Dolly Parton wrote I Will Always Love You, but when Whitney Houston turned the song into a worldwide hit, Parton was not eligible to compete for one of the Grammys most closely tied to songwriting.
At the 1994 Grammy Awards, Houston’s recording won Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female. The awards recognized the enormous success of her version, while producer David Foster also received recognition for his work on the track.
Parton’s absence from the Song of the Year category came down to eligibility rules. She had first released I Will Always Love You in 1974, when it became a major country hit. Because the composition had already been released years earlier, it did not qualify under the rules in place when Houston’s version became eligible.
Grammy standards involving older songs have changed over time, creating different outcomes for other revived classics.
The situation remains an unusual chapter in Grammy history, especially considering how strongly the song is associated with both Parton’s songwriting and Houston’s landmark performance.