Whitney Houston: Why Dolly Parton Never Performed ‘I Will Always Love You’ With the Singer
Whitney Houston is lauded as one of the greatest voices of all time with the ability to sing multiple genres of music with power. But for fans, it’s her ballads that will always stand out. None of her singles performed as well as her rendition of “I Will Always Love You,” which was recorded as part of the soundtrack to her first film role in The Bodyguard. Country icon Dolly Parton originally performed the song. Parton loved Houston’s version so much that she wishes she had the chance to perform it with Houston at least once before Houston’s 2012 death.
Dolly Parton wishes she could have performed ‘I Will Always Love You’ as a duet live with Whitney Houston
Parton appeared on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen in July 2021 and dished on some of her musical magic throughout the years. The songstress was asked if there were ever any plans to perform “I Will Always Love You” with Whitney [Houston], and shockingly, Parton revealed that there were not.
“I was never asked to perform that with Whitney,” she said. She added: “I wish that could’ve happened, I would have loved that.”
Still, Parton doesn’t think she would have measured up to Houston’s vocals. “But I don’t think I could’ve come up to snuff with her, though. She’d have out-sung me on that one for sure,” she admitted.
The country legend penned the song as a tribute to someone special in her life
Parton wrote the song in 1973 as a tribute to her mentor and business partner, Porter Wagoner. Wagoner died in 2007. The song made its way to the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart twice. The first was in June 1974, and the second was in Oct. 1982.
Though hers was a success, Houston’s a more international anthem and cross genres. It’s something that Parton is proud of. While appearing The Graham Norton Show, she spoke about the first time she heard Houston’s version of the song.
“It was one of the most overwhelming feelings I’ve ever had, to hear that done so well, so beautiful, so big,” she said. “[I] had no idea I’d written a song that could be that important. And I didn’t, I think she just took it and made it so much more than what it would have ever been.”
Whitney Houston’s version outperformed Dolly Parton’s version of the song
Houston’s version appeared at the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart for 14 consecutive weeks. The song re-entered the charts after her death in Feb. 2012 and was one of her most performed songs live.
Though she made the song her own, she admitted that she was nervous about recording it. She told Rolling Stone in 1993. “I think Dolly Parton is a hell of a writer and a hell of a singer,” she said, adding, “I was so concerned when I sang her song how she’d feel about it, in terms of the arrangement, my licks, my flavor. When she said she was floored, that meant so much to me.”
