OCTOBER 14, 1972 – Michael Jackson went to #1 on the US singles chart with “Ben'” his first #1 solo recording. Originally written for Donny Osmond, “Ben” was offered to Jackson as Osmond was on tour at the time and unavailable for recording. Written by Don Black and composed by Walter Scharf for the 1972 film of the same name, a sequel to the 1971 killer rat movie “Willard”, the song was performed in the film by Lee Montgomery and by Michael Jackson over the closing credits.
Jackson’s single, recorded for the Motown label in 1972, spent one week at the top of the US pop chart. Billboard ranked it as the #20 song for 1972. It also reached #1 on the Australian pop chart, spending eight weeks at the top spot, and later peaked at #7 on the British pop chart. “Ben” won a Golden Globe for Best Song. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1973, losing to “The Morning After” from “The Poseidon Adventure.” Jackson performed the song in front of a live audience at the ceremony.Although Jackson had already become the youngest artist to ever record a #1 (“I Want You Back” with The Jackson 5, in 1970), “Ben” made him the third-youngest solo artist, at fourteen, to score a #1 hit single.
Only Stevie Wonder, who was thirteen when “Fingertips, Pt. 2” went to #1, and Osmond, who was months shy of his fourteenth birthday when “Go Away Little Girl” hit #1 in 1971, were younger. Michael Jackson performed the song on “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour” and “American Bandstand” in the early 1970s, and again in 1976 on “The Jacksons” in tribute to Gentle Ben the bear.The song is one of Jackson’s most re-released, having appeared on “The Jackson 5 Anthology”, “The Best of Michael Jackson”, “Michael Jackson Anthology,” “Jackson 5: The Ultimate Collection,” “The Essential Michael Jackson,” “Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection,” “Hello World: The Motown Solo Collection,” “The Definitive Collection,” “Number Ones,” “King of Pop” and “Icon.”A live recorded version was released on the 1981 album “The Jacksons Live!” and remixed versions have appeared on “The Remix Suite,” “The Stripped Mixes” and some versions of “Immortal.”Dusty Springfield recorded the track during the sessions for her 1973 LP “Cameo” but it went unissued and the masters were subsequently lost or destroyed.
In 1985, the song became a top ten hit again in the UK when covered by Marti Webb as a tribute to Ben Hardwick, a young liver transplant patient. This version reached #5 in the UK charts and was one of the singer’s biggest hits. The co-writer of the song Don Black was at that time Webb’s manager. In 1997, the Irish boy band Boyzone did a cover version for their album “A Different Beat.” After Jackson’s death, singer Akon released a remix of the song with his own background vocals and Jackson’s original voice.
