I'll Be There (The Jackson 5 song)

"I'll Be There" is a soul song written by Berry Gordy, Bob West, Hal Davis, and Willie Hutch, which resulted in two U.S. #1 hit singles: the original 1970 recording by American vocal quintet The Jackson 5 and a 1992 live version by American R&B; singers Mariah Carey and Trey Lorenz.

The Jackson 5 interpretation was recorded for Motown Records, and released as the first single from their Third Album in 1970. Produced by the songwriters, "I'll Be There" was The Jackson 5's fourth #1 hit in a row ("I Want You Back", "ABC", and "The Love You Save"), making them the first black male group to achieve four consecutive #1 pop hits. "I'll Be There" is also notable as the most successful single released by Motown during its "Detroit era" (1959-1972).

The Mariah Carey/Trey Lorenz cover was recorded during Carey's appearance on MTV Unplugged in 1992, and released as the first single from her EP MTV Unplugged in the second quarter of 1992. Co-produced by Carey and Walter Afanasieff, "I'll Be There" became Carey's sixth #1 single in the U.S., and her biggest hit elsewhere at the time.

The Jackson 5 version

About the record

The resulting song was a gentle ballad, in which the narrator asks his ex-lover to give their love another chance. He promises that, this time, he'll always be there "to comfort you," and that even if she "should ever find someone new," he'll still be there for her if her new love treats her wrong. Jackson 5 lead singers Michael Jackson and his older brother Jermaine share the lead vocals on this song. Michael's ad-libbed "just look over your shoulders, honey" is an allusion to "Reach Out I'll Be There", a 1966 #1 hit single recorded by the Four Tops. He was instructed by Gordy to say "just look over your shoulder" (exactly as Levi Stubbs had said it in "Reach Out I'll Be There"), but the slightly flubbed line was allowed to remain in the final mix.

Release and reaction

The most successful single ever released by the Jackson 5, "I'll Be There" sold 4.2 million copies in the United States, and 6.1 million copies worldwide. It replaced Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" as the most successful single released on Motown in the U.S., a record it held until the release of Lionel Richie's duet with Diana Ross, "Endless Love" (1981). Outside the U.S., "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" remained Motown's biggest selling record with worldwide sales of over 7 million copies.

The song held the #1 position on the Billboard Pop Singles Chart for five weeks from October 17 to November 14, replacing "Cracklin' Rosie" by Neil Diamond; it was succeeded by "I Think I Love You" by The Partridge Family. "I'll Be There" was also a #1 hit on the Billboard Black Singles Chart for six weeks, and a #4 hit in the United Kingdom. The single's B-side was "One More Chance".

"I'll Be There" was the Jackson 5's final #1 Hot 100 hit as a group. For the rest of their career as a major-label act, Jackson 5 singles would get no higher than #2. Michael Jackson scored numerous number 1 hits as a solo artist, beginning with "Ben" in 1972. He performed "I'll Be There" on all his world tours. "I'll Be There" remains one of the most popular of the Jackson 5's hits, and has been covered by a number of artists, including Josie and the Pussycats and Mariah Carey, whose cover brought the song back into the public's consciousness two decades after its original release. The song was also covered by the punk band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes on their album Take a Break.

"I'll Be There" was one of the songs used in the showcase for .

In this song was also by the 2008 music simulation game, Wii Music.

Punk rock band Green Day has frequently performed a live medley beginning with their original song "King For A Day", morphing into The Isley Brothers' "Shout" and breaks into a smaller medley including, but not limited to, The Penguins' "Earth Angel", "I'll Be There", and Ben E. King's "Stand by Me", then back into "Shout".

The song was performed by Michael Jackson in the 2009 film Michael Jackson's This Is It. However, the song was performed by Jackson and backup singers as if they were the Jackson 5. During the song, clips of the Jackson 5 are shown. At the end of the song, Michael dedicates the song to all of his brothers and his parents.

