So many true music fans continue to search endlessly for recordings of legendary songs by the artists who actually is not famous for singing them. On Monday night on Watch What Happens Live, music followers stumbled upon a gold mine when it was revealed that before Whitney Houston and “The Bodyguard” cemented “I Will Always Love You” as one of the biggest songs of this amazing performer’s career, Patti LaBelle herself was offered the song by the original performer and songwriter, Dolly Parton.
“I said to Dolly, ‘Oh yes, I want to do that song, honey!’ LaBelle herself revealed to host Andy Cohen on the Watch What Happens Live After Show. “But before I could say a real yes, it was in the movie and Whitney killed it.” she went on to say. “I was so happy Whitney got that song and it just went like it did. But Dolly Parton and I had planned. ‘Patti, you’re going to sing that song,’ ”LaBelle’s final thought on it was an always professional and simple “Next! That’s how show-business is!”
LaBelle revealed that she has not sang “I Will Always Love You” publicly since Houston’s passing, but she did “plan to put it in he show one day”. Cohen asked if she had sang the song in tribute to Whitney (she has not), but LaBelle sweetly recalled that she and Houston did sing together once, and that “that was my little girlfriend”.
Speaking of interesting musical pairings, LaBelle also revealed that the indomitable Lady Gaga had hired her in New York City to duet on the famed LaBelle cover “Over The Rainbow”, which she had done several years ago. The video below shows the magical vocalists duetting on this legendary track in front of a packed crowd. To say that we need more duets from these two powerhouses is putting it mildly….
Art Courtesy of NBC Universal/Bravo TV