"Can't Stay Away from You" is a 1987 song by Cuban-American singer and songwriter

Gloria Estefan Gloria Estefan (; born Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García; born 1 September 1957) is a Cuban-American singer, actress, and businesswoman. Estefan is a seven-time Grammy Award winner, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and has been ...

, credited to Estefan and her former band, the

Miami Sound Machine Miami Sound Machine was an American band of Latin-influenced music that had featured the vocals of Cuban-born recording artist Gloria Estefan (née Fajardo). Established in 1975 by Emilio Estefan Jr., the band was originally known as the Miami ...

. The song was released as the third single from their multi-platinum album, '' Let It Loose'' (1987). It became Estefan's (and her band's) fifth top 10 hit in the United States, peaking at #6 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart; it was their second #1 hit on the

adult contemporary chart The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to ''Billboard'' by sta ...

, following 1986's "

Words Get in the Way "Words Get in the Way" is a song written by Gloria Estefan and released as the third single from her band, Miami Sound Machine, on their second English language album, and ninth overall, ''Primitive Love''. The song is a ballad and became the hig ...

". The song originally peaked at #88 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in May 1988, however the song was re-released after the success of its follow-up, " Anything for You", peaking at #7 in March 1989. The song is a pensive

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

sung from the perspective of a woman who is in love with someone who doesn't feel the same, but she is unwilling to walk away from their relationship because she does not want it to end. The European single contains as a bonus cut a remixed version of "Surrender", an album cut from "Let It Loose", which Estefan performed on "Solid Gold". Popular Latin singer

Jaci Velasquez Jacquelyn "Jaci" Davette Velasquez (Spanish ''Jaci Velásquez'', born October 15, 1979) is an American actress and contemporary Christian and Latin pop singer and songwriter, performing in both English and Spanish. Velasquez has sold almost ...

recorded a Spanish version of the song called "Mi Vida No Es Nada Sin Ti" for her album ''

Milagro Milagro means "miracle" in Spanish. Milagro may refer to: Places: *Milagro, Ecuador, a city * Milagro Canton, Ecuador, of which the city is the canton seat * Milagro River, Ecuador *Milagro, Navarre, Spain, a town and municipality * El Milagro, Q ...

''. The song appeared in 1988 episodes of the soap operas '' Another World'' and ''

The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, Wi ...

''.

Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

editor Jon O'Brien described the song as "haunting". In an ironic review of 4 February 1989 the Phil Cheeseman, reviewer of British music newspaper ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the ''NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in ''Re ...

'', chided the song for lack of class to match the previous own work and described it as a "wearisome ballad".

Stuart Maconie Stuart Maconie (born 13 August 1961) is an English radio DJ and television presenter, writer, journalist, and critic working in the field of pop music and popular culture. He is currently a presenter on BBC Radio 6 Music where, alongside Mark ...

of ''

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' echoed by saying "Have you noticed how the billing of the Sound Machine gets progressively tinier whilst Gloria becomes correspondingly more prominent?" and made a forecast that MSM will "vanish entirely from this earth" soon.

Critical reception

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Formats and track listings

Official versions

Release history

See also

References

Further reading