Dolly Parton turned down Elvis Presley over publishing rights demand — Fortune
American singer Dolly Parton in 1974 refused to grant Elvis Presley permission to record her song I Will Always Love You. As Fortune reports, the performer’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, demanded half of the publishing rights to the composition. Parton did not agree to this condition, although she later said that she wanted to hear Presley perform the song.
According to the publication, this decision aligned with the artist’s approach to managing the rights to her own works. In 1966, she founded her own publishing company, which helped her retain nearly all publishing rights to her songs. This allowed Parton to receive higher royalties when her compositions were played or performed by other artists.
Rights to the music catalog
Parton began singing in a local church at the age of six. At 13, she recorded her debut single Puppy Love, which she wrote with her uncle when she was 11. After finishing school, the singer moved to Nashville to continue her music career.
In Nashville, Parton wrote the hits Jolene and I Will Always Love You, which later became country music classics. Her collaboration with singer and television star Porter Wagoner, which began in 1967, also brought her national recognition.
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Retaining the rights to I Will Always Love You became particularly profitable in the 1990s, when Whitney Houston’s version of the song became a global hit.
Income and charity
Fortune estimates Parton’s wealth at $650 million, of which approximately $150 million came from her music catalog. She also earned money from royalties and acting roles and was a co-owner of the Dollywood theme park in Tennessee. According to the publication, the park was visited by around 3 million people annually and generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.
In 1988, Parton founded the Dollywood Foundation, which supports educational programs for children in her hometown of Sevierville, Tennessee. She also made multimillion-dollar donations for disaster relief, medical research, and scholarships. In 2022, the singer received the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy.
