I'll Be There was Mariah's remake of Jackson Five's successful song.
Single:
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Sony decided to put Mariah on MTV Unplugged show, so she would be introduced to a wider audience. The show was taped on March 16, 1992. When they were choosing the songs, everybody was saying to do an oldie, so two nights before the show Mariah decided to do I’ll Be There. I’ll Be There was a number one hit of the Jackson Five in 1970. This made the job even harder, because Mariah only had two days to make all the arrangements. On the stage she performed the song in a duet, featuring Trey Lorenz, and Walter Afanasieff on the piano. Mariah arranged the song, so that she picked up the voice of Michael Jackson and Trey was singing the second lead, which was originally a part of Jermaine Jackson. Together they have made an incredible performance. The audience was drawn off their seats. Trey was not so sure about his performance, so he later said:
‘Great goodness, I think we were singing really good that day, but I wasn’t so sure about me. I was really relieved, when I listened.’
Columbia didn’t even plan to release any singles, but people really wanted to listen Mariah’s version of I’ll Be There. So on May 28, 1992, the single entered the charts on #13, at that time the highest entry for Mariah. Nobody, not even Mariah, expected that the single would go up to #1 on June 20, 1992, where it lasted for two weeks. This started Trey’s solo career. Later Mariah continued her cooperation with Trey Lorenz, as she helped him with his albums and he was singing the background vocals for several of her songs.
CD5: US (44K 74330), AU:
1. I'll Be There (MTV Unplugged)
2. So Blessed
3. Vanishing
7": US (38 74330), UK, JP:
1. I'll Be There (MTV Unplugged)
2. So Blessed
UK:
1. I'll Be There (MTV Unplugged)
2. Vision Of Love (MTV Unplugged)
3. If It's Over
4. All In Your Mind
The video:
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Mariah’s MTV Unplugged show was directed by Larry Jordan, who already worked with Mariah on Someday music video. The video for I’ll Be There was simply featuring performance from this show. Everyone on the stage was dressed in black, including all the singers. Mariah is wearing a jacket over a black top with open neck and black tight pants.
