The Life Of Dolly Parton, The Queen Of Country Music

The Start Of A Feud?

Because “I Will Always Love You” became phenomenally more successful after Whitney Houston’s version was released, this led many to assume that Dolly Parton was upset over the matter. Tabloids in the early ’90s spread rumors that Houston and Parton began to feud.

However, this was far from the truth. In fact, both of the singers spoke highly of each other. Houston told Rolling Stone that she had the chance to thank Dolly personally: “I talked to Dolly Parton by phone not too long ago,” she said in 1993. “She said to me [imitates Dolly’s accent]: ‘Whitney, I just want to tell you something. I’m just honored that you did my song. I just don’t know what to tell you, girl.’ I said, ‘Well, Dolly, you wrote a beautiful song.’ And she said: ‘Yeah, but it never did that well for me. It did well for you because you put all that stuff into it.'”