Glee to Pay Tribute to Whitney Houston; Listen to Amber Riley Sing ‘I Will Always Love You’

The Valentine’s Day episode of Glee, set to air on February 14, will be dedicated to Grammy-winning musician Whitney Houston, who died on February 11 at the age of 48.

"Purely coincidentally, the episode contains Mercedes (Amber Riley) singing 'I Will Always Love You,' the Dolly Parton-penned song Houston made famous in The Bodyguard,” a rep for 20th Century told E! News. “The producers have decided to dedicate the episode to Houston's memory with a card in the end credits."

Riley, who met Houston for the first time just two days before her death at Kelly Price’s pre-Grammy party, opened up about meeting her icon. “I was battling whether I wanted to go over because she is such an icon and she is such an inspiration to me,” said the Glee star. “I went over and thanked her for letting us use her music and trusting it with us on Glee. I didn't need her to take a picture with me. I didn't need an autograph. The fact that she even acknowledged that I was standing there was enough for me.”

Glee’s Valentine’s Day episode finds Riley’s character entangled in a love triangle and forced to decide if her heart belongs to Sam (Chord Overstreet) or Shane (LaMarcus Tinker), which compels Riley to sing Houston's rendition of “I Will Always Love You.”

“Ryan Murphy had been trying to push me to sing it for such a long time,” Riley said of the powerhouse ballad. “It’s such a song that’s close to my heart and it’s very challenging vocally. It’s very befitting that we are doing it this Tuesday. We were celebrating her in life when we recorded it. Now that she’s died we are celebrating her passing and her legacy.”

Listen to Riley sing “I Will Always love You,” below.