Greatest Love of All (4:48)

“The Greatest Love of All” is a song written by Michael Masser and Linda Creed and originally recorded by George Benson for the 1977 Muhammad Ali biopic The Greatest. (A live version by Benson appears on 1978’s Weekend in L.A.) The song was later popularized by Whitney Houston. Creed wrote the lyrics in the midst of her struggle with breast cancer. The words describe her feelings about coping with great challenges that one must face in life, being strong during those challenges whether you succeed or fail, and passing that strength on to children to carry with them into their adult lives. Creed eventually succumbed to the disease in April 1986 at the age of 36; at the time her song was an international hit by Whitney Houston.

The song received critical acclaim and became a big hit, topping the charts in Australia, Canada and the US, while reaching the top 20 in most countries, including Italy, Sweden and UK. It remains her third biggest US hit, after “I Will Always Love You” and “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)”. All three songs, in order of their former popularity, re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart, after Houston’s death, debuting the same week at numbers 7, 35 and 41, respectively, giving Houston three posthumous chart hits.