Forever, Michael


Forever, Michael is the fourth studio album by American singer Michael Jackson, released by Motown Records on January 16, 1975. The album is credited as having songs with funk and soul material. Edward Holland, Jr., Brian Holland, Hal Davis, Freddie Perren, and Sam Brown III served as producers to Forever, Michael. It is the final album before Jackson's solo breakthrough with his next album, Off the Wall.
Except for the peak position of number 101 on the Billboard 200 and number 10 on the Billboard Top R&B Albums, Forever, Michael failed to chart in other countries. Unlike Jackson's previous studio albums, the album was not commercially successful worldwide. Forever, Michael was generally well received by contemporary music critics. 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.
In 1981, Motown released "One Day in Your Life" as a single, coupled with the compilation album of the same name. The single went to number one in the UK, becoming the 6th best-selling single of 1981 in the country. 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, .

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 left for CBS Records after the release of their tenth album, Moving Violation. 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 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.
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.
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 of Holland–Dozier–Holland.
In 1981, Motown released "One Day in Your Life" as a single, coupled with the compilation album of the same name, to capitalize off the success of Jackson's Off the Wall on Epic. The single went to number one in the UK, becoming the 6th best-selling single of 1981 in that country.
This is the only Jackson studio album that doesn't share a name with one of the songs on the album
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.
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 cannot 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.

Track listing

Personnel

Adapted from AllMusic.