For reasons unknown my mother has always liked Michael Jackson's song Ben and I can't figure out how Michael came up with Ben or why it became a hit? I do know that it was featured in a movie of the same name and it's about a pet rat named Ben. Was Ben one of Michael Jackson's first successful solo songs and was it considered one of his best early songs?

Well, Michael Jackson did not write the song. He sang it over the closing credits in the movie Ben about the rat. It's Michael Jackson's first number one single in the U.S. as a solo artist.

So Ben was indeed Michael Jackson's first solo hit? What other singers have sung covers of Ben?

Donny Osmond, Crispin Glover, Maureen McCormick are the ones I know of.

Donny Osmond sang Ben too? I never knew that and I never even heard Donny's version of Ben on Pandora. I even made a Ben station so Mom could hear Michael Jackson's Ben on Pandora but all I got was Michael Jackson songs like Thriller and Man In The Mirror but no Ben was played so I deleted the station from Pandora

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA7cWw-fywk

Ben - Donny Osmond