Whitney Houston\u2019s recording of I Will Always Love You wasn\u2019t just a hit, but an unstoppable cultural phenomenon. Released in November 1992 as the lead single from The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album, it topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 14 consecutive weeks \u2013 then a record \u2013 and won two Grammy awards.<\/p>\n
Thirty years after it came out, it remains the best-selling single of all time by a female artist. The Bodyguard\u2019s soundtrack album, which reeled off four further hits from Houston including I\u2019m Every Woman and I Have Nothing, went on to sell 45 million copies worldwide.<\/p>\n
Famously, I Will Always Love You was originally written and recorded in 1973 by Dolly Parton, who conceived it as a tribute and farewell to her early mentor Porter Wagoner. Parton\u2019s lovely, understated version was a number one hit on the US Hot Country Songs chart, but she has always been gracious about the way Houston transformed the song into the ultimate power ballad.<\/p>\n
Recalling the first time she heard Houston\u2019s cover,\u00a0Parton said in 2020: \u201cIt was one of the most overwhelming feelings I have ever had to hear it done so well, so beautifully and so big. I had no idea I\u2019d written a song that could be that important\u2026 She just took it and made it so much more than what it would ever have been.\u201d<\/p>\n Houston\u2019s interpretation of the song captivated the world because it mixes bewildering technical brilliance with a heartfelt reading of Parton\u2019s tender lyrics. From the moment she sings \u201cso I\u2019ll go, but I know I\u2019ll think of you every step of the way\u201d, it\u2019s clear Houston is giving a vocal performance of rare quality. \u201cWhitney knew how to use the full range in her voice to fully connect emotionally with the song and create such drama,\u201d Dami Im, a Korean-Australian singer-songwriter who has been influenced by Houston, tells BBC Culture.<\/p>\n Vocal coach Yvie Burnett believes I Will Always Love You is a \u201cmasterpiece\u201d because of the \u201coutstanding combination of what Whitney does vocally combined with perfect production from David Foster\u201d, a music industry veteran who had previously worked with Celine Dion and Aretha Franklin.<\/p>\n Houston\u2019s restraint during the song\u2019s a cappella opening section is a vital ingredient. \u201cWhitney starts the song holding back all her vocal abilities and relying on raw emotion,\u201d Burnett tells BBC Culture. \u201cThen when the music kicks in, she maintains that ethereal vocal quality, hitting the higher notes perfectly while staying quiet and holding back her vocal strength.\u201d She believes this \u201cincredible build-up\u201d makes Houston\u2019s subsequent vocal fireworks at the song\u2019s climax even more moving. \u201cEither she is an incredible actress,\u201d Burnett adds, \u201cor she has experienced these feelings in real life. In which case, she is telling us her story\u201d.<\/p>\n Either way, Burnett describes Houston\u2019s rendition of I Will Always Love You as \u201cone of the most important vocal performances of our generation\u201d. This is no exaggeration: along with Mariah Carey\u2019s Hero and Celine Dion\u2019s My Heart Will Go On, it set a template \u2013 and a very high bar \u2013 for many female singers who sought to break through on the popular TV talent shows of the early 2000s. Leona Lewis, who scored a transatlantic number one hit with Bleeding Love in 2007, a year after winning the British version of The X Factor,\u00a0said at the time: \u201cWhen I was growing up, I used to listen to Whitney Houston [and] Mariah Carey \u2013 those kind of big powerful kind of singers \u2013 so that influences my music and a lot of the songs I like to sing.\u201d<\/p>\n In fact, it could be argued that Houston\u2019s vocal performance was, at times, a little too influential. Vocal coaches Carrie and David Grant, who worked with contestants on the British talent shows Pop Idol and Fame Academy, as well as with artists including Demi Lovato and the Spice Girls, say that Houston\u2019s most famous songs became a gold standard that was rarely attainable. \u201cJust 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,\u201d Carrie Grant tells BBC Culture. \u201cMost of [them] should have tried something a little easier \u2013 many a singer has been wiped out in an attempt to do Whitney!\u201d<\/p>\n David Grant believes that Houston\u2019s influence \u201ccannot be underestimated\u201d because \u201cfor most female singers, she was\u00a0the\u00a0<\/em>voice of her generation\u201d. Though she became known mainly for singing pop, soul and R&B music, Grant points out that you could always hear her \u201cgospel roots\u201d in her delivery. The daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston, a longtime backing vocalist for Aretha Houston as well as a Grammy-winning artist in her own right, Whitney honed her vocal skills in the gospel choir at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey. \u201cEven if they had the [vocal] riffs, many who followed her could not mirror this history,\u201d Grant tells BBC Culture.