7 Surprising Details You May Not Know About Whitney Houston’s Legendary Ballad ‘I Will Always Love You’

Alex Ross, Emma BanksThu, August 27, 2026 at 3:28 PM UTC

0

Dolly Parton in November 2022; Whitney Houston in February 2009Credit: Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty; Kevin Mazur/WireImage -

Dolly Parton wrote “I Will Always Love You” in 1974

Whitney Houston covered the song in 1992 as part of the soundtrack for The Bodyguard

The song later played at Houston’s funeral in February 2012

Dolly Parton was responsible for one of the most iconic songs of all time: Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.”

Originally released in 1974 by the “Jolene” singer, the ballad became all the more famous in 1992, when Houston recorded it for the soundtrack to the film The Bodyguard.

Houston starred in the thriller opposite Kevin Costner. After her version of “I Will Always Love You” was released, it spent a record 14 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, according to Guinness World Records. It also won two awards at the 1994 Grammys: Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Parton presented Houston with the latter award at the 1994 ceremony.

“Dolly, of course, coming from you, this is truly an honor,” Houston said during her acceptance speech. “You wrote a beautiful song. Thank you so much for writing such beautiful songs.”

When Houston died on Feb. 11, 2012, “I Will Always Love You” played at her funeral. Speaking to CBS News at the time, Parton reflected on the impact the song’s enduring impact.

“... that song won’t let me go. And it just lived on,” she said. “And Whitney, when she did it, she just took it worldwide and made it the most special song in the whole world for a long period of time.”

Here are seven surprising details about Whitney Houston’s iconic ballad, “I Will Always Love You,” which was written by late country music star Dolly Parton.

Parton wrote the song about Porter Wagoner

Dolly Parton and Porter WagonerCredit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Parton joined the cast of The Porter Wagoner Show in 1967 and sang on the show for seven years, until 1974. When it came time to bid Wagoner farewell, she wrote a song to break the news that she was leaving. The track’s title? “I Will Always Love You.”

“I thought ‘Do what you do best, just write a song.’ So, I wrote the song, took it back in the next day. And I said, ‘Porter sit down, I got something I have to sing to you.’ So I sang it. And he was sitting at his desk and he was crying,” Parton recalled in Ken Burns’ 2019 documentary Country Music. “He said, ‘It’s the best thing you ever wrote. OK, you can go, but only if I can produce that record.’ And he did and the rest is history!”

Parton was in the car the first time she heard Houston sing the song

In December 2022, Parton explained during an appearance onThe Kelly Clarkson Show that Costner was the one who asked if he could use “I Will Always Love You” for The Bodyguard.Parton said yes, but she didn’t hear from him after that.

“I didn’t know if they had it, I didn’t know if they had done it,” Parton said.

“I was just driving along, I had the radio on,” she continued. “When I heard the first ‘If I...’ I just freaked out. I had to pull over to the side because I honestly thought that I was gonna wreck. It was the most overwhelming feeling and you know how great that was.”

Parton rerecorded the song as a duet with Vince Gill in 1995

Parton rerecorded “I Will Always Love You” just one year after Houston won two awards for the song at the 1994 Grammys.

This time around, she recorded it as a duet with Vince Gill. The duo later performed it at the 1995 CMA Awards.

Advertisement

“One of the most beautiful sounds I’ve ever heard was when Dolly and I sang that last note of ‘I Will Always Love You’ the year we performed it on the CMA Awards,” Gill said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE shortly after Parton’s death on Aug. 25.

Famed R&B singer Patti LaBelle almost recorded the hit

Patti LaBelle performing at Dell Music CenterCredit: Adria Diane Hughes/INSTARimages

Before Houston sang “I Will Always Love You” in The Bodyguard, Parton actually offered the track to another legendary singer: Patti LaBelle.

The Godmother of Soul revealed as much during a 2019 appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.

“I said to Dolly, ‘Oh yes, I want to do that song, honey!’ ” LaBelle recalled. “But before I could say real yes, it was in the movie and Whitney killed it.”

“I was so happy Whitney got that song and it just went like it did. But Dolly Parton and I had planned. ‘Patti, you’re going to sing that song,’ ” LaBelle added.

Elvis Presley nearly recorded the song, too

The line for “almost” having covered Parton’s hit seems to be long, and it even includes Elvis Presley. In a 2021 interview with W Magazine, Parton recalled meeting with Presley’s manager at the time, who asked for half of Parton’s publishing rights to the song in order for the “Hound Dog” singer to record it.

“I said, ‘I’m sorry, but I can’t give you the publishing.’ I wanted to hear Elvis sing it, and it broke my heart — I cried all night,” Parton said. “But I had to keep that copyright in my pocket. You have to take care of your business!”

The song was played at Houston’s funeral

Whitney Houston performing at the 2004 World Music AwardsCredit: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty

On Feb. 11, 2012, Houston was found dead in a Beverly Hills hotel room following an accidental drowning.

The singer’s funeral was held eight days later in Newark, N.J. Parton was among the attendees, and “I Will Always Love You” played during the ceremony.

“When they lifted her coffin up at that funeral and they went into that song, I mean, I just busted out in tears. It was just like somebody just stuck me in the heart with a knife,” Parton recalled to CBS in 2012.

She continued: “It was just so overwhelming knowing that that was my song, my words. It was so final.”

Parton used the royalties to support a Black community

After Houston covered “I Will Always Love You,” Parton made $10 million in royalties in the 1990s, according to Forbes. She used the money to support a Black neighborhood in Nashville, Tenn. by purchasing an office complex.

“I thought this was great — I’m just gonna be down here with her people, who are my people as well,” Parton said on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in July 2021. “So I just love the fact that I spent that money on a complex and I think, ‘This is the house that Whitney built.’ ”

on People

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”