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The first time Dolly Parton heard her song sung like this, she almost crashed her Cadillac. To Parton, Whitney Houston's rendition of "I Will Always Love You" was one of the highlights of her life.
Houston's cover, recorded for the film The Bodyguard, spent 14 weeks at No. 1 on 1992’s Hot 100 chart. Her iconic rendition was so popular that many listeners, especially those who weren’t country music fans, had no idea Parton had written the song way back in 1973. But it's what Parton did with the song’s success that matters so much more.
The ballad earned Parton $10 million in royalties in the 1990s. Instead of pocketing the money, Parton invested in a commercial office complex in the historically Black part of Nashville. She fondly called it "the house that Whitney built."
Parton was always putting her money where her mouth was. She donated 330 million books to children through her Imagination Library. Her million-dollar donation to COVID-19 research helped make the life-saving Moderna vaccine possible. In 2020, at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, when other celebrities were afraid to speak out, Parton said it plainly: "And of course Black lives matter. Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter? No!"
Dolly Parton could've had a million reasons to stay quiet, but she refused. Anyone, regardless of race, who claims to be for Black liberation has to back up their words with actions. We should accept nothing less.