"I Will Always Love You" is a beautiful ballad which was first recorded by Dolly Parton, in 1974.
However, the most popular version of the song was made by Whitney Houston, decades later.
She recorded the track in the Spring of 1992 to be the soundtrack for the movie "The Bodyguard". The first option for the soundtrack was "What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted", from Jimmy Ruffin. This song was later used for "Fried Green Tomatoes", so they had to request another song.
The singer's co-star, Kevin Costner, came with the original Dolly Parton recording, while the producer of the movie came with Linda Ronstadt's version, from the album "Prisoner In Disguise".
Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" was produced by David Foster and it was re-arranged so that it featured smooth jazz, soul, R&B, adult contemporary and pop influences, unlike the previous country versions.
Against the film producers' wish, they kept the introducing Capella segment.
Another cover of the song is also featured on the movie, during the scene where the two protagonists dance. The cover belonged to John Doe and it could be heard playing on a jukebox. They kept the original lyrics from Dolly Parton.
The song was included in the album "The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album" and it was released on November 3rd, 1993 on various formats: 7" single, 12" single, CD single and cassette single.
"I Will Always Love You" was one of the greatest hit of its decade and it won all of the awards on which it was nominated. This includes six Billboard awards, two Grammy awards for "Record Of The Year" and "Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Female", two American Music awards and many others.
It also had a huge commercial impact on various markets: it sold over six million copies in the United States, where it was certified four times platinum by the RIAA, and again, double platinum, also platinum in Japan, Germany, Italy, New Zealand and Sweden and double platinum in the United Kingdom for sales of over a million and a half copies.
"I Will Always Love You" topped the charts worldwide: France, Italy, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Spain and others. It was also number one on the UK Singles Chart and on the Billboard Hot 100, US Adult Contemporary and US Hot R&B Singles.
A living testimony of the late singer, "I Will Always Love You" is ranked at number nine on list of the "Greatest No 1 Singles In History", made by NME.
A song for all types of listeners, "I Will Always Love You" can be enjoyed by everybody. You can take the chance of learning how to play the beautiful ballad on the piano, using the free sheet below.
