Dolly Parton, who has died at the age of 80, did not regret turning down Elvis Presley. Over more than 50 years in show business, the singer sold over 100 million records worldwide. During her career, she knew many big names, but she once refused Elvis Presley himself.
In the early 1970s, the young Dolly was told that Elvis wanted to meet her and cover her hit song I Will Always Love You. Speaking previously on Living and Learning with Reba McEntire, she said: "I was so excited, I told everybody. They had called me [to tell me] that Elvis was recording it, and [asked] if I wanted to come to the studio. Elvis wanted to meet me and all that."
The Colonel's Terms
However, before the session, The King's manager Colonel Tom Parker called her. He told her: "You know, we don't record anything with Elvis unless we have the publishing, or at least half the publishing."
She replied: "Well, that throws a new light on this because I can't give you half the publishing. I'm gonna leave that to my family. I can't do that." The Colonel then told her Elvis could not cover the track under those terms.
A Hard Choice and Later Success
Dolly admitted: "I cried all night. Oh, I just pictured Elvis, like, singing it. And I know that Elvis loved it. And I know it wasn't him, but it's true. I said no." Standing up to the Colonel proved to be an expert move.
In 1992, Whitney Houston recorded I Will Always Love You. The Bodyguard singer's cover spent 14 weeks at No 1 and is the sixth best-selling single of all time with 20 million sales. Dolly would joke that the royalties from the cover made her enough money to buy Graceland.
An Unfinished Wish
Despite things working out, Dolly wished she could have set things straight with Elvis, who died in 1977. She turned this into a song called I Dreamed About Elvis Last Night. She had only performed the track live with a tribute artist until recording it for her 49th and final solo studio album Rockstar in 2023.
