Forever, Michael is the fourth studio album by American singer Michael Jackson, and his final one released by Motown Records, on January 16, 1975. The album is credited as having songs with funk and soul material. Eddie Holland, Brian Holland, Hal Davis, Freddie Perren, 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), and has sold one million copies worldwide.
The album charted only in the United States, hitting number 101 on the Billboard 200 and number 10 on the Top Soul Albums chart. Unlike Jackson's previous studio albums, the album was not commercially successful worldwide, and it failed to chart outside of the US. However, it was generally well-received by contemporary music critics. As part of promotion for the album, three singles were released, all of which were moderate commercial successes on the US Billboard Hot 100 and other music charts worldwide.
In 1981, Motown released the compilation album One Day in Your Life, named after the third track from Forever, Michael. "One Day in Your Life" was released as a single and reached number one in the United Kingdom and several other countries. The album was reissued in 2009 after Jackson's death as part of the three-disc compilation album Hello World: The Motown Solo Collection.
Background
The album was Jackson's fourth as a solo artist and would end up being his final album released with Motown. Following the release of their tenth album, Moving Violation, the Jackson 5 left for CBS Records except for Jermaine, who would remain with Motown until 1983. This album displayed a change in musical style for the then-16-year-old Michael Jackson, who adopted a smoother soul 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.
Although his voice was already showing signs of changing on his previous album Music & Me two years earlier, this was also the first album to feature Jackson as a tenor rather than a boy soprano. 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.
Promotion
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 the compilation album One Day in Your Life to capitalize on the success of Jackson's Off the Wall on Epic. It included most of the tracks from Forever, Michael, and the title track went to number one in the UK and several other countries.
In 1984, the song "Dear Michael" was covered by Kim Fields.
Critical reception
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Forever, Michael was generally well-received by music critics. Tom Hull described it as "transitional as you'd expect from the 16-year-old artist" and gave the album a B+ rating,
- 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
- Sam Brown III – arranger, producer
- Russ Terrana – mixing
- Arthur G. Wright – arranger
Charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Weekly chart performance for Forever, Michael
! scope="col"| Chart (1975)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|US Cashbox Top Albums
|align="center"|96
|}