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I Will Always Love You (Whitney Houston recording)

1992 single by Whitney Houston From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I Will Always Love You (Whitney Houston recording)
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"I Will Always Love You" is a song by American singer Whitney Houston, which was originally written and sung in 1973 by Dolly Parton and inspired by a version recorded by Linda Ronstadt. It was released on November 2, 1992, by Arista Records as the leading single for Houston's first soundtrack to The Bodyguard, her film debut. Houston's version was produced by Canadian musician David Foster. The song was a global success topping the singles charts in 34 countries. Considered one of the most famous and iconic singles of all time,[5][6] it sold over 24 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling single by a female artist of all time as well as one of the best-selling singles of all time.[7][8] It was also the best-selling single of 1992 in the UK.[9]

Quick Facts Single by Whitney Houston, from the album The Bodyguard ...
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Houston won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the song.[10] A live performance was included on the 1999 release Divas Live '99, and a 1994 performance of the song at Houston's acclaimed and history-making concert at Johannesburg, South Africa, where she became the first international artist to tour the region following the abolishing of apartheid and the presidency of Nelson Mandela, was included on the 2014 CD/DVD release of Whitney Houston Live: Her Greatest Performances.[11]

Houston's version of the song appeared at No. 8 on NME's Greatest No 1 Singles in History list.[12] It was included in the list of Songs of the Century by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2004, Houston's version of "I Will Always Love You" placed at number 65 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema.[13] It was also ranked at number 22 on The Guardian's list of Britain's favorite 100 songs, published in May 2002.[14] In February 2014, the song placed at number six on Billboard's list of the Top 50 Love Songs of All Time.[15] A year later, in 2015, Rod Couch ranked the song as the number one song of the rock era in his book, The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era: 1955-2015. In addition, the song has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and was culturally preserved by the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry.

The single helped cement Houston's status as a pop culture icon.

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Background

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Though initially chosen for The Bodyguard, after British singer Paul Young recorded "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" for another film, Houston and Costner dropped suggestions of recording it for the movie.

In April 1991, Houston announced that she was to co-star with Kevin Costner in a film titled The Bodyguard.[16] The decision to do the film by Houston initially "didn't impress" Clive Davis, the head of Houston's record label Arista, describing the film's first draft of the script as a "pure thriller", later admitting that he was "nervous" of the film's aspects and what it would do for Houston's film career.[17] Due to Houston's worldwide fame as a music superstar, Davis felt the idea of Houston doing the film "without really previously ever testing her acting chops, it was speculative. It was risky. You don't come fully confident that she can do everything. And will the script be up to the mettle of somebody who would become the best-selling vocalist of all time?"[17] Davis wrote a letter to Costner and the film's producers where he told them of his concern of having Houston in the film without any music.[17] Costner agreed with Davis and Houston, in a deal with the film's distributor, Warner Bros. Pictures, signed a deal for control of the soundtrack album and back royalties from each sale the album would make.[17] Houston eventually agreed to record six songs, four of which would be prominently featured in scenes on the film.

Work on the soundtrack of the film began in Los Angeles that November, the same month where principal photography on the film took place. Between November 1991 and February 1992, in between filming the movie, Houston recorded four songs.[17] The songs included the rock song "Queen of the Night", a song Houston herself co-wrote, a pop-soul rendition of the gospel hymn "Jesus Loves Me" and the pop ballads "Run to You" and "I Have Nothing", the latter two becoming Houston's first collaborations with producer David Foster. For the fifth song, Houston, Costner and the film's music supervisor Maureen Crowe searched for the song they feel could be the "key moment in the plot" of the film. That March, it was suggested by Costner that they cover the Jimmy Ruffin soul ballad, "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted".[17] Neither Houston nor Crowe, however, felt the song was appropriate for a song to be performed at the end of the film.

