The Bodyguard (soundtrack)

The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album is the first soundtrack album by American singer Whitney Houston. It was released on November 17, 1992, by Arista Records to promote the film of the same name. It also contains songs by her label mates Lisa Stansfield, Kenny G, The S.O.U.L. S.Y.S.T.E.M. and Curtis Stigers as well as artists such as Aaron Neville and Joe Cocker. The album is credited as a Whitney Houston album because she recorded the majority of the tracks. The Bodyguard was Houston's first box office film, after turning down offers from film producers such as Robert Townsend, Spike Lee and Robert De Niro in the past. Initially, Houston was reluctant to take on the role and was convinced by co-producer and co-star Kevin Costner to pursue it, to which she agreed. Arista Records president Clive Davis had apprehensions of Houston's role in the film without much music from the script, convincing Costner and the film's distributor Warner Bros. Pictures to add songs to the film, in which Houston made a deal for back royalties for its music and attained creative control. Houston agreed to record six tracks, four of which were featured in the film.

Houston began working on the soundtrack in November 1991, and contacted previous producers of her work, including Babyface, Antonio "L.A." Reid, BeBe Winans and Narada Michael Walden, to participate in the album. It also marked the first time Houston worked with renowned producer David Foster, who would produce three of the six Houston tracks, as well as the production duo of Clivillés and Cole, while Houston herself co-produced two songs. Both Houston and Clive Davis were listed as executive producers on the album.

Upon its release in November 1992, The Bodyguard was praised by music critics for Houston's vocal performance and its production. The album was a global success, topping the charts in 21 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Italy and Japan as well as the European album chart. In the United States, the album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, before climbing to number one in its second week of release, remaining there for 20 non-consecutive weeks, making it the first album by a female artist to top the charts for that many weeks. In its sixth week, it sold one million copies within a single week, making Houston the first artist to accomplish this following verification by Nielsen SoundScan. It would continue to sell a million copies per week for several weeks in a row and would eventually be certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of ten million copies in November 1993, becoming the first female album to sell that many copies in the United States and would be one of three Houston albums to receive that milestone, eventually selling 18 million in the country alone. Overall, the album would sell 45 million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling soundtrack album of all time, the best-selling album by a woman in music history, and the best-selling album of the decade.

The soundtrack resulted in several awards and accolades for Houston, including seven American Music Awards, a Brit Award, a Juno Award and the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, marking only the second time in Grammy history that an African American woman won the Grammy in that category. Two of the tracks on the soundtrack, "Run to You" and "I Have Nothing" were each nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, while Houston herself won the MTV Movie Award for Best Song for the soundtrack's leading single and its biggest hit, "I Will Always Love You".

Five of the Houston tracks were released as singles. "I Will Always Love You" became Houston's tenth number one single on the Billboard Hot 100, matching the number for most number one singles by a female artist at the time and eventually topped the charts in 34 countries entirely and went on to sell more than 24 million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling single by a female artist of all time. "I'm Every Woman" was released as the second single and became another international top ten hit and peaked inside the top five of the Billboard Hot 100, as did its third single, "I Have Nothing". In March 1993, the three aforementioned singles were placed inside the top 11 for two consecutive weeks, marking the first time in the Nielsen SoundScan era that an artist had three singles simultaneously chart at the same time. "Run to You" was the fourth single released from the album and became a modest hit globally, reaching the top 40 in the United States and the top 20 in the United Kingdom. "Queen of the Night" was a European market only release and reached the top 20 in the United Kingdom while a dance remix of the song topped the Billboard dance chart. 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. S.Y.S.T.E.M., released the tune, " It's Going to Be a Lovely Day". The Bodyguard received further promotion from the successful Bodyguard World Tour. In 2017, a 25th anniversary re-release, I Wish You Love: More from The Bodyguard, was issued. In 2024, The Bodyguard was included in Rolling Stone's list of the 101 Greatest Soundtracks of All Time. The album and film cemented Houston’s status as a pop culture icon.