Rejecting Elvis
Very few, if any, musicians can say they turned down Elvis covering their song, but Dolly Parton did just that. When Elvis indicated he wanted to cover her 1974 hit song “I Will Always Love You”, Parton was initially interested.
However, when Elvis’ manager tried to convince her to sign over half the publishing rights for the song to Elvis, Parton refused.
The decision proved to be wise as the song has made Parton millions of dollars in royalties over the years.