Ben is a 1972 pop ballad written by Don Black and Walter Scharf for the film Ben, a spin-off to the 1971 Willard, and it plays over the movie’s closing credits. It was recorded by Michael Jackson for Motown and released as a single on July 12, 1972 from the album Ben, with the B-side You Can Cry On My Shoulder. The song gave Jackson, then a teenager, his first US solo number one on the Billboard Hot 100, topping the chart for one week and also reaching number one in Australia for eight weeks; it peaked at number seven in the UK. It was originally written for Donny Osmond but offered to Jackson when Osmond was unavailable. Ben won a Golden Globe for Best Original Song and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1973. Musically it is a pop-soul-ballad often described as pop or adult contemporary, and it remains one of Jackson’s most enduring early hits.
