In Europe, the only non-Houston single to be released was Lisa Stansfield's "Someday (I'm Coming Back)", while in the United States and Canada, the dance group, The S.O.U.L.
It's claimed Costner was convinced Houston was right for the role after viewing her concert at the Assembly Hall in Champaign, Illinois in September 1987.
When Costner finally reached Houston, the singer, who had only took brief acting cameos on television shows such as Silver Spoons, was reluctant but agreed to read the script.
[16] Costner delayed production on the film until Houston finished her world tour that year to late November 1991.
[23] Initially, Costner had suggested on Houston recording the old Motown standard, "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted", but the song's choice didn't please neither Houston or Crowe, who felt the song was "like a dirge: 'Happiness is just an illusion, filled with sadness and confusion...'", adding jokingly, "you wanna kill yourself at the end of it!
According to Crowe, she was the one to suggest the country ballad, "I Will Always Love You", originally recorded and composed by Dolly Parton after hearing a rendition by Linda Ronstadt.
Houston used her own band musicians, including drummer Ricky Lawson and saxophonist Kirk Whalum for the song's production.
Once it was recorded and re-arranged by Houston and Foster, the song transformed into a plaintive love ballad dedicated to a former lover, as Houston's character in The Bodyguard, Rachel Marron, sang in tribute to her former bodyguard, Frank Farmer, played by Kevin Costner, after they parted ways after Farmer saved her from an assassination.
Much like "I Will Always Love You", the song was arranged into a soul ballad, with Houston singing the first verse in a soft soprano vocal, before belting in the bridge and chorus.
Originally recorded by funk singer Chaka Khan in 1978, "I'm Every Woman", penned by Ashford & Simpson, was Houston's first venture into house music, co-produced by longtime collaborator Narada Michael Walden and the production team of Clivillés and Cole and focused on a feminist theme, dedicated to women.
Part of the lyrics was inspired by Michael Jackson's 1987 song, "Dirty Diana", from his Bad album and featured Living Colour lead guitarist Vernon Reid providing the guitar solo.
According to BuzzFeed News, Houston's input on the song helped it to "[become] a high-energy, drum-centric, pop-rock showpiece, with Tina Turner–esque growling, that showed a different side of her persona.
[29] The Lisa Stansfield recording, "Someday (I'm Coming Back)" was a disco-pop effort, similar to material Stansfield composed for her 1991 album, Real Love while the Kenny G song, "Even If My Heart Would Break", featuring Aaron Neville on vocals, was a middle of the road ballad also featured on the jazz musician's best-selling 1992 album, Breathless, which was released on the same day as The Bodyguard and helped Kenny G later win the American Music Award for Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist, the only award Houston lost out of eight nominations for the soundtrack.
Curtis Stigers lent his 1991 rendition of Nick Lowe's "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding", while the R&B and dance act The S.O.U.L.
The inclusion of Joe Cocker's "Trust in Me" was arranged by Kevin Costner and featured Canadian singer Sass Jordan as a duet vocalist.
Houston launched the tour at the James L. Knight Center in Miami, Florida on July 5, 1993, and ended it at the Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa on November 19, 1994, where she performed a total of 120 shows in front of more than half a million fans in five global continents and performed at the continents of South America and Africa for the first time in her career.
During the second North American leg of the tour, Houston performed at the opening ceremony of the 1994 FIFA World Cup at the Rose Bowl Stadium.
The South Africa concerts in particular were special due to Houston being the first international artist to headline at the country following the abolishing of apartheid in the region and the presidential election win of Nelson Mandela.
The Johannesburg show at Ellis Park Stadium aired on HBO to high ratings on November 12, while the November 8th show at Durban's Kings Park Stadium was posthumously shown at selected film theaters in October 2024 and was followed by a live recording, released on the 30th anniversary of the concert.
During her first Radio City Music Hall performance in New York City, Stephen Holden of the New York Times wrote that "her stylistic trademarks — shivery melismas that ripple up in the middle of a song, twirling embellishments at the ends of phrases that suggest an almost breathless exhilaration — infuse her interpretations with flashes of musical and emotional lightning.
Stephen Holden wrote of the medley that "her voice conveyed authority, power, determination and just enough vulnerability to give a sense of dramatic intention".
[36] Ira Robbins of Newsday wrote, "Houston peaked in the Warwick segment with marvelous adaptions of "I Say a Little Prayer" and "Alfie", and "after the powerful one-two of "I Have Nothing" and a rendition of "Run to You" so compelling it would have been no shock to see Kevin Costner jog out".
The song followed "I Will Always Love You" to international chart success, reaching the top ten in fifteen other countries including the United Kingdom, Canada, Poland, New Zealand, Italy, Belgium, Denmark and the European Singles chart, placing in more top ten placements throughout its tenure than the Chaka Khan original did fifteen years earlier.
Globally, its success was also modest, reaching the top ten in Canada, Ireland and Portugal, while peaking at number 15 in the United Kingdom.
[2] In her Entertainment Weekly review, Amy Linden wrote, "Houston’s portion [of the soundtrack] is evenly divided between (a) the pleasantly efficient, yet soulless stuff from her three albums and (b) two stunning cover versions, whose selection is both artistically satisfying and uncharacteristically hip for the MOR songbird.
At the 36th Annual Grammy Awards, Houston received four nominations and won three, including Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Record of the Year for "I Will Always Love You", while winning the Album of the Year for The Bodyguard, which made Houston just the second black female artist in Grammy history to win the coveted award.
[69] In 2018, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, followed a year later, in 2019, by an inclusion in the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry for preservation.
In the US, The Bodyguard debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart dated December 5, 1992, behind Ice Cube's The Predator, selling 144,500 copies in the first week.
As of 2025, Houston and Adele remain the only female artists to have an album register at number one on the chart for twenty or more weeks.
[88] It also set an RIAA sales record for receiving the largest initial certification of any album at six-times platinum on January 18, 1993.