Joe Jackson, the patriarch of the musical Jackson family, passed away today at age 89. The Jackson 5’s first four singles all reached the number one position on the US charts. “I’ll Be There” was the fourth of those singles, following “I Want You Back,” “ABC,” and “The Love You Save.” This run of singles stretches across the band’s first three albums, with the first appearing on Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5, the next two on ABC and “I’ll Be There” on Third Album. The song was written by Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, Bob West, Willie Hutch, and Hal Davis. It sold so well domestically that it toppled Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” as the best-selling Motown single in the US, and wouldn’t be replaced for another 11 years.
Header image courtesy of Billboard.