Will You Be There


"Will You Be There" is a song by Michael Jackson which was released as a single in June 28, 1993. The song is the eighth single from the 1991 album Dangerous. The song also appeared on the soundtrack to the film Free Willy, of which it is the main theme. With the album version clocking in at seven minutes and forty seconds, it is the longest song in Michael Jackson's solo discography.
The song became yet another successful single from Dangerous, peaking at number two in New Zealand and reaching the top ten in Belgium, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In the US, where it sold 1,000,000 copies and stayed in the top ten for six weeks, it peaked at number seven and earned a platinum certification.

Background

The song is written in the key of D Major. Jackson's vocal spans from D3 to Eb5. It has a tempo of 83 beats per minute. Jackson wrote and produced "Will You Be There" – with co-producing credits going to Bruce Swedien – and orchestrated the rhythm and vocal arrangements. Featured instruments are noted as piano, synthesizer, keyboard, drums, and percussion. In 2002, Jackson told an ITV documentary it was written at his Neverland Ranch, in what he calls his Giving Tree: "I've written so many of my songs in this tree. I wrote... Will You Be There...".

Song information

The full version of the song includes a prelude featuring the Cleveland Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus performing a portion of Beethoven's ninth symphony. The segment is from the fourth movement and is a lesser known portion of the famous "Ode to Joy". The German lyrics were written by Friedrich Schiller.
This classical introduction is then followed by a chorale interlude arranged by Andrae and Sandra Crouch. The Andrae Crouch Singers are heard throughout the rest of the song as well.

Legal issues

"Will You Be There" was the subject of two lawsuits. The first was for copyright infringement of the Cleveland Orchestra's recording and lack of credit to Beethoven for the use of his symphonic prelude. The suit was filed by the Cleveland Orchestra for 7 million dollars and was settled out of court with subsequent pressings of Dangerous including full credits in the album booklet. The second lawsuit was a claim of plagiarism by Italian songwriter Albano Carrisi who claimed that "Will You Be There" was copied from his song "I Cigni di Balaka". After seven years, an Italian court ruled in favor of Carrisi because Jackson failed to show up to court. In a follow-up case some months later, the court ruled in favor of Jackson and rejected the claim, stating that while the two songs were very similar, they both may have been inspired by The Ink Spots' 1939 hit "Bless You for Being an Angel".

Critical reception

Rolling Stone wrote that "the grandiose 'Will You Be There' never catches fire" and added that "the sequencing of Dangerous often clusters similar songs in bunches" and with that "It's easy to overlook" the following track 'Keep The Faith' which like 'Will You Be There' also features the Andrae Crouch Singers, but according to the article "is looser and sets off fireworks with a call-and-response gospel coda".

Awards

"Will You Be There" won the MTV Movie Award for "Best Song in a Movie" in 1994. It was also included in the album All Time Greatest Movie Songs, released by Sony in 1999.

Music video

A music video was made for the song. It included Jackson performing the song during his Dangerous World Tour and footage from Free Willy. Another video mixing footage of Jackson's performance of the song on tour and on MTV's tenth anniversary was included on the DVD releases, and Michael Jackson's Vision; the latter release includes alternate shots of the audience near the end.

Live performances by Jackson

Jackson performed "Will You Be There" live throughout the Dangerous World Tour. Outside of the tour, Jackson performed the song at the MTV 10th anniversary show and at the NAACP Image Awards in 1993. The song was also planned for the HIStory World Tour, but wasn't included in final set list. A version was released on the 2004 DVD . Jackson would have performed the song for the This Is It concerts which never took place due to his sudden death. The rehearsal for it, which took place on June 23, was not featured in the film This Is It, but was confirmed to have been part of the concert, along with "Dirty Diana", "Dangerous", "Rock with You", "You Are Not Alone", "You Rock My World", "Heal the World" and "Stranger in Moscow" rehearsals, which were also not seen in the film.

Other performances

The song was covered at the 25th NAACP Image Awards in 1993 by Daryl Coley, Patti LaBelle and the Voices of Faith Choir, with Jackson joining in the end.
Jennifer Hudson performed the song at Michael Jackson's memorial service on July 7, 2009.
The song was also covered by the band Boyce Avenue on their 2010 album Influential Sessions. Sales of this song on iTunes were used to raise money for relief of the 2010 Haiti earthquake through the American Red Cross. Band member Alejandro Manzano said "...though we knew that any cover of music would pale in comparison to the original, we were still compelled to give a shout out to the late great in this time of need, by doing our rendition of one of our favorite songs of his, 'Will You Be There.'"
Michael Lynche performed the song on the ninth season of American Idol on May 11, 2010, prior to being eliminated from the Final 4.
Melanie Amaro performed the song in the first season of The X Factor on 2011. She survived during elimination bouts at judges' houses.
Fleur East performed the song on the eleventh season of The X Factor on November 8, 2014, during Queen vs. Michael Jackson week.
The song was also featured on the video game .

Track listing

CD and 12" single
  1. "Will You Be There" – 3:40
  2. "Man in the Mirror" – 5:19
  3. "Girlfriend" – 3:04
  4. "Will You Be There" – 7:40
CD promo
  1. "Will You Be There" – 3:40
7" and cassette single
  1. "Will You Be There" – 3:40
  2. "Will You Be There" – 3:40
3-inch single
  1. "Will You Be There" – 3:40
  2. "Girlfriend" – 3:04
Video single
  1. "Will You Be There" - 5:56
Running time: 4 minutes 30 seconds

Personnel

Weekly charts

Chart Peak
position

Year-end charts

Certifications