"I'll Be There" is a soul song written by Berry Gordy, Bob West, Hal Davis, and Willie Hutch, which resulted in two U.S. number 1 hit singles: the original 1970 recording by American vocal quintet The Jackson 5 and a 1992 live version by American R&B singer Mariah Carey and American R&B singer Trey Lorenz.

The Jackson 5 original was recorded for Motown Records, and released as the first single from their Third Albumin 1970. Produced by the songwriters, "I'll Be There" was The Jackson 5's fourth number 1 hit in a row, following "I Want You Back," "ABC," and "The Love You Save." "I'll Be There" is also notable as the most successful single released by Motown during its "Detroit era" (1959-1972). It is also the fourth in the group's string of four consecutive number one pop hits, making them the first black male group to achieve this.

The Mariah Carey/Trey Lorenz cover was recorded during Carey's appearance on MTV Unpluggedin 1992, and released as the first single from her EP MTV Unpluggedin the second quarter of 1992. Co-produced by Carey and Walter Afanasieff, "I'll Be There" became Carey's sixth number 1 single in the U.S., and her biggest hit elsewhere at the time.

After three upbeat "bubblegum soul" number 1 singles from the Jackson 5 ("I Want You Back," "ABC," and "The Love You Save"), Motown head Berry Gordy decided to take a risk and craft a ballad for the group. For this song, he brought in writer/producers Hal Davis, Willie Hutch, and Bob West, as opposed to working with the rest of The Corporation, who had crafted the first three hits.

The resulting song was a gentle ballad, in which the narrator asks his ex-lover to give their love another chance. He promises that, this time, he'll always be there "to comfort you," and that even if she "should ever find someone new," he'll still be there for her if her new love treats her wrong. Jackson 5 lead singers Michael Jackson and his older brother Jermaine share the lead vocals on this song. Michael's ad-libbed "just look over your shoulders, honey" is an allusion to "Reach Out I'll Be There," a 1966 number 1 hit single recorded by Four Tops. He was instructed by Gordy to say "just look over your shoulder" (exactly as Levi Stubbs had said it in "Reach Out I'll Be There"), but the slightly flubbed line was allowed to remain in the final mix.

In his Moon Walkautobiography, Michael Jackson noted that "I'll Be There" was the song that solidified The Jackson 5's careers and showed audiences that the group had potential beyond bubblegum pop. Allmusic.com commented that "rarely, if ever, had one so young sung with so much authority and grace, investing this achingly tender ballad with wisdom and understanding far beyond his years".

The most successful single ever released by the Jackson 5, "I'll Be There" sold 4.2 million copies in the United States, and 6.1 million copies worldwide. It replaced Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" as the most successful single released on Motown in the U.S., a record it held until the release of Lionel Richie's duet with Diana Ross, "Endless Love" (1981). Outside the U.S., "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" remained Motown's biggest selling record with worldwide sales of over 7 million copies.

The song held the number 1 position on the Pop Singles Chart for five weeks from October 17 to November 14, replacing "Cracklin' Rosie" by Neil Diamond, and replaced by "I Think I Love You" by The Partridge Family. "I'll Be There" was also a number 1 hit on the Black Singles Chart for six weeks, and a number 4 hit in the United Kingdom. The single's B-side was "One More Chance."

"I'll Be There" was the Jackson 5's final number 1 Hot 100 hit as a group. For the rest of their career as a major-label act, Jackson 5 singles would get no higher than number-two. Michael Jackson scored several number 1 hits as a solo artist, beginning with "Ben" in 1972. He performed "I'll Be There" on all his world tours. In the live versions from his 1981 Triumph Tour to his 1987 solo Bad World Tour, Jackson would seemingly break down in tears, struggling with the words until feeling a jolt as he harmonized and shouted "can you feel it!" to the delight of the audience before dancing to the beat of "Rock With You," in his later tours from Dangerous World Tour onwards, by the time he would almost cry and struggle with the words, instead, he reminisced on his childhood past, shouting out his brothers' names and ending the song with a jump and a spin to end the song.

