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"I Will Always Love You" is a song originally written and performed by American Country singer-songwriter Dolly Parton , first released as a single in 1974 . The song, considered by some to be one of the most popular and well-known ever written, was produced by Bob Ferguson , and has been covered many times, most notably by American R&B singer Whitney Houston . DOLLY PARTON VERSION Dolly Parton wrote the song in 1973. She has told numerous interviewers over the years that she wrote it for her one-time partner and mentor, Porter Wagoner (the two were splitting professionally at the time). Recorded on June 17 1973 in RCA 's Studio "B" in Nashville, the song was included on Parton's '' Jolene '' album, and was released as a follow-up single, after the chart-topping success of the title track, in April 1974 (see 1974 In Music ). The single reached number one on the Billboard Country Singles chart a month later; the lyrics express a bittersweet and poignant ode to an ex-lover, and are delivered with Parton's twang. Parton once told an interviewer that she had been contacted by someone in the Elvis Presley organization who expressed to her his wish to record the song. When she refused to split her songwriting royalties, he did not record it, but the song was destined, almost immediately, to be covered by artists across various other genres, including a Jazz version by Horace Silver and a Folk version by Linda Ronstadt , each of which garnered modest attention. Parton herself re-recorded the song in 1982 (see 1982 In Music ) to include it on the soundtrack to the film '' The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas ''. Her 1982 version also reached number one on the U.S. country chart, marking the first time the same song reached number one on the country charts twice by the same artist. The 1982 version was also a modest hit on the U.S. pop singles chart, reaching number fifty-three. WHITNEY HOUSTON VERSION
In 1992 (see 1992 In Music ), singer Whitney Houston covered the song for the soundtrack to '' The Bodyguard '' (see The Bodyguard (soundtrack) ), her film debut. The song was also referenced in the plot of the film itself. Houston was originally to record Jimmy Ruffin 's " What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted " as the lead single from ''The Bodyguard''. However, when the producer discovered the song would be used for '' Fried Green Tomatoes '', he asked her co-star Kevin Costner to find a new song. Originally not wanting to pick a country song, an oldies song (with not much of a country feel to it) would do. Houston reinterpreted the song as a soul ballad, showcasing her voice. The song was a massive success, and helped revive Houston's struggling career, whose previous album '' I'm Your Baby Tonight '' (1990) had been a critical and commercial disappointment. The song has also become a regular on countdown lists, appearing at number forty on '' Rolling Stone '''s "100 Greatest Pop Songs", number six on VH1 's "100 Greatest Songs of the Past 25 Years", and number one on VH1's "40 Greatest Love Songs". The single's Video , credited to Alan Smithee , begins with the performance of the song Houston gives at the end of ''The Bodyguard''. The video then cuts to Houston in a dark blue suit sitting in an empty theatre with the spotlight shining on her, singing of her love. The video is intercut with scenes from ''The Bodyguard''. Chart performance The single spent fourteen weeks at the top of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 , a record that would not be broken until 1996 by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men 's duet, " One Sweet Day " (released in 1995). "I Will Always Love You" shares the record for being the longest running single by a female solo artist with Mariah Carey's " We Belong Together " (2005). The single became Houston's longest run at number one, beating her previous record of three weeks with " Greatest Love Of All " (1986). It is also the single from a soundtrack album with the longest run at number one. The single debuted at number forty in the U.S., and became Houston's tenth number one hit two weeks later. It was the biggest and most successful single of Houston's career and for Arista Records . The song also dominated various other Billboard charts, spending fourteen weeks at the top of Billboard's Singles Sales Chart (the most for a female artist) and eleven weeks at number one on its Radio Airplay Chart . The song also hit number one for five weeks on the Adult Contemporary Chart and for eleven weeks on the R&B chart, and remained in the Top 40 for twenty-four weeks (Houston's longest stay to date). The single sold modestly in its first week of release, but sold 396,000 copies in its second week, making it the fastest-selling single in a week (taking the record from 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 December 19 (when it broke the record for most singles sold in a week). It went on to sell over four million copies in the U.S. and another four million worldwide, making it the third best-selling single in the world, the second best selling single in the modern era (after Elton John's Candle In The Wind 1997 ), the biggest selling commercial single of all time, the biggest selling single by a female artist, and the biggest selling non-charity single. The single was also a huge success in other countries, eventually topping the United Kingdom chart and Australia 's ARIA Singles chart for ten weeks each, and became only the ninth song in history (and first by a female artist) to be at number one on the US, UK, and ARIA single charts simultaneously. It also topped the charts in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, France, Japan, Denmark, The Netherlands, and several other countries. It is the only single to have a top the U.S., U.K., and Australian charts for 10 or more weeks on all three charts. The single was also named the top Australian single of the 1990s and is the world's biggest single ever released by a female artist. The song stayed at number one in the United States throughout January and February in 1993, becoming the first time in history where Billboard didn't receive a new number one single until March. "I Will Always Love You" was ranked as the top U.S. single of 1993 by Billboard magazine. Similarly, in the UK, the song was ranked the number one single of 1992 and the number nine single of 1993, making the first time a single was ranked in the year-end top ten two years in a row. The strength of the single also pushed the soundtrack album for ''The Bodyguard'' to the number one position for twenty weeks, and it became the best-selling soundtrack of all time (with over thirty-seven million copies sold worldwide). Awards
CONTROVERSY AND CRITICISM After Houston's cover of the song became a hit, the tabloid press began reporting on a "feud" between the two performers, stemming from Parton's 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 the more recent cover; the story picked up more credibility when Kevin Ammons and Nancy Bacon repeated it in their 1996 unauthorized biography of Houston, ''Good Girl, Bad Girl''. However, both Houston and Parton have gone out of their way to dispel the rumors, speaking glowingly of one another in interviews [http://www.classicwhitney.com/interview/rollingstone_1993.htm , Houston praising Parton for writing a beautiful song, and Parton thanking Houston for bringing her song to a wider audience (and making her a great deal of money in royalties, in the process). A number of people have criticised this song, accusing it of having syrupy lyrics, being overplayed, and having inspired endless identical covers, leading to a revisionist backlash to the song in recent years. In '' I Love The 90s '', many comedians panned the song for its showy vocals. Most of these criticisms have been aimed at the Houston cover (since it was the dominant version of the single in the 1990's), not the Parton original. LATER COVERS The popularity of Houston's version revitalized interest in the song, and introduced it to a much wider audience. As a result, the song was covered by LeAnn Rimes as well as established artists such as Kenny Rogers , James Galway , John Tesh and Wallace Roney . It has also been released by UK Pop Idol finalist Rik Waller . Though the success of Houston's version eclipsed Parton's original for some time, the country star performed it numerous times on television and recorded it a third time in 1995, this time as a duet with Vince Gill . The Gill duet was released as a single and reached number fifteen on the country charts, becoming one of Parton's few chart hits during her period of minimal success in the mid- to late-1990s. The Parton/Gill duet version won the 1995 Country Music Association award for Collaboration of the Year, and was nominated for a Grammy Award . REFERENCES
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