I Will Always Love You

This article is about the song originally recorded by Dolly Parton. For the 1992 cover by Whitney Houston, see I Will Always Love You (Whitney Houston recording). For other uses, see I Will Always Love You (disambiguation).

"I Will Always Love You"
Side A of the original 1974 U.S. single
Single by Dolly Parton
from the album Jolene
B-side"Lonely Comin' Down"
ReleasedMarch 11, 1974 (1974-03-11)
RecordedJune 12, 1973 (1973-06-12)
StudioRCA Studio B, Nashville
GenreCountry
Length2:54
LabelRCA Victor
Songwriter(s)Dolly Parton
Producer(s)Bob Ferguson
Dolly Parton singles chronology
"Jolene"
(1973) 		"I Will Always Love You"
(1974) 		"Love Is Like a Butterfly"
(1974)
Audio video
"I Will Always Love You" on YouTube

"I Will Always Love You" is a song written and originally recorded in 1973 by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton. Written as a farewell to her business partner and mentor Porter Wagoner, expressing Parton's decision to pursue a solo career,[1] the country single was released in 1974. The song was a commercial success for Parton, twice reaching the top spot of the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart: first in June 1974, then again in October 1982, with a re-recording for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas soundtrack.

Whitney Houston recorded a Pop-ballad arrangement of the song for the 1992 film The Bodyguard. Houston's version peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for a then-record-breaking 14 weeks.[2] The single was certified diamond by the RIAA, making Houston's first diamond single, the third female artist who had both a diamond single and a diamond album,[3] and becoming the best-selling single by a woman in the U.S.[4][5][6][7] The song was an enormous success worldwide, going number one in 34 official singles charts. With over 24 million copies sold worldwide, it became the best-selling single of all time by a female solo artist.[8][9] It was also the world's best-selling single of 1992.[10] Houston won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female[11] in 1994 for "I Will Always Love You".[12] Houston also won a Grammy Award for Album Of The Year for The Bodyguard - Original Soundtrack Album.[11]

The song has been recorded by many other artists including Linda Ronstadt,[13] John Doe,[14] Amber Riley, Kenny Rogers,[15] LeAnn Rimes,[16] and Sarah Washington, whose dance version reached number 12 on the UK Singles Chart. "I Will Always Love You" has been recognized by BMI for over ten million broadcast performances.[17]

  1. ^ "Dolly Parton remembers writing 'I Will Always Love You'". The Tennessean. Retrieved November 12, 2016.
  2. ^ DeKnock, Jan (January 15, 1993). "Whitney Houston Hits 4th 'Triple'". Chicago Tribune. Tribune Company. Retrieved March 17, 2011.
  3. ^ "Whitney Houston Joins Taylor Swift And Mariah Carey In An Extremely Rare Musical Feat". Forbes. January 12, 2022. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
  4. ^ "RIAA certification for "I Will Always Love You" single". The Recording Industry Association of America. January 12, 1993. Archived from the original on July 25, 2013. Retrieved July 5, 2010.
  5. ^ "RIAA Certs Show Power of 'Titanic'". Billboard. April 11, 1998. p. 10. ISSN 0006-2510.
  6. ^ Trust, Gary (August 28, 2009). "Battle of the Divas, Round 3". Billboard. Retrieved September 25, 2010.
  7. ^ "Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You' Is Certified Diamond by RIAA". Billboard. January 13, 2022. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
  8. ^ "'I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU': WHITNEY HOUSTON REACHES A NEW MUSICAL MILESTONE". Black Enterprise. August 23, 2024. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
  9. ^ ""I Will Always Love You", anche dopo cinquant'anni". Il Post. March 14, 2024. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  10. ^ "Official Top 40 best-selling songs of 1992". Official Charts. May 28, 2021. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
  11. ^ a b "Whitney Houston". grammy.com. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
  12. ^ "Rock On The Net: Grammy Awards: Record of the Year". www.rockonthenet.com.
  13. ^ "Linda Ronstadt – I Will Always Love You". www.pastemagazine.com. September 1, 2015. Archived from the original on October 10, 2019. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
  14. ^ "12 Things You Didn't Know About 'I Will Always Love You'". Yahoo. February 14, 2012. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
  15. ^ "I Will Always Love You by Kenny Rogers". SecondHandSongs.
  16. ^ "14-Year-Old LeAnn Rimes Blows Crowd Away With Rare 'I Will Always Love You'". Country Rebel. October 19, 2017. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
  17. ^ "BMI Presents Dolly Parton With 7 "Million-Air" Certificates". August 13, 2020. Retrieved March 6, 2023.