Legendary songstress Dolly Parton has been a mainstay in the American music and entertainment
industry for many years.
Her signature style, sparkling personality and wit, angelic voice, and brilliant songwriting
have become iconic.
As she tells it, "My songs are the door to every dream I've ever had, and every success
I've ever achieved."
So let's look back at how far she's come.
Humble beginnings
Dolly was born in 1946, and grew up in Locust Ridge, Tennessee, the fourth eldest of 12
children.
Her father worked in a logging camp, and her mother was a preacher's daughter and devoted
mother.
But the family certainly wasn't basking in the kind of good fortune she'd later enjoy.
In a 1978 interview, Dolly said her aunt owned the first television — and flushing toilet
— that Dolly ever saw.
The family made their own soap and went to the river to bathe.
Destiny
Dolly was first introduced to music by her mother.
"My mother used to play the autoharp and the dulcimer and the guitar, and she used to just
sing, acapella.
Which Momma had a great mountain voice."
When Dolly's Uncle Bill gave her a guitar, she immediately started writing songs.
At the age of 10, Dolly started singing and playing guitar on local TV and radio shows
in nearby Knoxville, Tennessee.
Her Uncle Bill introduced Dolly to Cas Walker, a successful grocery chain owner who had created
a radio show that later made it to TV: The Cas Walker Farm and Home Hour.
Dolly became a regular on the show, then went on to make her first appearance at the Grand
Ole Opry in 1959.
"I was scared to death of course cuz I was just a country kid."
"I always said that my desire to do it was always greater than my fear."
Introduced by Johnny Cash, her performance of George Jones' "You Gotta Be My Baby" earned
her three encores.
Nashville bound
As soon as Dolly graduated, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee, home of country music.
But before she found fame and fortune, she met a man who, in two short years, would become
her husband.
Soon, she got a writing job with a publishing company but starting writing her own songs.
Dolly was signed to Fred Foster's Monument Records and had her first Top 40 hit with
the song "Dumb Blonde."
Professional connection
Dolly was 21 years old when she was hired by Porter Wagoner to be the new female vocalist
on The Porter Wagoner Show.
During that time, she had a hit with "Joshua" in 1970, and in 1974 she had two rapid-fire
Number One songs with "Jolene" and "Love Is Like a Butterfly."
But Dolly wanted to step out on her own, and in February of 1974 announced that she was
doing just that.
Wagoner wouldn't agree to it, so she wrote the song "I Will Always Love You" to explain
things to him — which became her third number one hit that year.
He allegedly told Dolly, "That's the prettiest song I ever heard.
And you can go, providing I get to produce that record."
Wagoner produced Dolly's records until 1976 and recorded two albums after that,
In 1978 Parton won CMA's coveted Entertainer of the Year.
Landing on screen
In 1980, Dolly had her first movie debut in the comedy 9 to 5, co-starring Lily Tomlin
and Jane Fonda.
Dolly was inexperienced but enthusiastic, so she memorized all the roles in the film
in addition to her own.
In a 1980 interview with Bobbie Wygant, Dolly revealed that she filled the time in between
shots by writing songs.
"I started putting my time to use and i started writing songs and reading a lot.
So it worked out Okay, I wrote some good songs.
I wrote the theme song, by the way."
"9 to 5" went to Number 1 on the pop and country charts, and earned the singer-actress an Academy
Award nomination.
Dolly's next movie, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, took Number 1 at the U.S. box office,
knocking out E.T., which had held the spot for six weeks.
Boobs and integrity
Dolly appeared on the cover of Playboy — bunny ears, cleavage, bow tie, and all — but she
wouldn't take her clothes off for the famous mag.
In her Bobbie Wygant interview, she talked about turning come-ons into jokes if things
got too uncomfortable, and always felt OK walking out the door if things got too weird.
She said, "I did meet a lot sleazy guys, but I never slept with anyone to get where I wanted
to go."
For years, fans speculated as to whether Parton had an affair with Kenny Rogers.
The pair recorded the popular duet "Islands in the Stream" in 1983, and their chemistry
raised a few eyebrows.
Dolly fans know that she would never cheat on her husband, but Rogers addressed the long-held
rumor in his book Luck or Something Like It, saying that the pair were wonderful friends,
and anything sexual would have ruined their friendship.
Paying it forward
Dolly has never forgotten what it was like to grow up in an impoverished region.
She is passionate about giving, both financially and with her time, to a number of organizations.
She also founded the Dollywood Foundation, the nonprofit behind Dolly Parton's Imagination
Library, which mails one book every month to children in Tennessee, from birth to five
years old, regardless of the family's income.
Dolly's own father could not read or write, inspiring her to offer those opportunities
to those in need.
Devotion
Dolly met Carl Dean that first day in Nashville, in 1966, and they've been together ever since.
When asked how the marriage has lasted so long, Dolly jokes, "Forty-seven of those years
I was gone."
"It's his first marriage and mine and that's saying a lot to be in this business."
The couple renewed their vows in a private ceremony on May 30, 2016 on their 50th wedding
anniversary.
Dolly said, "He's always loved who I was, and I loved who he was, and we never tried
to change each other."
She wrote the song "From Here to the Moon and Back," for Carl.
Still rockin'
With appearances on The Voice, and a recent tour for her album Pure and Simple, as she
heads further into her 70s, Dolly Parton isn't stopping.
She raised $9 million for the Tennessee wildfire victims, is active on social media, and has
been honored with the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award.
And about the Dolly look?
She freely admits that she's had plastic surgery.
She told Southern Living, "I'm in the public eye, so I don't care who knows what I get
done.
If I see something sagging, dragging or bagging, I get it sucked, tucked, or plucked.
It takes a lot of money to look as cheap as I look."
But her heart remains even bigger than her hair.
"I've done something good, I've done plenty bad I'm sure but I hope that I'll be remembered
well."
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