Who recorded it first
I Will Always Love You
Not a Whitney original — a 1974 Dolly Parton song
This is one of pop’s great cover-eclipses: almost everyone takes ‘I Will Always Love You’ for a Whitney Houston original, but Houston’s 1992 version is a cover. The song was written and first recorded by Dolly Parton in 1974 on RCA Victor — a country No. 1 she wrote herself as a farewell to her mentor Porter Wagoner. Houston picked it up eighteen years later for The Bodyguard and turned it into one of the best-selling singles ever made.
The record
Who recorded it first
How we traced it
The song was written by Dolly Parton in 1973 and first recorded by her; RCA Victor released it as a single on 11 March 1974 Wikipedia ↗.
Parton wrote it as a farewell to Porter Wagoner, her business partner and mentor, as she moved to strike out on her own. Her original went to No. 1 on the country chart — and did it a second time in 1982 with a re-recording for a film soundtrack.
Whitney Houston recorded her version in April 1992 for The Bodyguard and released it that November on Arista; it spent 14 weeks at No. 1 and eclipsed the original so thoroughly that most listeners now assume it began with her SecondHandSongs ↗.
SecondHandSongs — the original and every coverKnow more about the original — or think we’ve got it wrong? Add a source →
Fact-check
The attribution problem
This is a generous kind of misattribution: Whitney Houston’s record really is a landmark, and for most listeners the definitive one. The only error is believing she originated the song — a 1992 cover mistaken for the source.
‘It’s a Whitney Houston song’
Houston’s 1992 version is a cover. Dolly Parton wrote the song and recorded it first, eighteen years earlier, in 1974 the history ↗.
Dolly Parton, 1974
Parton’s original was a country No. 1 — a real hit, but on the country chart rather than the pop mainstream, which is part of why the pop cover could overshadow it so completely.
Dolly Parton
Parton did not merely record it first — she wrote it. She also kept the publishing, so the cover that eclipsed her as a performer made her a fortune as its author.
Written and first recorded by Dolly Parton in 1974, and made famous — but not originated — by Whitney Houston in 1992 the record ↗.
Context
Why the cover ate the original
Most cover-eclipses happen because the original was obscure. ‘I Will Always Love You’ is different: Dolly Parton’s 1974 version was a genuine hit — a country No. 1, twice over — yet it still lost the song. Whitney Houston’s 1992 cover was not merely bigger; it crossed into the pop mainstream with a force the country original never had, and for a global audience it simply became the version.
The irony is that the eclipse enriched the woman it eclipsed. Because Parton wrote the song and held onto its publishing, Houston’s blockbuster cover paid Parton enormous songwriter royalties — more than her own recording ever could. The performer credit drifted to Houston; the authorship, and the cheque, stayed with Parton.
The two records, in order
- Dolly Parton writes ‘I Will Always Love You’ in 1973, as a farewell to Porter Wagoner.
- Parton records it first; RCA Victor releases it 11 March 1974 → country No. 1.
- Parton re-records it for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) → country No. 1 again.
- Whitney Houston records her version, 22 April 1992, for The Bodyguard.
- Released 2 November 1992 on Arista → 14 weeks at Hot 100 No. 1; it becomes one of the best-selling singles ever, and the original fades from public memory.
The cover eclipsed her as a performer — and, because she wrote it, made her a fortune as its author.