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"I Will Always Love You," Whitney Houston (1992)
Inspired in part by the end of her musical partnership with Porter Wagoner, this song had been a big hit on the 1974 country charts for its writer, Dolly Parton. Later, it would become one of her signature compositions; over the years, she often concluded her concerts and TV variety shows with it. In the early '90s, actor Kevin Costner suggested that pop diva Houston record it for the soundtrack of their forthcoming film, The Bodyguard. Already recognized as one the great voices of her generation, Houston took the song and made it her own. Her powerful, passionate performance drove her rendition to the top of the charts. It would eventually become Houston's signature song and sell upward of 20 million copies.

The Chronic, Dr. Dre (1992)
The Chronic is the solo debut album of hip-hop artist and producer Dr. Dre, a former member of N.W.A. Along with exemplifying the "G Funk" style of hip-hop production, it solidified the West Coast's dominance of the genre, and its influence would be heard for years to come. The Chronic also featured appearances by future superstar Snoop Dogg, who used the album as a launching pad for his own solo career. It is considered one of the most important and influential albums of the 1990s and regarded by many fans and peers to be the most well-produced hip-hop album of all time.

Private Dancer, Tina Turner (1984)
Turner survived a brutal marriage to reclaim fame and obtain recognition as a solo artist and a superstar in her own right with this timeless comeback album. After several solo projects she released following her divorce from Ike Turner failed to sell, Turner was without a recording contract when John Carter signed her to Capitol Records in 1983 and she began work on Private Dancer in England. Propelled by the lead single, "What's Love Got to Do With It?" (later the title of the big-screen biopic about her), Private Dancer revealed Turner as a mature and versatile singer whose work transcended categories like rock and pop. Since then, the album and its song cycle have become a touchstone and a symbol for powerful womanhood. Private Dancer solidified her as a legend — a status she achieved on her own terms."Tina's innate ability to expand her reach deep into all this new material seems, to this very day, simply unbelievable. Never equaled," said Rupert Hine, a musician, songwriter and producer on the album. "These songs were populated in such a small handful of days at such high energy as to leave those left in the room thereafter spinning. Something very special was happening right under our feet."

Ven Conmigo, Selena (1990)
This 1990 album by Selena Quintanilla was the first Tejano record by a female artist to achieve Gold status. The album also marks a turning point both in Selena's career and within the Tejano music genre — as it brought the music to a wider American audience and upended the dominance of male-led acts within the genre. Selena's biographer, Joe Nick Patoski, highlights the expanded stylistic scope of the album, which her versatility made possible. The selections pushed the boundaries of the Tejano genre at the time while keeping the beat at the heart of the music; as Patoski quoted Selena, "I don't think you can really mess with the beat." Hits like "Baila esta cumbia" helped establish Selena as "the reigning queen of the Tejano music world," as her obituary in The New York Times called her just five years later.

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