When the actor suggested the song to be recorded in a slowed down arrangement, Crowe told The Telegraph in 2022 that the arrangement "was like a dirge: 'Happiness is just an illusion, filled with sadness and confusion...'", adding jokingly, "you wanna kill yourself at the end of it!"[17] Houston herself reportedly told Foster that the song "[didn't] really fit [her]" and, Foster added, "didn't have the 'meat'... for her vocals in a final act song".[18] Houston suggested, politely to Foster, to "try and make one more demo. And make it a little more... interesting?"[18] After British singer Paul Young's rendition of the song from the soundtrack of the film, Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), reached the top 30 of the Billboard Hot 100 that month and became an inescapable radio hit, they agreed to search for another song. According to Crowe, she felt the song chosen had to "answer the question: what would you sing to somebody that you had an affair with, who had just taken a bullet for you and had saved your son's life, but you are going to go in completely separate directions after your brief affair, and you will probably never see him again? So, bittersweet memories. I always say when you're trying to find a song: what does the song have to do in the story? And if you ask enough questions, the song will present itself."[17]

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Recording

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The inspiration behind the pick of "I Will Always Love You" for the soundtrack to The Bodyguard came from a 1975 rendition by American singer Linda Ronstadt.

Crowe later stated that she considered "California oldies", songs from artists such as the Eagles and Neil Young.[17] Houston, who was the executive producer of the soundtrack, suggested an R&B song in Crowe's retelling of the script.[17] Despite film producers being adamant of "not wanting country [music], because Hollywood has a feeling that country makes it something else", Crowe picked out California-based singer Linda Ronstadt's 1975 rendition of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You", from her album, Prisoner in Disguise; Houston agreed to record it.[17][18][19][20] Davis agreed on the track, seeing its "full potential, lyrically and musically" and looked at it as "raw material. With the lyric, the music, with the potential arrangement, could it fulfill the potential of that scene? And the answer was yes."[17] There were two recordings of the song, the first was recorded live at the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach around March 1992 with Houston and members of her live band.[21]

Prior to performing the song, Costner suggested Houston sing the first verse a cappella. Though Foster told Costner and Houston that he thought the idea of starting the song a cappella was "ridiculous", he reluctantly agreed as he had ideas of adding strings and horns later in the song's studio recording.[18][17][22] Though filmmakers already had a backing track for her to sing along to, Houston still suggested using her live band so "she could hold notes out to her liking and perform the ballad in a more organic way."[18] In addition to the performance, a recording of the song, sung by John Doe, could be heard playing on the jukebox in a scene where Houston dances with Costner.

A studio recording commenced on April 22 at Ocean Way Recording in Los Angeles.[23] Prior to recording, Foster was contacted by Dolly Parton over the recording and Parton suggested Houston add the third verse from her 1974 original version. Again, like in the live Miami performance, Houston brought along her bandmates, namely musical director Rickey Minor, drummer Ricky Lawson and saxophonist Kirk Whalum, to record on the studio version in Los Angeles.[24] Under the direction of Foster and Houston, the song transformed into a plaintive love ballad with soul and gospel elements, especially after Lawson's solo "tom" hit on his drums in which Houston belts the song out after a dramatic key change. Houston ends the song by singing the last word "you" in an operatic soprano wail. According to Foster, Houston only recorded two takes of the song in the studio and decided to keep the first take because it was "flawless and raw", which ended up being the version released.

According to Clive Davis, when Foster first sent him the record, he told Foster that he loved it, to which Foster quickly retorted "don't get demo-itis! Don't fall in love! Because I'm gonna sweeten it, I'm gonna add strings and horns and do my thing!'," adding that after Foster kept submitting subsequent versions of the song that it "sounded slick".[17] Davis stated that the "raw purity of that first mix, with the a cappella [opening bars]... just haunted me. But David kept saying 'just wait, I'm not done yet,'", further adding that Foster's later mixes sounded "a little sweet".[17] When Warner Bros. Pictures demanded a leading single to promote the film to be released immediately at the start of November, Davis made the decision to release the song as it was in the first version, called the "board mix" by Crowe and called the "first rough draft" by Davis himself.[17] When Foster learned of Davis' plans to release the first version, he was initially angry and reportedly cursed at Davis. 24 hours later following the song's release, however, a more calmed down Foster called Davis back, apologizing and agreeing with the impresario, saying to him, "this is magic, thank you."[17]