Charts

Mariah Carey version

Name	I'll Be There
Cover	IBTS.jpg
Artist	Mariah Carey featuring Trey Lorenz
Album	MTV Unplugged
Released
Format	CD single, cassette single, 7" single
Recorded	Kaufman Astoria Studios on March 16, 1992
Genre	Pop, R&B;, Soul
Length	4:25/4:42
Label	Columbia
Producer	Mariah Carey, Walter Afanasieff
Certification	Gold (New Zealand)
Chronology	Mariah Carey singles
Last single	"Make It Happen" (1992)
This single	"I'll Be There" (1992)
Next single	"If It's Over" (1992)
Misc	Mariah Carey had included "I'll Be There" as a last-minute addition to her MTV Unplugged setlist, after she had been informed that most acts on the show commonly perform at least one cover. "I'll Be There" was the sixth track on Carey's MTV Unplugged special, taped on March 16, 1992. It was performed as a romantic duet, with Carey singing Michael Jackson's lines and R&B; singer Trey Lorenz singing Jermaine Jackson's lines. The program and resulting MTV Unplugged album were produced by Carey and Walter Afanasieff, who played the piano for the performance. The MTV Unplugged special aired on May 20, 1992, and was a notable success. Carey's label, Columbia Records, received many requests to release "I'll Be There" as a single, which had not been planned. A radio edit of the song was created which removed dialogue portions of the performance, and "I'll Be There" was released as a single. In the U.S., the song was issued with "So Blessed" as a B-side; in the United Kingdom, the "I'll Be There" single included the live version of "Vision of Love", and the album versions of "If It's Over" and "All in Your Mind". "I'll Be There" was nominated for the 1993 Grammy Award for Best R&B; Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and Best R&B; Song, losing both categories to Boyz II Men's "End of the Road". The "I'll Be There" music video, directed by Larry Jordan, was compiled from footage of Carey's MTV Unplugged appearance. During Michael Jackson's memorial service on July 7, 2009, Carey and Lorenz sang their rendition of the song in tribute to Jackson. Track listing Worldwide CD single #"I'll Be There" #"So Blessed" European CD maxi-single #"I'll Be There" #"So Blessed" #"Vanishing" UK CD maxi-single #"I'll Be There" #"Vision of Love" (live) #"If It's Over #"All in Your Mind" Chart performance After the underperformance of "Make It Happen" compared to her previous singles, "I'll Be There" was a return to form for Carey: it became her sixth #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and allayed any concerns her record label had about her career in decline. "I'll Be There" was the #1 song on the Hot 100 for two weeks, from June 13, 1992 to June 27. It replaced "Jump" by Kris Kross, and was itself replaced by "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-a-Lot. It became #1 on the U.S. Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks. In fact, it is the only single released from the MTV Unplugged series that hit #1. "I'll Be There" was Carey's breakthrough hit outside North America, becoming her most successful single in numerous markets. It topped the Canadian Singles Chart for two weeks, and became her biggest hit so far in the United Kingdom (where it hit #2) and Australia (where it reached #9). It peaked inside the top twenty in most markets across Europe, where Carey's success had previously been limited. The song has sold a total of 345,000 copies in the UK. Charts Peak positions {| class="wikitable sortable" |- !align="left"|Chart (1992) ! style="text-align:center;"|Peak position |- |align="left"|Australian Singles Chart | style="text-align:center;"|9 |- |align="left"|Canadian Singles Chart | style="text-align:center;"|1 |- |align="left"|Dutch Singles Chart | style="text-align:center;"|1 |- |align="left"|French Singles Chart | style="text-align:center;"|16 |- |align="left"|German Singles Chart | style="text-align:center;"|33 |- |align="left"|Irish Singles Chart | style="text-align:center;"|3 |- |align="left"|New Zealand Singles Chart | style="text-align:center;"|1 |- |align="left"|Norwegian Singles Chart | style="text-align:center;"|10 |- |align="left"|Swedish Singles Chart | style="text-align:center;"|26 |- |align="left"|Swiss Singles Chart | style="text-align:center;"|20 |- |align="left"|UK Singles Chart | style="text-align:center;"|1 |- |align="left"|U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks |align="center"|16 |- |} End of decade charts {| class="wikitable sortable" |- !Chart (1990-1999) !Position |- | U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | style="text-align:center;"|96 |} Sales and certifications Other cover versions Song co-writer Willie Hutch covered the song on his 1973 Motown album, Fully Exposed. The band's sister La Toya Jackson covered the song on her 1995 Motown cover album, Stop In The Name of Love featuring a guest performance by Kim Knudsen. In 2000, the band Westlife did a cover version of "I'll Be There" for the Coast to Coast album. In 2002, American Idol fifth place finalist RJ Helton belted out this song on Wild Card night and advanced to the finals in season 1. The Temptations did a cover version of this song for their album Reflections (2006). In 2009, American Idol finalist Jasmine Murray got eliminated in a double elimination with Jorge Núñez on top 13 week after singing "I'll Be There" in season 8. Jamie Foxx and Ne-Yo concluded the 2009 BET Awards show with this song. New Kids on the Block covered the song live on the day of Michael Jackson's death in June 2009. American punk trio Green Day covered this song while playing "King for a day/Shout" on their 21st Century Breakdown World Tour, which kicked off in July 2009, just after Michael Jackson's death. Jason Freese, one of the band's touring members who plays saxophone on the song, dressed up as Jackson during the performance. In 2010, Thomas Ring the finalists of the third season of X Factor in Denmark, did a cover version in order to raise money for Haiti. In 2010, German singer Menowin Fröhlich did a cover version in the 7th season of Deutschland sucht den Superstar (German version of American Idol). Sun Kil Moon, a project of songwriter Mark Kozelek, released a sparse, haunting cover as a bonus track to his 2010 album Admiral Fell Promises. See also Hot 100 number-one hits of 1970 (United States) List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 1992 (U.S.) References Category:1970 singles Category:1970s ballads Category:1992 singles Category:The Jackson 5 songs Category:Mariah Carey songs Category:Westlife songs Category:Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Category:Billboard Adult Contemporary number-one singles Category:Billboard Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs number-one singles Category:Number-one singles in New Zealand Category:Vocal duets Category:Pop ballads Category:Rhythm and blues ballads Category:Songs written by Berry Gordy Category:RPM Top Singles number-one singles Category:Live singles This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community. Advertise with us! Search Archives Languages Submit your Article Feedback Privacy Policy Copyright © 2011 World News Network All rights reserved