With the success of Whitney Houston´s listening party this past Tuesday, which previewed nine new tracks on her soon to be released comeback album I look to you, this weeks Karaoke Challenge is a throwback to one of the most succesful songs in pop history and a favorite (often to the difortune of the audience) in karaoke bars across the nation, I will always love you.

Whitney Houston is one of those stars no one will forget, whether it´s because of her towering vocals or the less than classy publicity she has recieved over the years. With the excitement of her first studio album in 6 years and collaborations with artists that could be her kids (Alicia Keys, R. kelly, etc.), Houston will be recieving all kinds of new attention in the next few months, fingers crossed for the diva that its of the popular sort. Still, there is no denying the history Houston has already made, what, as the only existing artist to have 7 multiplatinum albums, beating out even the Beatles. And her 1992 soulful remake of Dolly Parton´s love infused country ballad I will always love you is as big a powerhouse as Houston herself having claimed spots all over every music chart imaginable.

I will always love you, written 1974 by the vivacious Dolly Parton about one of her long time musical partners during their dramatic parting, is possibly one of the most recognizable songs in history, probably one of the most requested songs in karaoke bars, and definitely one of the most difficult songs to pull off whether you are trying to channel Parton or Houston. Still, there have been some more interesting covers that had a little fun with the bleeding heart anthem, like Me first and the gimme gimmes rendition done for their Dolly Parton tribute album.

Whether you are a vocal master who thinks you can take on the Houston version, a country buff who wants to try a little bit of Parton, or just plain crazy and want to have fun with one of the best selling singles in history, I challenge you to sing I will always love you and see if you can get lucky enough to land in next weeks newsletter.

Check out the other renditions and post your own in the forum.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 at 5:14 and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.