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Composition

The song has a saxophone solo by Kirk Whalum and drumming from Ricky Lawson, including a one-note solo tom on the drum that leads to the final chorus. Sheet music for Houston's version of this song shows the key of A major in common time with a tempo of "freely" at sixty beats per minute. Three minutes and thirty-one seconds later, it shifts to B major.[25] Houston's range in the song goes from F♯3 to G♯5. [25]

Critical reception

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Houston's cover of "I Will Always Love You" received widespread acclaim from music critics, being now regarded as one of her "signature'' songs. Larry Flick of Billboard wrote that the song is "bolstered by a remarkably restrained (and ultimately effective) vocal by Houston. She builds to dramatic, heartfelt conclusion that makes sense, given the unusually slow-building created by producer David Foster."[26] Randy Clark of Cashbox noted that "the unstoppable voice and unquestionable talent of Whitney Houston will no doubt come roaring back onto the charts with this cover".[27] Amy Linden of Entertainment Weekly said it "is artistically satisfying and uncharacteristically hip for the MOR songbird."[28] John Martinucci of Gavin Report asserted that Houston "delivers a powerful rendition that reminds us of her natural abilities as a singer with or without musical accompaniment."[29] Stephen Holden of The New York Times called it a "magnificent rendition", commenting,

Houston transforms a plaintive country ballad into a towering pop-gospel assertion of lasting devotion to a departing lover. Her voice breaking and tensing, she treats the song as a series of emotional bursts in a steady climb toward a final full-out declamation. Along the way, her virtuosic gospel embellishments enhance the emotion and never seem merely ornamental.[30]

Peter Stanton of Smash Hits commented, "A slow intro moulds into a crescendo of huggy-kissy-smoochiness that could melt the heart of the yeti of Northern Siberia."[31] Writing for USA Today on November 17, 1992, James T. Jones IV labeled it a "tour-de-force", and added "[Houston] gives a 31⁄2-star [out of four] performance. Where Dolly Parton's original 'I Will Always Love You' was plaintive and tear-stained, Houston's is gospel-infused and dramatic."[32]

The key change after the third verse drew much mention. Chris Willman of the Los Angeles Times commented that the singer "has the goods to deliver on the tune's haunting beauty and resists overpowering it – until the finale, when the key change and stratospheric notes drain all the heart-rending sadness out of the song and make it sound like just another anthem of survival."[33] But more typical is this 2004 take in The Guardian, in which Glenn Waldron calls the modulation "all-conquering, all-powerful".[34]

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Commercial performance

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The single spent 14 consecutive weeks at the top of the US Billboard Hot 100, which at the time was a record.[35][36] It became Houston's longest run atop the chart, surpassing her previous record of three weeks with "Greatest Love of All" in 1986. It is also the longest running number-one single from a soundtrack album. It holds the record for the most consecutive weeks at number one in the US by a solo artist, sharing the title with Elton John's "Candle in the Wind '97" and becoming the longest running female consecutive number one single in history, earning Houston a Guinness World Record.[37]

It debuted at number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, and became Houston's tenth number-one entry two weeks later. It also dominated other Billboard charts, spending 14 weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 Single Sales chart, and 11 weeks at number one on its Hot 100 Airplay chart. The song remained at number one on the Mainstream Top 40 chart for nine consecutive weeks. It was Houston's first single on the chart and her first number one. The song also remained at number one for five weeks on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks, and for 11 weeks on the Hot R&B Singles chart becoming the longest running number one on the R&B charts at the time; it remained in the top 40 for 24 weeks.[38][39][40] It became Arista Records' biggest hit. The song was number one on the Hot 100, Adult Contemporary, and R&B chart simultaneously for a record five weeks, beating a record set by Ray Charles' "I Can't Stop Loving You", which set the record in 1962 for four.[41]

