By the end of 1979, Michael Jackson was turning into the biggest star on the planet. “Off the Wall” was everywhere. And one song from that album would soon sit at the very top of the charts.
That song was “Rock with You.”
It was written by Rod Temperton, a quiet English songwriter that Quincy Jones had brought in to work on Michael’s record. Temperton had made his name with the band Heatwave. Now he was handing Michael a tune that felt like silk.
Here’s the official video, the one so many people remember from that era.
The “Rock with You” music video, cleaned up and sharper than ever
Michael glows in that silver, sparkling suit. And if you listen close, something clever is going on behind his lead vocal.
Those smooth background voices? They’re all him. Michael layered his own voice over and over, backing himself up with a whole team of Michael Jacksons until it sounded like a choir.
The song climbed fast. It hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 on January 19, 1980. It was Michael’s third chart-topper, and it stayed in the top spot for four weeks.
But here’s the part most people have never heard.
According to Stereogum, “Rock with You” was offered to another singer before Michael ever got hold of it. And not just any singer. This was one of the most loved voices of the 1970s, a woman whose warm, clear sound still gives people chills.
She said no.
The singer was Karen Carpenter.
Yes, that Karen Carpenter, half of the brother-and-sister duo The Carpenters. The story goes that the song came her way first, and she passed on it. Michael made it his instead, and it became a classic.
There’s a quiet twist to her side of the tale. Around that same stretch of years, Karen was working on a solo album of her own with the producer Phil Ramone. Her label shelved it. Fans waited and waited to hear it, and it finally came out in 1996, long after she had passed away.
And one more thread ties it all together. Rod Temperton, the same man who wrote “Rock with You,” wrote the opening song on that lost Karen Carpenter album. It’s called “Lovelines.”
Here’s a taste of Karen singing it, the voice that could have carried a Michael Jackson hit.
Karen Carpenter singing “Lovelines”
It’s a strange and lovely what-if. Two unforgettable singers, one song passed between them, and a little piece of music history that almost went another way.