Aretha Franklin & George Michael: I knew you were waiting for me 12″ (17 minutes of music) Check video!

Description

Aretha Franklin & George Michael – I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)
Label: Epic
Catalog#: DUET T2
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM
Country: UK
Released: Jan 1987
Genre: Electronic, Funk / Soul
Style: Soul, Synth-pop

Tracklist
A I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) (Extended Remix) 7:30
B1 I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) (Percappela) 5:14
B2 I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) (Edited Remix) 5:29

“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 Franklin’s biggest hit at Adult Contemporary radio, spending several weeks at #2.

Music video
The official music video for the song was directed by Andy Morahan. It 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.

Chart performance
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 the UK Singles Chart and Billboard Hot 100. The song was 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 the Billboard Hot 100.
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”. 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) that 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. 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.

Aretha Franklin – vocals
George Michael – vocals
Corrado Rustici – guitar synthesizer
Randy Jackson – bass guitar
Walter Afanasieff – synthesizer
Narada Michael Walden – drums
Gigi Gonaway – tambourine, percussion
Claytoven Richardson, Jeanie Tracy, Jennifer Hall, Jim Gilstrap, Kevin Dorsey, Kitty Beethoven, Myrna Matthews – backing vocals