The song stayed at number one in the U.S. throughout January and February 1993, making it the first time Billboard did not rank a new number-one single until March of the new year. Houston's "I Will Always Love You" was also the year-end number one single of 1993 in the US.[42] Similarly, in the UK, Houston's version was ranked the number-one single of 1992, and then made the countdown again in 1993 where it was ranked number nine, marking the first time any musical act had the same single ranked in the top ten of the year-end review two years in a row.[43] In Australia, it was the number 17 single of 1992 and the number two song of 1993.[44][45]

Houston's "I Will Always Love You" was also a massive international hit, topping the singles charts in almost every country, including the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles, where it spent 13 weeks at the top. The single ruled the summit position for ten weeks in Australia,[46] five weeks in Austria,[47] seven weeks for Belgium,[48] eight weeks in France,[49] six weeks in Germany,[50] eight weeks in Ireland,[51] six weeks in the Netherlands,[52] fourteen weeks in New Zealand,[53] nine weeks in Norway,[54] one week in Spain and Uruguay, six weeks in Sweden,[55] eight weeks in Switzerland,[56] and ten weeks in the UK.[57] The song reached the number one spot in the UK in 1992. Houston's ten-week reign in the UK was the longest run at the top by a solo female artist in the history of the British singles chart, until it was overtaken by Tones & I in 2019.[58][59][60] It was the year-end number one song for in three countries – the U.S., Canada and the UK.

Houston's single sold approximately 400,000 copies in its second week at the top of the charts, making it the best-selling song in a single week surpassing Bryan Adams' "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You". It broke its own record in the following three weeks, peaking at 632,000 copies in the week ending on December 27, 1992. The January 9, 1993, issue of Billboard reported it had broken its own record for most copies sold in a single week for any song in the Nielsen SoundScan era. This record was broken by Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight", which sold 3.4 million in the final week of September 1997.[61] "I Will Always Love You" was certified four times Platinum in the U.S. for shipments of over 4 million copies by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on January 12, 1993, making Houston the first female artist with a single to reach that level in RIAA history.[62][63] According to Nielsen SoundScan, as of 2009, the single had sold 4,591,000 copies, and had become the second best-selling physical single in the US.[64][65] On January 12, 2022, the single was certified Diamond by the RIAA for selling 10 million equivalent sales units from sales and streams, becoming the second-eldest song in history to do so after Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and the third song overall in the 20th century to do so, preceded by "Bohemian Rhapsody" and Mariah Carey's 1994 Christmas single, "All I Want for Christmas is You".[66] With this accomplishment, Houston became only the third female artist to have a diamond single and album after Carey and Taylor Swift.[66]

In the UK, the single sold over 1,550,000 copies, becoming the tenth best-selling single of the 1990s, and was certified two times Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on January 1, 1993.[67][68][69] In doing so, it became just the second single by a female artist in UK music history after Jennifer Rush's "The Power of Love" to sell a million copies in the UK.[70] In 1992 alone the single had sold 960,000 copies in United Kingdom.[71] In 1993 the single sold 395,000 copies in United Kingdom.[72] It was certified Platinum for shipments of over 500,000 copies by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI) in Germany.[73] In Japan, "I Will Always Love You" sold over 810,000 copies, staying for 27 weeks on the chart, and became the best-selling single by a foreign female artist at the time, despite not topping the charts.[74][75]

