doggone-lover:

“Michael at a very young age had a lot of “know” to be able to sing a song like that! I wrote the song and I thought I sang it! 2 years later, here comes this little kid and he’s 10 years old!! 
When I heard him, I thought to myself this boy cannot possibly be 10 years old! 
This song is about somebody who has somebody who loved him but they treated him bad. They treated him so bad until they lost them. And now they are paying the price of wanting somebody back that they treated bad and lost. How could he possibly know these things?
I quickly went over to him because I wanted to see his birth certificate! 
I did not believe that someone that young could have that much feeling and soul and knowing. Knowing, he had a lot of knowing. He had to know something to sing that song like that. It was wonderful thought. 
As a song writer that’s a dream come true to have somebody sing one of your songs like that!!”

— Smokey Robinson on Michael’s performance of Who’s Loving You in The Ed Sullivan Show 1969