I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)

"I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" is a Grammy Award-winning #1 song performed by Aretha Franklin and George Michael as a duet in 1987. It was written by Simon Climie and Dennis Morgan. It also stands as Aretha's biggest hit at Adult Contemporary radio, spending several weeks at #2. Despite selling more than a million US copies, the single was never certified.



Contents
[hide]  *1 Music video  ==Music video[ edit] == The video begins with George Michael and two bodyguards entering a dark room. There is a large screen on the wall showing Aretha Franklin preparing for George Michael. In the course of the video the two are shown performing the song both are shown in front of a screen and on it. At the end of the clip Aretha winks at the camera.[1] ==Chart performance[ edit] == The song was a one-off project that helped Michael achieve his ambition to sing with one of his favorite artists, and it reached number one in both theUK Singles Chart and Billboard's Hot 100. The song was, remarkably, Franklin's first and only UK number-one hit, and only her fourth top ten achievement in the country since "I Say a Little Prayer", nearly two decades earlier. This was also the last of Franklin's seventeen Top 10 hits in theBillboard Hot 100.
 * 2 Chart performance
 * 3 Charts and certifications
 * 3.1 Charts
 * 3.2 Certifications
 * 4 Track listing
 * 5 Cover versions
 * 6 References
 * 7 External links

For Michael, it became his third consecutive number-one in the UK since going solo, following 1984's "Careless Whisper" (though the single was actually from the Wham! album Make It Big) and 1986's "A Different Corner". However, as the song was a duet, he was not afforded the same status or level of congratulation as Gerry & the Pacemakers or Frankie Goes to Hollywood, the only two artists to have previously achieved number one with their first three releases. Michael's previous success (with Wham!, which included four number-ones) was also a factor in watering down the achievement. In the U.S., it was Michael's fourth #1 hit, counting his Wham! days.

The single was the first Michael had recorded (as a lead artist) which he had not written himself. The co-writer, Simon Climie, was unknown at the time, although he later had success as a performer with Climie Fisher in 1988.

The continuous run of UK chart-toppers ended for Michael thereafter, with his next number-one coming in 1991—again as part of a duet (this time with Elton John) - while his next entirely solo number-one in the UK didn't appear until 1996.

On the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" debuted at #59, the week of February 21, 1987, reaching #1 in its ninth week, April 18, 1987, and remaining there for two consecutive weeks. ==Charts and certifications<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ==Track listing<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ==Cover versions<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] ==
 * 7"
 * 1) "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" – 3:52
 * 2) "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" (Instrumental) – 4:00
 * US 12" maxi-single
 * 1) "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" (Edited remix) – 5:29
 * 2) "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" (Percappela) – 5:14
 * 3) "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" (Album version) – 4:01
 * 4) "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" (Extended remix) – 7:30 (Note: This 12" version has never appeared on CD)
 * 5) *Remixed by Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero
 * The Shadows did an instrumental version in 1987 on the album Simply Shadows.
 * A live version of the song was featured on the Bucks Fizz album Live at Fairfield Halls in 1991.
 * A cover of "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" was recorded in 2001 by Hear'Say as the B-side to their single "Everybody".
 * Also Michael McDonald covered it in 2008 on his album Soul Speak.
 * Simon Climie had co-written the song and also produced it.
 * A cover version of the chorus of "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" featured in "Welcome Back", a 3-minute-long British TV commercial for telecommunications company T-Mobile which first aired on 29 October 2010.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-12" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:10.9090909957886px;">[12]
 * The song was performed as a duet by Joshua Ledet and Jessica Sanchez on the eleventh season of American Idol during top 8 week and the American Idols LIVE! Tour 2012 during Ledet's set.
 * The song was also performed as a duet by C.J. Harris and Malaya Watson on the thirteenth season of American Idol during top 8 redux week.
 * Crystal Lewis & Michael English covered the song for English's 2012 project, Some People Change.