"The Greatest Love of All" is a ballad with music by Michael Masser and lyrics by Linda Creed. They wrote it in 1976 for The Greatest, a 1977 biopic of the boxer Muhammad Ali, and it was performed during the film's opening credits. Masser has said that he went to Jerusalem to write it, although he was not a religious man, and that he admired Ali's refusal to fight in Vietnam and the dignity Ali kept after losing his title. On his return, he worked with Creed, who drew on her family.
George Benson recorded the song for the film's soundtrack in 1977. His single, with "Ali's Theme" on the B-side on Arista, reached No. 2 on the Billboard R&B chart, the first R&B top-ten hit for Arista Records. It also placed around No. 22 to 24 on the US pop and adult contemporary listings, and reached No. 27 in the UK and No. 25 in Canada. Benson later recorded it again, including live versions and a 2001 duet with Luciano Pavarotti. Whitney Houston's 1985 cover, titled "Greatest Love of All", topped the charts in the US, Australia and Canada and reached No. 1 on the US R&B chart in early 1986. Other artists who have recorded it include Shirley Bassey, Oleta Adams, Alexandra Burke, Deborah Cox and Kevin Rowland. It is classed in the smooth jazz, R&B and soul genres.
