Jackson 5 - I Want You Back

The Jackson 5's "I Want You Back" is a textbook example of how to start a pop music career. Their first nationally released single took the brothers to the top of both the R&B and pop charts. Originally written as "I Wanna Be Free," "I Want You Back" was written by Freddie Perren, Fonce Mizell, and Deke Richards, who along with Berry Gordy became known as the Motown songwriting/arranging/producing collective the Corporation. Perren, Mizell, and Richards thought the song would be great for Motown acts Gladys Knight and the Pips or Diana Ross. After approaching label president Gordy, it was rewritten for a five-member teenaged brothers singing group from Gary, IN. he'd just signed. Gordy wanted the group to be an updated version of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers ( "Why Do Fools Fall in Love") and this song seemed to be the perfect career-launching vehicle. The recording session for the extremely energetic "I Want You Back" lists Perren and Mizell on piano, Crusaders bassist Wilton Felder, guitarists David T. Walker, Louis Shelton, and Don Peake doubling the bass line, and drummer Gene Pello. With an introduction by Diana Ross, the Jackson 5 performed the song on ABC-TV's The Hollywood Palace in the fall of 1969.