Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American country singer, songwriter and actress.
She was born Dolly Rebecca Parton in Sevierville, Tennessee, the fourth of twelve children born to Robert Lee Parton and Alvy Lee Owens, and grew up in a one room cabin.
Parton began her entertainment career as a child, singing on local radio and television in East Tennessee. She also recorded on a small label and appeared at the Grand Ole Opry. When she graduated from high school in 1964 she moved to Nashville, taking many traditional folkloric elements and popular music from East Tennessee with her.
On May 30, 1966, she and Carl Dean, who ran an asphalt-paving business, were married in Ringgold, Georgia. She has remained with the same husband, who has always shunned publicity and stayed in the background.
In 1967, Parton was asked to join the weekly syndicated country music TV program hosted by Porter Wagoner, with whom she became half of a highly successful duet team. She stayed with the show seven years. She continued to record duets with Wagoner until 1974, then made a final break to become a solo artist.
She is a hugely successful songwriter, having begun by writing country songs with strong elements of folk music in them based upon her upbringing in humble mountain surroundings. Her "Coat of Many Colors" became a classic in the field, as have a number of others.
In 1974, her song "I Will Always Love You" was released and went to #1 on the country charts, though it never charted anywhere else. Around the same time, Elvis Presley wanted to cover it. Parton was interested until Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, told her she would have to sign over some of the profits if Elvis recorded the song. She refused and that decision is credited with helping make her many millions of dollars in royalties over the years.
Despite originally being typecast in many circles as a "Country and Western" singer, Parton later had even greater commercial success as a pop singer and actress.
In 1980, Jane Fonda decided Parton was a perfect candidate for her upcoming film, 9 to 5. She was looking for a brassy Southern woman for a supporting role and felt the singer was perfect. Parton was signed, and went on to steal the notices and score a major hit with the title song.
She wrote and performed "9 to 5," which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. She received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song – Motion Picture. And she won two Grammy Awards, for Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song. It reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was also #78 on American Film Institute's 100 years, 100 songs.
She also received Golden Globe nominations for Best Motion Picture Actress – Musical/Comedy and New Star of the Year in a Motion Picture – Female.
Parton was very selective about her future film material, and had successes opposite Burt Reynolds in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), for which she received another Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy/Musical, and in the supporting role as Truvy in Steel Magnolias (1989) co-starring Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis, and Julia Roberts.
In 1982, she recorded a second version of "I Will Always Love You" for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas; the second version proved to be another #1 country hit and also managed to reach the pop charts, going to #53 in the United States.
In 1986, she was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Standing at 5 feet (152 cm), Parton's physical trademark is her large bust. She has often mocked this reputation with quips such as "I would have burned my bra in the 60s, but it would have taken the fire department three days to put it out," or "The reason I have a small waist and small feet is that nothing grows well in the shade."
In 1992, "I Will Always Love You" was performed by Whitney Houston on The Bodyguard soundtrack. Houston's version became the best-selling hit written and performed by a female vocalist, with worldwide sales of $12,000,000. As Parton owned the song, she raked in huge profits from Houston's cover. The song was also covered by music legend Kenny Rogers on his 1997 album "Always and Forever," which sold over 4 million copies World-Wide.
Parton's last starring role in a film was in 1992's Straight Talk, opposite James Woods. She played the plainspoken host of a radio program that has people phoning-in with problems. She later played an overprotective mother in Frank McKlusky, C.I. with Dave Sheridan, Cameron Richardson, and Randy Quaid.
After being dropped by country radio stations' playlists in the mid-1990s, she rediscovered her roots by recording a series of critically acclaimed bluegrass albums, including Grammy-winning "Little Sparrow" (2001), which was the theme tune of the very popular movie of the same name.
Parton is a shrewd businesswoman. She invested much of her earnings into business ventures in her native East Tennessee, notably Pigeon Forge, which includes a theme park named Dollywood, resulting in a thriving tourism industry that draws visitors from large parts of the Southeastern and Midwestern United States, notably Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio. This region of the U.S., like most areas of Appalachia, traditionally has been characterized by economic poverty. Parton thus put something back into the community where she was born and raised.
