Guinness World Records lists “When I’m With You” as having the “Longest-held vocal note in a US hit single” which “features a note timed at 19.3 seconds” by “lead singer Federico ‘Freddy’ Curci [who] performed the soaring vocal – starting at 3 minutes 26 seconds – on the recording.”[4] It is also one of the few number-one hits not to have a promotional video during the MTV era.

Sheriff's keyboardist Arnold Lanni wrote the song after meeting Valeri Brown and falling in love with her.

[citation needed] In November 1988, Brian Philips, Program Director at KDWB in Minneapolis–Saint Paul, and WKTI in Milwaukee began playing the song, and eventually other radio stations nationally followed suit.

By that time, former Sheriff members Lanni and bassist Wolf Hassell had formed a duo named Frozen Ghost, and declined to re-form the group.

Sheriff's lead vocalist Freddy Curci and guitarist Steve DeMarchi, who had both been working as couriers in the interim,[7] subsequently formed the band Alias and charted the following year with the number-two hit "More Than Words Can Say".