It was on this day back 25 years ago in 1987 that the first of five consecutive singles from Michael Jackson's Bad album went to the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 Songs Chart. The duet ballad with with Siedah Garrett, "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" also reached number one on the Billboard R&B and adult contemporary charts.

The song 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' protégé 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.

Jackson performed the song on his Bad World Tour with background singer Sheryl Crow and on his Dangerous World Tour with Siedah Garrett. He also performed the song at the Royal Concert in Brunei with Marva Hicks . Jackson would have performed it on This Is It with Judith Hill, 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. As a tribute to Jackson, Hill recorded and released a "sequel" to the song, entitled "I Will Always Be Missing You."

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