<\/p>\n Bringing R&B to the mainstream<\/strong><\/p>\n I Will Always Love You remains Houston\u2019s best-selling single, but she had already enjoyed seven years of globe-conquering success by the time she released it. Between 1985 and 1987, she scored a record seven consecutive Billboard Hot 100 number ones with songs including Saving All My Love for You, I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me) and So Emotional. \u201cWhitney was the standard bearer in a line of great R&B singers, from the \u201960s with Dionne Warwick and Aretha Franklin, into the \u201970s with Gladys Knight and Patti Labelle,\u201d says David Grant. \u201cBut what she did was to take R&B to a market bigger than any of them had experienced. Without Whitney, there would arguably have been no mass market for Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Beyonc\u00e9 or Jennifer Hudson.\u201d<\/p>\n Houston\u2019s crossover success as an artist who could sing pop, soul, rock, R&B and dance music was unprecedented at the time, but not necessarily popular in all quarters. She was reportedly booed by audience members at the 1989 Soul Train Awards, a ceremony recognising the best in soul, R&B and hip-hop music. Houston addressed this incredibly awkward moment in a 1991 interview on The Arsenio Hall Show,\u00a0saying: \u201cI think that I\u2019ve got a lot of flak about \u2018I sing too white\u2019 or \u2018I sing\u2026 white\u2019 or something like that.\u201d She added defiantly: \u201cI do sing the way God intended for me to sing and I\u2019m using what he gave me and I\u2019m using it to the best of my ability.\u201d<\/p>\n For the most part, these criticisms ebbed away in subsequent decades as the full scale of her impact became clear. After Houston\u2019s death in February 2012,\u00a0Beyonc\u00e9 posted a poignant tribute\u00a0to the artist who had long inspired her. \u201cI, like every singer, always wanted to be just like her. Her voice was perfect. Strong but soothing. Soulful and classic,\u201d she wrote. \u201cShe is our queen and she opened doors and provided a blueprint for all of us.\u201d At the previous year\u2019s Grammy Awards,\u00a0Lady Gaga namechecked Houston\u00a0when she collected the Best Pop Vocal Album trophy. \u201cI need to say thank you tonight to Whitney Houston,\u201d Gaga said. \u201cI wanted to thank Whitney because when I wrote Born This Way, I imagined she was singing it \u2013 because I wasn\u2019t secure enough in myself to imagine I was a superstar.\u201d<\/p>\n More than a decade after her death, Houston\u2019s place in music history is assured. In December, Bafta-winning actress Naomi Ackie will portray her in I Wanna Dance with Somebody, a glossy Hollywood biopic in the mould of Elton John\u2019s Rocketman and Queen\u2019s Bohemian Rhapsody.\u00a0 But at the same time, the type of powerhouse singing that she exemplified with I Will Always Love You has rather fallen out of fashion. \u201cThe definition of \u2018singer\u2019 has become broader,\u201d says David Grant. \u201cFor a while, if you couldn\u2019t sing as high or riff as fast as Whitney or Mariah, you didn\u2019t qualify for the title of \u2018great singer\u2019. But vocal styles go in cycles, and in this cycle singers are more likely to sound like Rihanna or Amy Winehouse.\u201d<\/p>\n Carrie Grant argues that the growing popularity of Auto-Tune, a production tool that corrects minor imperfections in vocal pitch, means that having \u201cgreat tonal quality\u201d is no longer a prerequisite for singers hoping to climb the charts. She also points out that bombastic power ballads like I Will Always Love You are no longer in vogue. \u201cFew songs written now have those \u2018money moments\u2019 in them, so big voices aren\u2019t required,\u201d she says. \u201cTorch singers do still exist \u2013 Adele, for example \u2013 but the sound isn\u2019t required to be as smooth or technically perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, there\u2019s no doubt that Houston\u2019s work on hits including I Will Always Love You remains inspirational. \u201cShe raised the bar for all female vocalists with her use of range and dynamics,\u201d says Dami Im. \u201cShe\u2019s shown me that vocally you can be both so delicate and gentle and also extremely powerful when you need to be.\u201d It\u2019s fair to say that 30 years after its release, Houston\u2019s rendition of I Will Always Love You remains the Olympic gold standard of performances.<\/p>\n DISCLAIMER: <\/strong>The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"I](\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/image-132-1024x576.png\" "\\"I")
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