Only a few hours after Houston's death on February 11, 2012, "I Will Always Love You" topped the U.S. iTunes charts. Also, in the week following her death, the single returned to the Billboard Hot 100 after almost twenty years, debuting at number seven, and becoming a posthumous top-ten single for Houston, the first one since 2001. The song eventually peaked at number three (two spots shy of repeating the feat achieved by Chubby Checker when "The Twist" returned to the top position after previously falling off the chart).[76] It debuted on the Billboard Hot Digital Singles Chart at number three on the chart dated February 25, 2012, with over 195,000 copies downloaded.[77] In the UK, the song charted at number ten the week of Houston's death.[78]

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Accolades

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"I Will Always Love You" won the 1994 Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, Houston's third win in the latter category after earlier wins in 1986 and 1988. During the Grammy Award telecast, Dolly Parton and David Foster presented the latter Grammy to Houston. The single topped the 1993 Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B Singles year-end charts simultaneously, becoming the first single by a female artist and the second overall to achieve that feat behind Prince's "When Doves Cry" nine years earlier. In addition, it received Favorite Pop/Rock Single and Favorite Soul/R&B Single awards at the 21st American Music Awards, which was the first record by a solo female artist to win both categories, and the third overall in AMA history behind "Endless Love" by Lionel Richie & Diana Ross in 1982 and "Beat It" by Michael Jackson in 1984. "I Will Always Love You" won two Japan Gold Disc Awards in 1993 for International Song of the Year, and a 1994 International Song of the Year Special Award for Japanese sales of over one million units.[79]

In 2019, "I Will Always Love You" was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[80] In 2021, "I Will Always Love You" was listed at number 94 on the updated list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[81] In 2023, "I Will Always Love You" was listed at number 60 on Billboard's list of the 500 Best Pop Songs of All Time, Houston's second highest-ranked song on the list.[82]

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Controversy

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After Houston's recording became a hit in 1992, the tabloid press began reporting on a 'feud' between the two performers, stemming from Parton allegedly reneging on an agreement that she would not perform the song for a number of months while Houston's version was on the charts, so as not to compete with Houston's recording. However, both Parton and Houston dismissed any rumors, speaking glowingly of one another in interviews.[107][108]

Houston praised Parton for writing a beautiful song. In return, Parton thanked Houston for bringing her song to a wider audience and increasing the amount of royalties in the process. Parton also gave a live interview, confirming this. When Houston won the Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female award at the 36th Annual Grammy Awards for her recording, Parton (along with David Foster) presented the award. In a statement to Billboard mourning Houston's death in February 2012, Parton said:

Mine is only one of the millions of hearts broken over the death of Whitney Houston. I will always be grateful and in awe of the wonderful performance she did on my song and I can truly say from the bottom of my heart, 'Whitney, I will always love you. You will be missed.'[109]

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Music video

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The single's music video is credited to Alan Smithee (Nick Brandt removed his name due to the way Clive Davis re-edited the video), and produced by Rob Newman. It begins with the performance of the song Houston gives at the end of The Bodyguard. The video then cuts to the singer in a dark blue suit sitting in an empty theater with the spotlight shining on her, singing of her love, and when she starts to sing her dramatic vocal finale, the theater becomes an open-air snowy field, which is meant to be at Fallen Leaf Lake, California, where The Bodyguard's boat scene was filmed.

The video is interspersed with scenes from the film and gives the viewer the experience of reliving the moments with Houston. At the time of the video's shooting, the singer was pregnant with her daughter Bobbi Kristina, so she is shown only sitting in the theater scenes.[110]

The video immediately premiered on MTV to heavy rotation and became one of her most popular music videos to date, also earning heavy rotation on every music video channel, including BET and VH1.

On October 24, 2020, the video for "I Will Always Love You" reached at least one billion views on YouTube, making it the first music video of the 20th century by a solo artist to reach the milestone.[111]

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Live performances

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Whitney Houston performing "I Will Always Love You" at the Mediolanum Forum in Milan during the Nothing but Love World Tour in May 2010.

