Did you know ‘Ben’ recorded by Michael Jackson was Originally written for Donny Osmond!

Ben is a number-one hit song written by Don Black and Walter Scharf and recorded by Michael Jackson for the Motown label in 1972.

Originally written for Donny Osmond, “Ben” was offered to Jackson as Osmond was on tour at the time and unavailable for recording.

The single, theme of a 1972 film of the same name (the sequel to the 1971 killer rat movie Willard), spent one week at the top of the U.S. pop chart. It also reached number-one on the Australian pop chart, spending eight weeks at the top spot. The song also later reached a peak of number seven on the British pop chart.

The song became the first of 13 number-one pop hits for Jackson in the United States and his first number-one as a solo artist; it was later included on Jackson’s album of the same name.

“Ben” won a Golden Globe for Best Song. It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1973; 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 number-one (“I Want You Back” with The Jackson 5, in 1970), “Ben” made him the third-youngest solo artist, at fourteen, to score a number-one hit single.

Only Stevie Wonder, who was thirteen when “Fingertips, Pt. 2″ went to number one, and Donny Osmond, who was months shy of his fourteenth birthday when “Go Away Little Girl” hit number one in 1971 were younger.

Click Here to see all the SONGS recorded with MOTOWN

Source: Wiki

Tagged as: 1972, 1973, Age 12 to 21 1970 -1979, Celebrity Donny Osmond, Celebrity Stevie Wonder, Charts, Song: Ben