Tour in
Johannesburg, South Africa was one of the three venues Houston headlined in
South Africa where Houston became the first international artist to headline shows at the country following the end of the country's
apartheid laws in 1994. Houston embarked on a world tour to continue promoting the album, which would remain on the charts throughout its duration. During the tour, Houston performed full length versions of all six of the
Bodyguard tracks on the tour, with "I Have Nothing" and "I Will Always Love You" being prominently featured on the tour as showstoppers, with the latter song being performed near the end of the concert before returning onstage to sing "I'm Every Woman" as an
encore, while "Jesus Loves Me" was performed as part of the gospel music portion of the show. "Queen of the Night" would start with the original
hard rock version before Houston returned onstage and then it transformed into the
house version, produced by
C.J. Mackintosh. "Run to You" was sporadically performed during the tour on select dates. Houston launched the tour at the
James L. Knight Center in
Miami, Florida on July 5, 1993, and ended it at the
Green Point Stadium in
Cape Town, South Africa on November 19, 1994, where she performed a total of 120 shows in front of more than half a million fans in five global continents and performed at the continents of
South America and
Africa for the first time in her career. During the 1993 leg, most of the dates were at theaters because Houston wanted an intimate setting. During the second North American leg of the tour, Houston performed at the opening ceremony of the
1994 FIFA World Cup at the
Rose Bowl Stadium. Houston performed for the first time at stadiums in South America and
South Africa to audiences as large as 75,000. The
South Africa concerts in particular were special due to Houston being the first international artist to headline at the country following the abolishing of
apartheid in the region and the
presidential election win of
Nelson Mandela. The Johannesburg show at
Ellis Park Stadium aired on HBO to high ratings on November 12, while the November 8th show at Durban's
Kings Park Stadium was posthumously shown at selected film theaters in October 2024 and was followed by a
live recording, released on the 30th anniversary of the concert. The tour proved to be a huge success as most of the dates were sold out. The success of the tour helped Houston make
Forbes magazine's Richest Entertainers list. Houston earned over $33 million during 1993 and 1994, the third highest for a female entertainer. The tour led to several positive reviews of Houston's performance. During her first Radio City Music Hall performance in New York City,
Stephen Holden of the
New York Times wrote that "her stylistic trademarks — shivery melismas that ripple up in the middle of a song, twirling embellishments at the ends of phrases that suggest an almost breathless exhilaration — infuse her interpretations with flashes of musical and emotional lightning." At one of her Atlantic City dates, Kevin L. Carter of the
Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that Houston handled her songs "with subdued emotionalism and the intelligence that only a gifted musician can bring to a song. "Saving All My Love for You" was turned into a "smoky saloon-style ballad". Many critics noted that the highlight of the show was when Houston took on "And I Am Telling You" from
Dreamgirls, and "I Loves You Porgy" from
Porgy and Bess. Stephen Holden wrote of the medley that "her voice conveyed authority, power, determination and just enough vulnerability to give a sense of dramatic intention". During Houston's seven consecutive sold-out residency at
Radio City Music Hall in September 1994,
New York Times critic Jon Pareles wrote, "Houston belted ballads, predictably bringing down the house with songs that moved from aching verses to surging choruses. A medley of hits from
Dionne Warwick, Ms. Houston's cousin, lacked Ms. Warwick's lightness, but Ms. Houston made "
Alfie" sound like the ethical wrangle it is". Ira Robbins of
Newsday wrote, "Houston peaked in the Warwick segment with marvelous adaptions of "I Say a Little Prayer" and "Alfie", and "after the powerful one-two of "I Have Nothing" and a rendition of "Run to You" so compelling it would have been no shock to see Kevin Costner jog out".
