Mitchell forked over the money, signed Green to Hi Records and soon began recording him at Royal – arranging, producing and engineering the sessions himself. More important, Mitchell coached Green, pushing him to find his own, unique voice. "I was trying to sing like Jackie Wilson and Wilson Pickett and James Brown and Sam Cooke," Green says of those early days. "And Willie said 'Just sing like you.' I didn't know what that was, and so we just had to find that balance."

"It took a long time to find it," Mitchell adds," but we did it by working from 11 am ‘til two in the morning, every day. 'Can't Get Next to You' was close, but 'Tired of Being Alone' was it."

Indeed, Green and Mitchell collaborated to shape a sound that defines its own place in pop and R&B music. They recorded eight albums that sold over 20 million copies worldwide, working together until 1976. At that time, Green changed his focus to gospel music, founding his own congregation in Memphis – the Full Gospel Tabernacle, where he still preaches regularly – and recording a series of albums that have earned him eight Grammys in gospel categories.

Thirty years later, I Can't Stop returns to and updates that classic early-70s sound. Mitchell and Lester Snell's horn arrangements and string orchestrations go from a swagger to a sigh, while Green's voice is full of fire and sweet fervor. "His voice is like an instrument," Mitchell says. "He can do anything with it; he's the best I've ever heard."