Whitney Houston, the legendary performer, had an outstanding career that touched numerous people worldwide. While the late superstar, who would have turned 61 today, August 9, had a slew of great songs, one of her most popular is “I Will Always Love You.”
The Origins of ‘I Will Always Love You’: Dolly Parton Did It First
Before Houston made it her own, Parton, noted for her singing skills and Southern charm, wrote “I Will Always Love You” in the 1970s.
The “Jolene” singer had initially sung the song live years before. Video video of her last performance, uploaded in 2021, showed a dolled-up Parton with her typical large blonde hair describing how the song came to be.
“I’d want to perform a song for you that I wrote. This is a song that I released a few months ago, and I hope you enjoy it. “Everyone has a special person in their lives,” Parton continued.
Whitney Houston’s Version of ‘I Will Always Love You’
Fans first heard Houston’s song “I Will Always Love You” on the soundtrack of her hit film “The Bodyguard,” in which she costarred with Kevin Costner in 1992.
The narrative revolves around a former Secret Service agent (Costner) who becomes the bodyguard for a well-known R&B performer (Houston).
On June 24, 2024, the “Yellowstone” star told skilled talk show presenter and performer Kelly Clarkson about how he struggled for an idea he had. Costner suggested that his co-star begin singing alone before being supported by musicians.
“They weren’t too excited about it on the record side of things, so I said, ‘Well, you guys need to get over that.'” “I said, ‘Don’t be too sure that they won’t play it on the radio,'” Costner said.
Whitney Houston’s Iconic Version Gets Fans Put in Jail
Houston’s version of the wildly popular love ballad was such a success with fans that some even got in problems with the authorities for playing it in their homes. In the early 1990s, neighbors in London came to an impasse over “I Will Always Love You.”
Helen Stephens, a 20-year-old woman, was sentenced to one week in prison for noise pollution. She persistently refused to turn down the level of the music on the radio.
Not long after this event, Joan Hall tossed her neighbor’s radio out a fourth-floor window of an apartment building because the neighbor refused to stop playing the tune. Julie Woolford, the owner of the station, whose son admired Houston, assaulted Hall as a consequence.
Speaking on the incident, in which Woolford spent some time in jail before being freed on bail and told to relocate away from her neighbor, Hall stated, “I had just had enough of the noise.”
“They turned on the stereo at full volume every night…” “It was mostly Whitney Houston singing ‘I will always love you,’ and it was driving us all crazy,” Hall said.