She has reportedly turned down several offers to pose for Playboy magazine and similar publications. Although she has admitted to having some amounts of cosmetic surgery (notably a breast lift), rumors that she had breast augmentation surgery remain unsubstantiated.
Parton is unique among country stars in that she is admired and acclaimed by fans from all walks of life. She said that she has long admired the look of some outcasts from society (such as prostitutes, whose long fingernails and big blonde wigs inspired her), which has continued into her adult years.
Her work of the late 1990s and beyond has moved towards bluegrass and more traditional folk styles.
She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6712 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood; a star on the Nashville Star Walk for Grammy winners; and a bronze sculpture on the courthouse lawn in Sevierville, Tennessee.
Dolly Parton was awarded the Living Legend medal by the U.S. Library of Congress on April 14, 2004, for her contributions to the cultural heritage of the United States.
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Hit singles
- 1970 "Joshua" #108 U.S. (#1 COUNTRY)
- 1971 "Coat of Many Colors" (#4 COUNTRY)
- 1973 "Jolene" #44 U.S. (#1 COUNTRY)
- 1974 "I Will Always Love You" (#1 COUNTRY)
- 1974 "Please Don't Stop Loving Me" (#1 COUNTRY)
- 1975 "The Bargain Store" #35 U.S. (#1 COUNTRY)
- 1978 "Heartbreaker" #12 U.S. (#1 COUNTRY)
- 1978 "Here You Come Again" #2 U.S. (#1 COUNTRY)
- 1978 "Two Doors Down" #19 U.S.
- 1979 "Baby I'm Burnin'" #25 U.S.
- 1980 "Starting Over Again" #35 U.S. (#1 COUNTRY)
- 1981 "9 to 5" #1 U.S. (#1 COUNTRY)
- 1983 "Islands in the Stream" (with Kenny Rogers) #1 U.S., #7 UK (#1 COUNTRY)
Charting albums
- 1978 "Heartbreaker" #27 U.S.
- 1978 "Here You Come Again" #20 U.S.
- 1978 "Dolly Parton/Both Sides" #24 UK
- 1979 "Great Balls of Fire" #40 U.S.
- 1981 "9 to 5 and Odd Jobs" #11 U.S.
- 1991 "Eagle When She Flies" #24 U.S.
- 1993 "Honky Tonk Angels" #42 U.S.
- 1993 "Slow Dancing with the Moon" #16 U.S.
- 1997 "A Life in Music – Ultimate Collection" #38 UK
- 2001 "Little Sparrow" #30 UK
- 2001 "Gold – The Hits Collection" #23 UK
- 2002 "Halos & Horns" #37 UK
- 2003 "Ultimate" #17 UK
Filmography
- 9 to 5 (1980) ... Doralee Rhodes
- The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) ... Mona Stangley
- Rhinestone (1984) ... Jake
- Steel Magnolias (1989) ... Truvy Jones
- Straight Talk (1992) ... Shirlee Kenyon
- The Beverly Hillbillies (1993) (Cameo)
- Heartsong (1995) (short subject)
- Our Country (2002) (short subject)
- Frank McKlusky, C.I. (2002) ... Edith McKlusky
- Uncut: The True Story of Hair (2002) (documentary)
- Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005) (Cameo)
TV filmography
- A Smoky Mountain Christmas (1986) ... Lorna Davis
- Wild Texas Wind (1991) ... Thiola "Big T" Rayfield
- Unlikely Angel (1996) ... Ruby Diamond
- Blue Valley Songbird (1999) ... Leanna Taylor
Documentaries
- The Nashville Sound (1970)
Trivia
The first cloned mammal was a sheep named "Dolly" in honor of Dolly Parton, because it was cloned from a mammary cell.
See also
- Academy of Country Music
- Country Music Association
- Country Music Hall of Fame
- List of country music performers