Dances with Wolves, Waterworld, Field of Dreams and, more recently the tv show Yellowstone—Kevin Costner is known for his blockbuster looks and acting on screen but few know that he is a musician, too. I bet even fewer know that he was behind 4 of the greatest acapella lines ever sung…
If I should stay
I would only be in your way
So I'll go but I know
I'll think of you every step of the way…
One can hear the smokey yet sultry voice levitating off of Whitney Houston’s lips—no background music to distract the most melancholic serenade of our modern times. The Bodyguard became the juggernaut to launch Costner’s and Houston’s careers to even greater heights and it had so much to do with that one song. Furthermore, I believe the power of this rendition of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” would not have been the same without that beginning delivery—and Costner had everything to do with it.
I was watching David Foster’s documentary Off the Record when I discovered this little tidbit. It’s almost like Costner was walking by the studio and quipped “Hey, hold off the music right there—just let her voice shine, trust me” and then he continues to walk back down the hallway. David Foster was staunchly against it at first, but Costner insisted. Clive Davis was head hauncho and although David and Clive were usaully in agreement on a lot of things, they did no see eye to eye here. “Who would play this on the radio?” David mockingly asked. Nonetheless, in the end Clive stuck with Costner’s version of Whitney’s studio demo. Fast forward years later, David recalls, “It became the most important album of my life, it sold 45 million copies. It’s carried me over these last 20 years.”
When she sang it on stage for the first time, Whitney’s mother turned to David Foster who was sitting next to her and said, “You know you’re witnessing greatness right now.”