“I Love the Lord” from the soundtrack of ‘The Preacher’s Wife’
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Whitney Houston sings “I Love the Lord” live at the DAR Constitution Hall, in Washington DC. The concert series, called “Classic Whitney” was held from October 3-5, 1997. Whitney sang three shows; this is from the third, which was recorded by HBO.
“I Love the Lord” was written by Richard Smallwood while he was a student at Howard University in the late 1960s. The tune was originally recorded by The Richard Smallwood Singers, a choir Smallwood formed from Howard students. The group put out eight albums, but I Love the Lord was the most successful, spending over 80 weeks on the Billboard Gospel chart.
Whitney Houston, who grew up on Gospel, always considered “I Love the Lord” to be one of her favorites. In 1996, when Houston landed the lead role in the major motion picture The Preacher’s Wife, she insisted that the song be included on the soundtrack, of which Houston sang the majority.
Houston’s vocals and impeccable phrasing led The Preacher’s Wife‘s soundtrack to become the best-selling Gospel album of all time, with 6 million copies sold worldwide.
Here she is again, in 1999, singing “I Love the Lord.” Houston would always work up a sweat on stage, since she sang with her whole body. It had to take abs of steel to support those high notes.
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