"I'll Be There" remains one of the most popular of the Jackson 5's hits, and has been covered by a number of artists, including Josie and the Pussycats and Mariah Carey, whose cover brought the song back into the public's consciousness two decades after its original release. The song was also covered by the punk band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes on their album Take a Break.

"I'll Be There" was one of the songs used in the showcase for Grease: You're the One that I Want!.

In this song was also by the 2008 music simulation game, Wii Music.

Punk rock band Green Day has frequently performed a live medley beginning with their original song "King For A Day", morphing into The Isley Brothers' "Shout" and breaks into a smaller medley including, but not limited to, The Penguins' "Earth Angel," "I'll Be There," and Ben E. King's "Stand By Me", then back into "shout."

The song was performed by Michael Jackson in the 2009 film Michael Jackson's This Is It. However, the song was performed by Jackson and backup singers as if they were the Jackson 5. During the song, clips of the Jackson 5 is shown. At the end of the song, Michael dedicates the song to all of his brothers and his parents.

Mariah Carey had included "I'll Be There" as a last-minute addition to her MTV Unpluggedsetlist, after she had been informed that most acts on the show commonly perform at least one cover. "I'll Be There" was the sixth track on Carey's MTV Unpluggedspecial, taped on March 16, 1992. It was performed as a romantic duet, with Carey singing Michael Jackson's lines and R&B singer Trey Lorenz singing Jermaine Jackson's lines. The program and resulting MTV Unpluggedalbum were produced by Carey and Walter Afanasieff, who played the piano for the performance.

The MTV Unpluggedspecial aired on May 20, 1992, and was a notable success. Carey's label, Columbia Records, received many requests to release "I'll Be There" as a single, which had not been planned. A radio edit of the song was created which removed dialogue portions of the performance, and "I'll Be There" was released as a single. In the U.S., the song was issued with "So Blessed" as a B-side; in the United Kingdom, the "I'll Be There" single included the live version of "Vision of Love", and the album versions of "If It's Over" and "All in Your Mind".

"I'll Be There" was nominated for the 1993 Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, losing to Boyz II Men's "End of the Road". The "I'll Be There" music video, directed by Larry Jordan, was compiled from footage of Carey's MTV Unpluggedappearance.

During Michael Jackson's memorial service on July 7, 2009, Carey and Lorenz sang their rendition of the song in tribute to Jackson.

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European CD maxi-single

UK CD maxi-single

After the underperformance of "Make It Happen" compared to her previous singles, "I'll Be There" was a return to form for Carey: it became her sixth number 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and allayed any concerns her record label had about her career in decline. "I'll Be There" was the number 1 song on the Hot 100 for two weeks, from June 13, 1992 to June 27; it was the second time that the song hit number 1. It replaced "Jump" by Kris Kross, and was itself replaced by "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-a-Lot. It became a number 1 success on the U.S. Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks. In fact, it is the only single released from the MTV Unpluggedseries that went number one.

"I'll Be There" was Carey's breakthrough hit outside North America, becoming her most successful single in numerous markets. It topped the Canadian Singles Chart for two weeks, and became her biggest hit so far in the United Kingdom (where it hit number 2) and Australia (where it reached number 9). It peaked inside the top twenty in most markets across Europe, where Carey's success had previously been limited.

The Temptations did a cover version of this song for their album Reflections. The band Westlife did a cover version of "I'll Be There" for the self-titled album. American Idolfifth place finalist RJ Helton belted out this song on Wild Card night and advanced to the finals in season 1. American Idolfinalist Jasmine Murray got eliminated in a double elimination with Jorge Núñez on top 13 week after singing "I'll Be There" in season 8. Jamie Foxx and Ne-Yo concluded the 2009 BET Awards show with this song.

New Kids on the Block covered the song live on the day of Jackson's death.

American Punk Trio Green Day covered this song while playing "King for a day/Shout on their 21st Century Breakdown World Tour, which kicked off just after Michael Jackson's death. Jason Freese, one of the band's touring members who plays sax on the song, dressed up as Michael Jackson during the performance.

The finalists of the third season of X-Factor Denmark, did a cover version i order to raise money for Haiti.