Unlike Jackson's previous studio albums, the album was not commercially successful worldwide. However, ''Forever, Michael'' was generally well received by contemporary music critics. As part of promotion for the album, three singles were released from ''Forever, Michael'', all of which were moderate commercial successes on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and other music charts worldwide. In 1981, Motown released a compilation album of the same name, One Day in Your Life, named after the third track off of Forever, Michael, and released One Day in Your Life as a single, which went to number one in the United Kingdom, becoming the sixth best-selling single of 1981 in the country. Songs from the album were reissued in 2009 after Jackson's death in June of the same year as part of the 3-disc compilation album entitled, '' Hello World: The Motown Solo Collection''.

Album information

The album was Jackson's fourth as a solo artist and would end up being his final album released with Motown before he and his brothers,

the Jackson 5 The Jackson 5 (sometimes stylized as the Jackson 5ive, also known as the Jacksons) are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most o ...

(save for

Jermaine Jermaine ( ) is a masculine given name of Latin language, Latin origin, derived from the French given name , which is in turn derived from the Latin given name , meaning "brother". The masculine given name Jermaine was popularized in the 1970s b ...

, who would remain with Motown until 1983) left for

CBS Records CBS Records may refer to: * CBS Records or CBS/Sony, former name of Sony Music, a global record company * CBS Records International, label for Columbia Records recordings released outside North America from 1962 to 1990 * CBS Records (2006), founde ...

after the release of their tenth album, ''

Moving Violation A moving violation is any violation of the law committed by the driver of a vehicle while it is in motion. The term "motion" distinguishes it from other motor vehicle violations, such as paperwork violations (which include violations involving ...

''. This album displayed a change in musical style for the 16-year-old, who adopted a smoother

sound that he would continue to develop on his later solo albums for Epic Records, the label he would record on for the rest of his life. The album is also credited as having songs with funk elements. Most of the tracks were recorded in 1974, and the album was originally set to be released that year. But because of demand from the Jackson 5's huge hit " Dancing Machine", production on Jackson's album was delayed until the hype from that song died down. In 1975, Motown launched a joint promotional campaign with ''Forever, Michael'' and ''Moving Violation''. The album helped return Jackson to the top 40, aided by the singles "

We're Almost There "We're Almost There" is a 1975 song released as a single by American singer Michael Jackson, the first release from his final Motown album, '' Forever, Michael''. Background As Jackson's voice changed a bit, Motown found it difficult to find mate ...

" and " Just a Little Bit of You", both written by the Holland Brothers (

Eddie Eddie or Eddy may refer to: Science and technology *Eddy (fluid dynamics), the swirling of a fluid and the reverse current created when the fluid flows past an obstacle * Eddie (text editor), a text editor originally for BeOS and now ported to Lin ...

and

Brian Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word me ...

) of

Holland–Dozier–Holland Holland–Dozier–Holland was a songwriting and production team consisting of Lamont Dozier and brothers Brian and Eddie Holland. The trio wrote, arranged and produced many songs that helped define the Motown sound in the 1960s. Du ...

. In 1981, Motown released compilation album of the same name, to capitalize off the success of Jackson's '' Off the Wall'' on Epic. The single went to number one in the UK, becoming the 6th best-selling single of 1981 in that country. This is the only Jackson studio album that does not share a name with one of the songs on the album (not counting the posthumous 2010 album '' Michael''). Although his voice was already showing signs of changing on his previous album ''

Music & Me ''Music & Me'' is the third studio album by American singer Michael Jackson, released on April 13, 1973 on the Motown label. The album was reissued in 2009 as part of the three-disc compilation '' Hello World: The Motown Solo Collection''. Ba ...

'' two years earlier, this was also the first album to feature Jackson as a

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

rather than a

boy soprano A boy soprano (British and especially North American English) or boy treble (only British English) is a young male singer with an unchanged voice in the soprano range, a range that is often still called the treble voice range (in North Americ ...

. The

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Oc ...

version of the album removes the white border around the photograph of Jackson from the album cover, and instead makes the image larger so that the background cannot be seen. Furthermore, the "Forever, Michael" text is changed to more simple text which lists both "Michael Jackson" and "Forever, Michael" in a different font.

Track listing

Personnel

Adapted from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

. *

– lead and background vocals *David Blumberg - arranger *Jim Britt –

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employe ...

– producer *L.T. Horn –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

, mixing *Eddy Manson – arranger, producer *

– arranger, producer * Sam Brown III – arranger, producer *Russ Terrana – mixing * Arthur G. Wright – arranger

Charts

Sales and certifications

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1975 albums Albums produced by Hal Davis Albums produced by the Mizell Brothers Albums produced by Freddie Perren Michael Jackson albums Motown albums Albums produced by Brian Holland Albums produced by Edward Holland Jr.