Twenty five years ago today, Ronald Reagan was president, the unemployment rate was 7%, gas was .95 cents a gallon, and Michael Jackson released, “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” his fifth consecutive number one hit.

The duet was originally presented to Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, and Agnetha Fältskog (formerly of the Swedish band ABBA), but when all four declined because of other obligations, Quincy Jones protégé Siedah Garrett, who went on to write Jackson’s 1988 song “Man in the Mirror,” volunteered to step in.

The song served as the lead single off his seventh studio album, BAD, and was a global hit reaching number one in the United States, United Kingdom, and Sweden.

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TAGS: ABBA, Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Retro Centric, Ronald Reagan, Siedah Garrett, Whitney Houston