Whitney: Don't call it a comeback
Time was when Whitney Houston was barely out of the paparazzis’ lens target. Her well-publicised battle with drug addiction seemed to cloud her extraordinary talent and eventually she disappeared from view. But now, as she launches her audacious comeback (her new album, I Look To You, has already topped the US billboard chart and looks set to do the same in the UK), cast your mind back to that song.
I Will Always Love You, from the soundtrack to The Bodyguard, starring Houston and Kevin Costner, was such a hit it stayed at Number One for ten weeks in the UK and 14 in the states. The theme song originally was going to be What Becomes of the Brokenhearted, but Costner intervened when it was discovered that was to be used for Fried Green Tomatoes.
Houston’s soaring rendition of Dolly Parton’s love song became a karaoke favourite and acquired that irritating quality that only the overplayed can, brilliantly captured in the caravan scene in Hedwig and The Angry Inch.
To get the real deal, catch one of Houston’s live dates in the UK next spring or take a trip back down memory lane.