Background and release
"It was with Whitney Houston [on 1999's "Could I Have This Kiss Forever"]. I was so young and extremely nervous, but she made it so easy. She was so sweet, caring and loving. I remember that first hug. It was very genuine."
Houston and Iglesias had never actually met in person, as both of them originally recorded the song in separate studios: Houston in Hamburg, Germany and Iglesias in Los Angeles, California. [2] The two eventually met in the studio when the song was being re-recorded for single release by Metro, resulting in the new version being mid-tempo. The new version was released by Houston's label as the first US single (second UK single) from her greatest hits collection Whitney: The Greatest Hits (2000). For Iglesias, the song was the fourth single (third in the UK) from his album Enrique. It is also available on his Greatest Hits compilation released in 2008.
"Clive Davis and I were talking about this song that I'd heard a demo of and loved. And he says, 'Why don't you do it with Whitney?' So we did, and it turned out fantastic. Clive was very nice about letting Whitney sing with me — I'm not even an Arista artist.", Iglesias explained. [3]
The song was successful internationally, hitting number one in several countries worldwide, including Croatia, the Netherlands and Switzerland. It also hit the top ten in many other countries, and attained gold status in Australia, Germany, and Switzerland. In Finland, it peaked at number 17. [15] In Iceland, it peaked at number two and also in Sweden, where the song spent 19 weeks on the chart. [16] It was certified platinum by the Swedish Recording Industry Association. In Ireland, it peaked at number eight and spent seven weeks on the chart. In Austria, it peaked at number eight and spent 20 weeks on the chart. In Ireland, it debuted and peaked at number 8. In the United Kingdom, it peaked at number 7, becoming Houston's 16th top ten single. By 2012, it was reported that the duet had sold 140,000 copies in the United Kingdom. [17] Due to its European success, it topped the Eurochart Hot 100, giving Houston her fifth and final number one single, which later made Houston the female artist with the second most European number one singles after Madonna. [18]
In North America, it was almost as successful, peaking at number 52 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It was one of Houston's longest charting singles on the chart, spending 19 cumulative weeks. It had its biggest US success on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Singles chart, peaking at number 10, becoming Houston's 24th top ten hit on the chart. It also became a top 40 hit on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 chart, peaking at number 34. In Canada, the duet had its biggest North American success, peaking at number 8 on the chart.
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
