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Dolly Parton Invested Royalties From Whitney's 'I Will Always Love You' In A Black Community

August 3, 2021

Dolly Parton has revealed how she spent the royalties from Whitney Houston's cover of "I Will Always Love You".

The Bodyguard / Dolly Parton

Parton wrote and performed the song in 1973, but it wasn't until Whitney Houston covered it in 1992 for The Bodyguard that the song became a worldwide hit.

Parton reportedly made over $10 million in royalties from the song.

In a recent interview with Andy Cohen, Parton said she used the money she made off the song to buy a "big office complex" in the "black area of town" in honor of Houston.

"I bought a property down in what was the Black area of town, and it was mostly just Black families and people that lived around there," Parton said.

"It was just off the beaten path from 16th Avenue and I thought, 'Well I am going to buy this place, the whole strip mall.' And thought, 'This is the perfect place for me to be,' considering it was Whitney."

"I just thought, 'This was great. I'm just 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.'"

During the interview, Parton said she was never asked to perform a duet of the song with Houston but wished that she had.

"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 out-sung me on that one for sure."

Watch the interview below.