Houston would first perform the song on English comedian Des O'Connor's ITV variety show, Des O'Connor Tonight in late 1992. Houston would perform the song for all of the remainder of her concert tours starting with the Bodyguard World Tour (1993-1994) and ending with her final concert tour, the Nothing but Love World Tour (2009-2010). During the song's key chord change in shows throughout The Bodyguard World Tour, as Houston belted the chorus, pyrotechnics from the back of the stage would shoot up behind her and her band. The song was also performed live on her second HBO concert special, Whitney: The Concert for a New South Africa at Johannesburg's Ellis Park Stadium on November 12, 1994. Houston had made history by becoming the first international artist to headline at South Africa following the end of the country's apartheid rule and the inauguration of Nelson Mandela. In the performance, the pyrotechnics shot from up in the sky. During a long pause in the performance where audiences cheered the singer on, Houston told the audience, "my heart belongs to you, South Africa", before finishing the song. The landmark performance would later be dramatized for the Houston biopic, Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (2022).

Houston also gave a memorable performance of the song at the 36th Annual Grammy Awards in March 1994, which opened the show. The performance has since been hailed as one of the greatest Grammy performances of the award ceremony's history.[112] The performance re-aired during the 54th Annual Grammy Awards on February 12, 2012, following Houston's death and, again, in November of that year, for the Grammy special, We Will Always Love You: A Grammy Salute to Whitney Houston. Later in 1994, Houston performed the song at the World Music Awards and at the 1994 FIFA World Cup at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California in front of 92,000 fans at the stadium and with over a billion people watching on television. In August 1996, Houston performed the song at the Jerudong Park Amphitheater at Jerudong Park, Bandar Seri Bagawan, Brunei, for the Whitney: Brunei The Royal Wedding Celebration. [113][114] Houston also performed the song on her third HBO concert special, Classic Whitney: Live from Washington, D.C. (1997) where Houston opened the concert by performing the ballad. During the promotion of the album, My Love Is Your Love, in April 1999, Houston performed the song during Divas Live '99. A year later, she performed the song again on the Arista Records silver anniversary special, 25 Years of #1 Hits - Arista Records 25th Anniversary Celebration (2000); that same year she walked onstage singing the song's chorus a cappella at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards after an introduction by Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, walking out to cheers and a standing ovation. Houston performed the song, alongside "I Have Nothing" at the first annual BET Awards where she became the first recipient of the BET Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001. Three years later, in September 2004, Houston performed the song again, alongside her 1996 hit ballad, "I Believe in You and Me", at the World Music Awards at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.

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Legacy and cultural impact

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Impact on music and culture

Houston's vocal performance on "I Will Always Love You" has been hailed as one of the most influential moments in pop music and culture.[115] According to Nick Levine of the BBC, the song "wasn't just a hit, but an unstoppable cultural phenomenon."[115] Along with Mariah Carey's "Hero" and Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On", the song "set a template – and a very high bar – for many female singers who sought to break through on the popular TV talent shows of the early 2000s," Levine continues.[115] In the same article, vocal coaches Carrie and David Grant, who worked with contestants on the British talent shows Pop Idol and Fame Academy, said that the song, among some of the singer's other landmark recordings such as "Greatest Love of All" and "I Have Nothing", became a gold standard that was rarely attainable.[115]

Said Carrie Grant, "Just about every singer we taught or auditioned for about five years wanted to master I Will Always Love You or The Greatest Love of All or I Have Nothing... Most of [them] should have tried something a little easier – many a singer has been wiped out in an attempt to do Whitney!"[115]

Korean pop singer Dami Im, one of the singers heavily influenced by Houston, told the BBC, "Whitney knew how to use the full range in her voice to fully connect emotionally with the song and create such drama." Im went on to say in regard to Houston that she "raised the bar for all female vocalists with her use of range and dynamics."[115]

