Dolly Parton turned down The King (Picture: AFF/PA Images)

Imagine having to say no to Elvis Presley.

Dolly Party has revealed she had to when The King got a bit big for his boots over a cover of her hit track I Will Always Love You.

The 9 To 5 songstress has revealed her regret at turning him down, but in the long run managed to earn herself millions by saying no, so it wasn’t all bad.

Her decision came about after his people demanded the rights to the song in return for him covering it, which Dolly could not say yes to.


‘His manager Colonel Parker called me up the day before he was due to record the song and said, “Now you know Elvis has to have the publishing rights or at least half the publishing rights of any song he records”‘, she said.



‘I was desperate for Elvis to sing my song and I’d told everyone he was going to sing it, but I couldn’t let that happen. It’s my song, my publishing rights. It broke my heart but I had to turn him down.’

The King got a bit big for his boots (picture: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

Still, the song was covered in 1992 by Whitney Houston and went on to earn the 72-year-old £15million in royalties, so the regret should be outweighed by a sense of triumph.

It’s not even a big deal that people now think the song was Whitney’s, as the money still roles in to Dolly.

She told Event magazine: ‘People say it’s Whitney’s song, and that’s all right as long as they send the cheques to me!’

Dolly has been happily married to Carl Dean since 1966 but she admitted she was always ‘too selfish’ to have children because of her focus on her career, and she doesn’t regret her decision.

She admitted: ‘I was too selfish to have children. The biggest thing I wanted was my career. I wanted to be married, I wanted never to be divorced, I wanted to be a big singer and that was all I thought about.

‘Later in life I did think about it, but nothing happened and I accepted it.

‘I’m never going to say it’s something I regret because that would not be true. It was my choice to put everything into having this career. I believed I could have it but it took work – and it still takes work.’

Got a showbiz story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page - we'd love to hear from you.

MORE: Only Fools And Horses set for comeback as show gets turned into musical

MORE: Even Stacey Solomon didn’t believe she was a celebrity when she entered I’m A Celebrity