Forever, Michael



Forever, Michael is the fourth studio album by Michael Jackson, released by Motown Records on January 16, 1975. Forever, Michael was generally well received by contemporary music critics. Unlike Jackson's previous studio albums, the album was not commercially successful worldwide. Except for the peak position of number 101 on the Billboard 200 and number 10 on a Billboard component chart in the United States, the album did not chart on any music charts. The album has reportedly sold over one million copies worldwide since its release.

The album, with the length of over 30 minutes, is credited as having songs with R&B, pop, soul and pop rock material. Edward Holland, Jr., Brian Holland, Hal Davis, Freddie Perren, Sam Brown III served as producers to Forever, Michael. As part of promotion for the album, three singles were released from Forever, Michael, all of which were moderate commercial successes on the Billboard Hot 100 and other music charts worldwide. 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, save for Jermaine, who would remain with Motown) left for CBS Records a year later. This album displayed a change in musical style for the 16-year-old, who adopted a smoother soul sound that he would continue to develop on his later solo records for Epic Records.

Most of the tracks were recorded in 1974, and the album was originally set to be released that year. However, 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.

The album helped return Jackson to the top 40, aided by the singles "We're Almost There" and "Just a Little Bit of You", both written by the Holland Brothers (Eddie and Brian) of Holland–Dozier–Holland.

In 1981, Motown released "One Day in Your Life" as a single, coupled with the One Day in Your Life compilation album release, to capitalize off Jackson's Off the Wall success on Epic. The single went to number one in the UK, becoming the 6th best-selling single of 1981 in the UK. This is the only Jackson studio album that doesn't share a name with one of the songs on the album.

The compact disc 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 can not 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.

Personnel

 * Michael Jackson – lead and background vocals
 * David Blumberg - arranger
 * Jim Britt – photography
 * Hal Davis – producer
 * L.T. Horn – engineer, mixing
 * Eddy Manson – arranger, producer
 * Freddie Perren – arranger, producer
 * Samm Brown III – arranger, producer
 * Russ Terrana – mixing
 * Arthur G. Wright – arranger
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