"I Will Always Love You" is a song originally written and recorded in 1973 by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton. Her country version of the track was released in 1974 as a single and was written as a farewell to her former partner and mentor.
In 1992, American singer Whitney Houston recorded a new arrangement of "I Will Always Love You" for the soundtrack to The Bodyguard, her film debut. The song has a saxophone solo by Kirk Whalum.
She was originally to record Jimmy Ruffin's "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" as the lead single from The Bodyguard. However, when it was discovered the song was to be used for Fried Green Tomatoes, Houston requested a different song. It was her co-star Kevin Costner who suggested "I Will Always Love You", playing her Linda Ronstadt's 1975 version from her album Prisoner in Disguise.
Producer David Foster and Houston re-arranged the song as a soul ballad. Her record company did not feel a song with an a cappella introduction would be as successful; however, Houston and Costner insisted on retaining it. When Parton heard that Houston was using Ronstadt's recording as a template, she called Foster to give him the final verse, which was missing from the Ronstadt recording, as she felt it was important to the song. Her rendition of the song was issued as the soundtrack's leading single on November 3, 1992, by Arista Records.
Houston's recording is not the only version of the song featured in the film. In a scene where she dances with Costner, a version by John Doe can be heard playing on a jukebox.
Houston's version appears at No. 9 on NME's Greatest No 1 Singles in History list.
In 2004, Houston's version of "I Will Always Love You" placed at number 65 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema. It was also ranked at number 22 on The Guardian's list of Britain's favorite 100 songs, published in May 2002.
As of January 2013, Houston's version of "I Will Always Love You" has sold over 20 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling single by a female artist of all time[46] as well as one of the best-selling singles of all time.
In February 2014, the song placed at number six on Billboard's list of the Top 50 'Love' Songs of All Time.
A live performance was included on the 1999 release Divas Live '99, and on the 2014 CD/DVD release of Whitney Houston Live: Her Greatest Performances, a 1994 performance of the song was included as well.
The song is also included in the soundtrack to the 2013 film This Is the End and the opening to 2019's Spider-Man: Far From Home.