Dolly invested Whitney’s ‘I Will Always Love You’ royalties in a black community

Dolly Parton has revealed that she invested a portion of the royalties she received from Whitney Houston’s cover of  ‘I Will Always Love You’ to invest in an office complex in a Black neighbourhood in Nashville, Tennessee.

In 1992, Houston recorded the cover of the Parton original for the cult ’90s classic, The Bodyguard. According to Forbes, the cover recording actually saw Parton receive $10 million in royalties.

In the interview with NPR, Parton said, “It was mostly just Black families and people that lived around there. It was a whole strip mall. And I thought, ‘This is the perfect place for me to be, considering it was Whitney.’ ”

Parton continued, “I just thought, ‘This was great. I’m going to be down here with her people, who are my people as well.’ And so I just love the fact that I spent that money on a complex. And I think, ‘This is the house that Whitney built.’ ”

Elsewhere in the interview, Parton was also asked if she would have liked to be able to duet ‘I Will Always Love You’ with Houston. Parton says that she would have loved it, but she thinks that Houston would have outsung her.

Parton said, “I would’ve loved that,” Parton said. “But I don’t think I could’ve come up to snuff with her though. She’d have outsung me on that one for sure.”

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.

Subscribe to Rolling Stone magazine

Subscribe to Rolling Stone magazine