Songfacts®:

• This Quiet Storm classic was the first Top-10 hit written by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who became a superstar writing/production team responsible for most of Janet Jackson's hits. Jam and Lewis were members of The Time, and known more for uptempo, New Jack songs, but this love ballad proved they could take it slow as well. In our interview with Jimmy Jam, he said, "Myself and Terry, we grew up very musically diverse. My influences were America, Seals & Crofts, Chicago, that kind of thing. Terry's were P-Funk, George Clinton, Parliament/Funkadelic, all that stuff. We have both sides of that. So a song like 'On Bended Knee' or 'Tender Love' - 'Can You Stand the Rain' would be another one for New Edition that I would put in the same category. I grew up listening to those kinds of songs with those kinds of harmonies in the Major 7th chords and all of that."
• This song featured in the 1985 movie Krush Groove, which starred Run-D.M.C., Sheila E., Beastie Boys and a host of musical up-and-comers. It was the first film appearance for LL Cool J.
• The Force MD's (MD = Musical Diversity) were a Staten Island quintet who spent a lot of time in Greenwich Village singing for tips before they got a record deal. "Tender Love" was their only Pop hit, but they had a lot of success on the R&B charts, where they scored a #1 with "Love Is A House."