Dolly Parton received $10M in royalties from Whitney Houston
Source: Twitter
Dolly Parton received $10M in royalties from Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You,” which was created & recorded initially by Parton.
How did Parton Invest the Royalty Money?
Dolly used the royalty money to establish office space in a historically Black neighborhood of Nashville, creating jobs and boosting the local economy.
The Dollywood Foundation, located in her Tennessee hometown of Sevierville, is Dolly Parton’s chosen charity. She started it in 1988, intending to expand educational opportunities for kids in the area. It is now best known for the Imagination Library, a program that gives free books to disadvantaged children worldwide from birth until they begin school. Recently, the organization donated 190 million books to children in need.
What a wonderful initiative. @DollyParton, you truly are a treasure. pic.twitter.com/1fXJOFAy0R
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) December 15, 2022
The Dollywood Foundation has also contributed to other causes, such as building a new hospital and annually awarding college scholarships to students from the area who are in high school. She often gives to children’s hospitals in the US and gave Vanderbilt University Medical Center $1 million during the COVID outbreak for vaccine research. It’s undoubtedly among the top charities out there.
Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” was re-recorded by Whitney Houston
The song “I Will Always Love You” was composed and first performed by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton in 1973. The country song, released in 1974, was written by Dolly Parton as a farewell to her mentor and business partner, Porter Wagoner. As a result of a re-recording for the soundtrack of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, the song was a commercial success for Parton, twice peaking at number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart: first in June 1974 and then again in October 1982.
Jolene, Dolly Parton’s thirteenth solo studio album, featured the second single, “I Will Always Love You,” which was released on March 18, 1974. (1974). Dolly’s “I Will Always Love You” track was one of the best-selling singles of 1974. It peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs list and peaked at number four on the Canadian RPM Country Tracks chart.
For the 1992 movie The Bodyguard, Whitney Houston recorded the song as a soul ballad. Houston’s rendition spent a then-record-breaking 14 weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The RIAA awarded the song a Diamond certification, making it Houston’s first Diamond single, the third female artist to have a Diamond single and an album, and the best-selling female single in American history. The song turned out to be a massive hit worldwide, topping the charts in practically every nation. It became the best-selling single by a female solo artist, with over 20 million copies sold. For “I Will Always Love You,” Houston won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1994.
Numerous other musicians have covered the song, including Sarah Washington, Linda Ronstadt, Amber Riley, John Doe, LeAnn Rimes, and Amber Riley, whose dance rendition of the song peaked at number 12 on the UK Singles Chart.