Singles "
I Will Always Love You" was released as the
lead single from the soundtrack, on November 2, 1992. The song became an immediate hit upon its release, receiving extensive airplay on multi-format stations as well as
genre stations all over the country, appealing to
pop,
adult contemporary and
R&B radio markets. On the November 14th issue of
Billboard, "I Will Always Love You" entered the
Billboard Hot 100 at number 40, making it Houston's third highest debut at the time. Two weeks later, on its November 28 issue, the song shot to number one, giving Houston her career tenth number one single, tying her with
Madonna for most number ones by a female artist at the time. The song stayed at number one for a record fourteen weeks, all of them spent consecutively, which remains a record to this day. The song took off internationally as well, landing number one for fourteen weeks in New Zealand, ten weeks in the United Kingdom and Australia, nine weeks in Norway, 8 weeks in France and Switzerland, six weeks in the Netherlands and 3 weeks in Sweden, as well as thirteen weeks atop the
European Singles chart. Eventually, the song would reach the top ten in more than 40 countries and top the charts in 34 of those countries. At 24 million copies sold globally, it is
the best-selling single of all time by a female artist. The
music video for the song, notable for Houston sitting on a stool singing the song while scenes of the film were interpolated, became an immediate hit on all music video stations including
MTV, earning heavy rotation. The success of the video helped Houston win the
MTV Movie Award for Best Song. The song also became her career sixth number one single on the
Hot R&B Singles chart, where it stayed for a then-record 11 consecutive weeks, and also became her career ninth number one hit on the adult contemporary chart, where it stayed for 5 consecutive weeks. The album's second single, "
I'm Every Woman", was released on January 2, 1993. The song also became an immediate success, eventually peaking at number four on the
Billboard Hot 100, all while "I Will Always Love You" remained at number one on the chart. The song followed "I Will Always Love You" to international chart success, reaching the top ten in fifteen other countries including the United Kingdom, Canada, Poland, New Zealand, Italy, Belgium, Denmark and the European Singles chart, placing in more top ten placements throughout its tenure than the Chaka Khan original did fifteen years earlier. The song's music video, directed by Randee St. Nicholas, was also a hit, with Houston featuring notable women such as the song's original co-writer
Valerie Simpson, R&B group
TLC, mother
Cissy Houston and the song's original vocalist Khan. It later won Houston the
NAACP Image Award for
Outstanding Music Video. The song reached number one on the
Hot Dance Club Play chart, earning Houston her fourth career number one hit on the chart and her first to top the chart since "
Love Will Save the Day" in 1988. The third single, "
I Have Nothing", was released on February 20, 1993, and also became an immediate hit, eventually peaking at number four on the
Billboard Hot 100. During the week of March 13, 1993, Houston made chart history as the first artist since the verification of Nielsen SoundScan in 1991 to land three songs simultaneously in the top twenty of the
Billboard Hot 100, where "I Have Nothing" shot up to number 11 while "I'm Every Woman" and "I Will Always Love You" were numbers five and seven respectively, repeating this for the week of March 20, 1993. In addition to its Academy Award nomination, the same song was nominated for the
Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media, alongside "Run to You". The song reached number one on the
Billboard Radio Songs and
adult contemporary chart, earning a career tenth number one on the latter chart. The music video for the song also became a hit on every music video station as soon as it premiered. The fourth song, "
Run to You", was released as the next single on June 21, 1993. By this time of the album's chart tenure, it was selling anywhere between half a million and a million copies per week and due to this, the song only reached as high as number 31 on the
Billboard Hot 100, becoming more of a modest success, though the song would spend 20 cumulative weeks on the chart, which showed Houston's strong chart presence at the time. Globally, its success was also modest, reaching the top ten in Canada, Ireland and Portugal, while peaking at number 15 in the United Kingdom. It was a bigger hit on the
Billboard adult contemporary chart, reaching number ten. The fifth song, "Queen of the Night", was mainly released only as a European market-only single on October 13, 1993. Its success on the European charts was also modest, reaching the top 20 in Belgium, Iceland, and the United Kingdom, where it reached number 14. In the US, a commercial single wasn't released, but the song made the top 20 on the
Billboard Pop Airplay chart at number 17 and number 36 on its Radio Songs chart. Meanwhile, a house remix of the song by
CJ Mackintosh, helped to send Houston a number one hit on the
Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart, giving Houston her first career number one chart single as a songwriter. While it was never released as a single, "
Jesus Loves Me" earned significant radio airplay on gospel stations. Following Houston's
sudden passing in 2012, the song reached the
Billboard Gospel Digital Song Sales chart at number four for the week of February 25 of that year, giving Houston a sixth top ten
Billboard chart single from the soundtrack and was also one of many Houston tracks to chart there. It later charted on Billboard's Gospel Streaming Songs chart for the week of April 11, 2015, landing at number 23, one of three Houston gospel tunes to chart there that week. The song was the last from the soundtrack to reach the
Billboard charts. It also remains the only version of "Jesus Loves Me" to make a
record chart. ==Reception==