On June 13, 2004, Dolly Parton’s I Will Always Love You song was ranked #1 country ballad of all-time on “CMT 100 Greatest Love Songs” list and show. The song is a country music classic and also crossed over to major success on the pop charts as well.
Watch Dolly Parton perform the original classic version of “I Will Always Love You” and compare the original version to renditions by Whitney Houston and Carrie Underwood below.
Dolly Parton “I Will Always Love You”
The song, “I Will Always Love You” was originally written and recorded in 1973 by Dolly Parton. Younger folks often attribute the song to Whitney Houston given the fame of the movie “The Bodyguard”. Dolly achieved #1 on the Billboard Country Music charts with her version in both 1974 and in 1982 when the song was released on a soundtrack. See Dolly Parton perform the country classic “I Will Always Love You” from this CMT footage.
Dolly Parton I Will Always Love You
Whitney Houston “I Will Always Love You”
The Whitney Houston version of the song was made famous in her movie role for “The Bodyguard” in 1992 with actor Kevin Costner. The Whitney version was released by Arista on October 30, 1992. Watch the official music video for Whitney’s version below.
In an interview after Whitney’s death, Dolly Parton stated, “Mine is only one of the millions of hearts broken over the death of Whitney Houston. I will always be grateful and in awe of the wonderful performance she did on my song and I can truly say from the bottom of my heart, ‘Whitney, I will always love you. You will be missed.”.
Carrie Underwood “I Will Always Love You”
Carrie performed the iconic song on the Bobby Bones show. Watch Carrie’s version below.
Carrie Underwood was also deservingly featured in the “Forever Country” song and it is fitting that she is a huge Dolly Parton fan and often covers I Will Always Love You at some of her concert events. It is fitting that this classic song was one of the three songs featured in the “Forever Country” medley song.
Forever Country Music Video
Watch Dolly Parton end the medley song “Forever Country” with her classic song “I Will Always Love You”.
As a bonus, enjoy another fan favorite rendition of the song from British teen singer Connie Talbot.
Connie Talbot “I Will Always Love You”
Which version of the song “I Will Always Love You” was your personal favorite?
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