Elvis Presley sang I Will Always Love You to Priscilla after divorce, says Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton has been promoting her rock cover album Rockstar and has revealed a very telling story about Elvis Presley.

The album is a mix of cover songs and originals, with one of the originals called I Dreamed About Elvis with Ronnie McDowell and special guests The Jordanaires.

While discussing the album with the UK's BBC Radio 2, Dolly was asked about rumors that she wouldn't let Elvis cover her 1973 hit I Will Always Love You.

This was years before Whitney Houston's smash hit cover of the song for 1992's The Bodyguard.

Instead, Dolly revealed that Elvis loved the song so much that he actually sang it to Priscilla as they walked down the courthouse steps to get a divorce.

She explained: "I wouldn't let Colonel Tom Parker... See, Elvis loved the song. In fact, I talked to Priscilla not very long ago.

"She said, 'You know, Elvis sang that song to me when we were walking down the courthouse steps when we got divorced'.

"He loved the song, wanted to do it, had it worked up, they'd already called me to come down to the studio to meet him, and to be part and hear the song."

However, Dolly admitted there were issues with Colonel Tom Parker that stopped Elvis from getting the opportunity to record the song.

She continued: "And the night before, Colonel Tom Parker calls me and says, 'Well, you know we don't record anything with Elvis unless we have published on it, or at least half the publishing'.

"Well, I said, because I had a number one song on it, I said, 'This is the most important copyright in my whole publishing company, and I can't do that'."

Parker then reportedly couldn't do that, so the song fell apart with the 9 to 5 singer admitting she was "heartbroken" Elvis never got to record the song.

Explaining Elvis' role in her album, she said: "But I wrote a song, 20 some years ago, about the Jordanaires, I wrote a song called I Dreamed About Elvis. It's in this album.

"I had Ronnie McDowell, who actually used to work on the road with Elvis but he sounds just like him, so I wrote a song and I dreamed that Elvis was singing the song I Will Always Love You.

"So I wrote a whole song about Elvis and then when we did I Will Always Love You, and it's in this album."

Elvis and Priscilla were married for six years before their divorce in 1973, with the Suspicious Minds hitmaker's death happening in 1977.

The pair had one daughter, Lisa Marie Presley in 1968, but she unfortunately died earlier this year after suffering a "small bowel obstruction".