Houston was credited for popularizing melisma following the release of "I Will Always Love You". Lauren Everitt from BBC News commented: "An early 'I' in Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You' takes nearly six seconds to sing. In those seconds the former gospel singer-turned-pop star packs a series of different notes into the single syllable", stated Everitt. "The technique is repeated throughout the song, most pronouncedly on every 'I' and 'you'. The vocal technique is called melisma and it has inspired a host of imitators. Other artists may have used it before Houston, but it was her rendition of Dolly Parton's love song that pushed the technique into the mainstream in the 90s. [ ... ] But perhaps what Houston nailed best was moderation." Everitt said that "[i]n a climate of reality shows ripe with 'oversinging,' it's easy to appreciate Houston's ability to save melisma for just the right moment."[116]

"I Will Always Love You" is considered the "Olympic gold standard of performances". [115]

In addition, the song has been heavily featured in box office films and TV shows since its release, including The Simpsons, American Dad, Futurama, Spider-Man: Far From Home and This Is the End among others.[117]

Covers, samples and tributes

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Singers Jennifer Hudson (left) and Beyoncé (right) have covered Houston's rendition of "I Will Always Love You" among many other artists

Houston's rendition of the song has been covered over the years. Among the most notable covers of Houston's rendition of the song include Zapp & Roger and Shirley Murdock, LeAnn Rimes, Keke Wyatt, Jennifer Hudson and Beyoncé, who sang it live during her Revel Presents: Beyoncé Live residency tour at the Revel resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey during May 2012, in tribute to Houston, who died that February, often covering it before segueing into her hit, "Halo", to which was also dedicated to Houston during the residency.[118][119][120]

In 2012, youtuber JonTron did his short version on his Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts review.

Later, in 2013, during her The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour, Beyoncé also sang the opening lines of "I Will Always Love You" prior to the performance of "Halo" as the final song of the tour.[121] That year, on the Family Guy episode, "Boopa-dee Bappa-dee", Chris Griffin sang it in his version as part of the national anthem.

Hudson sang the song for Houston when she received the BET Honors Entertainers Award in January 2010 and, again, on February 12, 2012, as a tribute to Houston, who died the night before. Parton complimented Hudson on her performance, saying,

I was brought to tears again last night, as I'm sure many were, when Jennifer Hudson sang "I Will Always Love You" on the Grammys in memory of Whitney. Like everybody else, I am still in shock. But I know that Whitney will live forever in all the great music that she left behind. I will always have a very special piece of her in the song we shared together and had the good fortune to share with the world. Rest in peace, Whitney. Again, we will always love you.[122][123]

Twelve years later, in a tribute to Houston at the 50th anniversary special for the American Music Awards, Hudson covered the song again, while also adding in the song "I Loves You, Porgy", to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Houston's legendary 1994 American Music Awards performance where she also covered "I Loves You, Porgy" along with the Dreamgirls ballad, "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going".

In addition, the song has been reportedly sampled by the likes of Canadian deejay Sickick, who performed a mashup of the song along with fellow pop diva Celine Dion's own landmark hit, "My Heart Will Go On" (1997), in his 2022 song, "Go On"; British rapper Theophilus London, the Midwestern hip-hop band Salem, American rappers Twista, Juelz Santana and Gudda Gudda, American R&B group Next and singer Sheléa.[124]

The song was played at Houston's funeral as her casket was brought out of the church. The song title also served as the epitaph on Houston's gravestone.[125]

At the 2017 commencement of the University of Southern California, comedic actor Will Ferrell sang "I Will Always Love You" to the graduating class.[126]

Parton's Nashville investment

In 2021, Dolly Parton reportedly told Andy Cohen on his show Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen that she used some of the money she earned from composing the song to invest in a black neighborhood in Nashville, Tennessee as a tribute to Houston.[127]

Said Parton, "it was mostly just black families and people that lived around there," Parton said. "It was a whole strip mall. And I thought, 'This is the perfect place for me to be, considering it was Whitney'."[127]

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Formats and track listings

Credits and personnel

Charts

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Certifications and sales

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References

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