Songfacts®:

• The British songwriter Billy Nicholls wrote "Can't Stop Loving You" and was the first to record it, including it on an album called White Horse in 1977. Leo Sayer did the first successful cover, taking it to #6 UK in 1978. In 1981, a version by The Outlaws made #102 US. Collins released it as the first single from his album Testify. In 2006, Keith Urban included the song on his album Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Thing.
• Billy Nicholls told us about this song: "I was writing some songs for a band I was in called White Horse. The other two members of the band, Jon Lind and Kenny Altman, were living in LA and I was living in London. This meant I had to leave my family for long periods of time as the recording for the album was to take place in LA. On one of my return trips a drummer friend of mine, Bruce Rowlands, came to visit. I told him about my recording project and he said that I should consider writing at least one song in 3/4. After he left I went to my piano and started to write 'Can't Stop Loving You.' It is a fictitious lyric and its poignancy stems from my not wanting to leave my then-young family."
• This was used in a commercial for the Toyota Avalon before it was released as a single. Collins made the deal so he could get exposure for the song and album. "The business has changed since Neil Young's 'This Note's For You,' Collins told Hits magazine. "It's different now. To be quite honest, I couldn't buy this kind of exposure."
  
  Collins was not the first former star of MTV and pop radio to find himself on the outside looking in: In 2000, Sting had trouble getting airplay for his single "Desert Rose" until he let Jaguar use it in a commercial, which helped make it a hit. Moby was also leading the way in licensing his songs to companies, but it was still rare to hear a song used in a commercial before it was released.
• As part of the deal with Toyota, Collins album contained a sticker that said, "As featured in the new Toyota Avalon commercial." Toyota sponsored Collins on his 1996 tour, even though he didn't drive a Toyota (he owned a Range Rover). A month before the deal was reached to use this in the ad, Collins performed a private concert for 5000 Toyota dealers and their guests.
• Testify was the first album Collins released after being diagnosed with a viral infection that damaged his hearing. Collins' doctor advised him to stop touring and be careful not to perform too often or in venues that were too loud.
• In September 2019, Taylor Swift performed "Can't Stop Loving You " during BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge Month, recorded in New York. Swift called it "the most sad, beautiful song ever" - a cover that was widely billed as a Phil Collins cover, since his 2002 recording on Testify was the version most familiar to younger audiences.