"Gone Too Soon" | ||||||||
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Single by Michael Jackson | ||||||||
from the album Dangerous | ||||||||
B-side | Gone Too Soon(instrumental)(promo)"Human Nature", "She's Out of My Life", "Thriller" | |||||||
Released | December 1, 1993 | |||||||
Format | CD single, cassette single, 7" single, 12" single VHS promo | |||||||
Recorded | June 1990 | |||||||
Genre | Pop | |||||||
Length | 3:22 | |||||||
Label | Epic | |||||||
Writer(s) |
Larry Grossman Buz Kohan |
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Producer(s) | Michael Jackson Bruce Swedien (co-producer) |
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Michael Jackson singles chronology | ||||||||
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"Gone Too Soon" is a ballad recorded and popularized by American musician Michael Jackson. It was written and composed by Larry Grossman and Buz Kohan.
Dionne Warwick first performed (but never recorded) the song in February 1983 on a TV special as a tribute to many performers, including Janis Joplin, Elvis Presley, John Belushi, Cass Elliott, John Lennon, Bobby Darin, Minnie Riperton, Sam Cooke, Harry Chapin, Buddy Holly, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Croce, Bobby Van and Karen Carpenter who had died days earlier. Later on the same day, Jackson called Kohan explaining he had wept while watching the performance and that he felt he wanted to record it some day.
Jackson's version of "Gone Too Soon" was dedicated to the memory of Jackson's friend Ryan White, a teenager from Kokomo, Indiana who came to national attention, after being expelled from his school for having HIV/AIDS. This version was produced by Jackson and co-produced by Bruce Swedien for Jackson's eighth studio album, Dangerous (1991). The song was also mixed by Swedien, and featured instrumentation by artists such as David Paich, Steve Porcaro, Michael Boddicker, Abraham Laboriel and Paulinho Da Costa.