From Mark Murphy and Eddie Jefferson to Lorez Alexandria, most of the singers that Muse recorded were hardcore jazz vocalists. But there's no getting around the fact that Morgana King's I Just Can't Stop Loving You is a pop release, first and foremost. Not for jazz snobs, this CD must be judged by pop standards instead of jazz standards -- and when you do that, it becomes clear that King has delivered a pleasant and enjoyable, if less than spectacular, adult contemporary oriented collection. This isn't to say that the disc is devoid of jazz -- "How About You" and "They All Laughed" are essentially jazz, but those tracks are the exception instead of the rule. King, who was in her early sixties when the album was recorded, favors a pure pop approach on material that ranges from Michel Legrand's "Summer Me, Winter Me" and the Cars' "Drive" to no less than three Michael Jackson hits: "I Just Can't Stop Loving You," "The Lady in My Life," and "Human Nature." Muse generally did well by King in the '80s and '90s, and I Just Can't Stop Loving You is no exception. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
Cliff Carter (Synthesizer), Jay Messina (Engineer), Scott Lee (Bass), David Spinozza (Guitar), Larry Fallon (Synthesizer), Francisco Centeno (Drums), John Kaye (Percussion), Benny Aronov (Piano), Larry Fallon (Producer), Allan Schwartzberg (Drums), Bob Aries (Synthesizer), Larry Fallon (Arranger), Robbie Kondor (Synthesizer), Warren Odze (Drums), Morgana King (Vocals)
I Just Can't Stop Loving You is a popular ballad by singer Michael Jackson featuring a duet with Siedah Garrett. 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 BillboardR&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).[1] 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.
"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 song'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). It also reached #1 in 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.
