The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album

The Bodyguard
Soundtrack by Whitney Houston/Various artists
Released	November 17, 1992
Genre	R&B, Pop, Ballad
Length	74:33
Label	Arista Records
Producer	Whitney Houston, Clive Davis
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Entertainment Weekly (B) link Q link Rolling Stone link
Whitney Houston/Various artists chronology
I'm Your Baby Tonight (1990) The Bodyguard (1992) Waiting To Exhale (1995)

The Bodyguard is the soundtrack from the movie of the same name, released on November 17, 1992 on Arista Records and features six songs by Whitney Houston, as well as songs from various other noted artists of the time; the album was co-executive produced by Whitney Houston and Clive Davis. Upon the sixth week after its release, the soundtrack became the first album to sell more than a million copies in a single week. The soundtrack later went on to win a Grammy for "Album of the Year", and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified it 17x Platinum on November 1st 1999, denoting shipments of 17 million copies in the United States - which officially made it the best-selling soundtrack album of all time in the U.S..^[1] It is the third Best selling album worldwide, selling over 42 million copies^[2]

[edit] Production History

The project served as Houston's first as executive producer. As a result, she had control as to what was part of the soundtrack. Houston was to record "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted", however, when they found out another film was going to use it, they had to start from scrap to find a song for the final scene. Costner, a fan of country, thought of doing Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You". While recording the album, Houston was asked to use a studio band. She refused, insisting on using her touring band.^[3] The project also allowed Houston to include a gospel recording in an album for the first time. She co-produced and arranged the music for "Jesus Loves Me" with Bebe Winans. Houston also got a chance to pay tribute to Chaka Khan for allowing her to sing back up for her in the 70s.

[edit] Reception

The album is most notable for Whitney Houston's cover of "I Will Always Love You", originally written and recorded by Dolly Parton. The song received wide airplay, appealing to the R&B, Adult Contemporary and Soul radio markets, and is also considered Houston's signature song. The single spent 14 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The strength of the single helped The Bodyguard sustain the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 for 20 weeks. The album also featured the hits "I Have Nothing", "I'm Every Woman" (a Chaka Khan cover), "Run To You", and "Queen of the Night", all also sung by Houston.

Both "Run To You" and "I Have Nothing" were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Music - Original Song, but lost out to "A Whole New World" from the animated film Aladdin. The other nominees were "Friend Like Me" from Aladdin and "Beautiful Maria of My Soul" from The Mambo Kings. The same two songs from the soundtrack were nominated at the Grammy Awards in the "Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television" category.

• United States: 17,000,000/ 17xPlatinum (Diamond)
• United Kingdom: 2,100,000/ 7xPlatinum
• Canada: 1,200,000/ 1xPlatinum (Diamond)
• Germany: 1,500,000/ Diamond
• France: 1,250,000/ Diamond
• Italy: 1,400,000/ 14xPlatinum
• Spain: 1,050,000/ 10xPlatinum
• Australia: 1,000,000/ 13xPlatinum
• Japan: 1,800,000/ Diamond
• Brazil: 1,100,000/ 2xDiamond ^[4]
• Korea: 1,100,000/ Diamond

[edit] Track listing

1. "I Will Always Love You" - Whitney Houston (Parton)
2. "I Have Nothing" - Whitney Houston (Foster/Thompson-Jenner)
3. "I'm Every Woman" - Whitney Houston (Ashford/Simpson)
4. "Run to You" - Whitney Houston (Friedman/Rich)
5. "Queen of the Night" - Whitney Houston (Babyface/Houston/Reid/Simmons)
6. "Jesus Loves Me" - Whitney Houston (Caldwell/Winans)
7. "Even If My Heart Would Break" - Kenny G featuring Aaron Neville (Golde/Gurvitz)
8. "Someday (I'm Coming Back)" - Lisa Stansfield (Devaney/Morris / Stansfield)
9. "It's Gonna Be A Lovely Day" - The S.O.U.L. S.Y.S.T.E.M. (Clivillés/Cole/Never/Scarborough/Visage/Withers)
10. "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding" - Curtis Stigers (Lowe)
11. "Theme from The Bodyguard" - Alan Silvestri (Silvestri)
12. "Trust In Me" - Joe Cocker featuring Sass Jordan (Beghe/Midnight/Swersky)

[edit] Charts

Album

Singles

[edit] See also

• List of best-selling albums in the United States

[edit] Footnotes