Dolly Parton (b. 1946) is one of the most successful songwriters in American music, and she both wrote ‘I Will Always Love You’ and recorded it first, in 1974 for RCA Victor. She wrote it as a tender farewell to Porter Wagoner, the mentor whose show launched her, as she left to build a solo career. Because she kept her publishing — famously refusing to hand half of it to Elvis Presley’s camp — Whitney Houston’s later cover earned Parton a fortune in songwriter royalties; she has joked that it let her ‘buy Graceland.’