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| Birth Name(s) : Dolly Rebecca Parton |
Date of Birth: January 19, 1946 |
| Status:
Married
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Partner:
Carl Dean |
| Profession:
Actor/Musician |
Official Site
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Full Dolly Parton Biography
Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on January 19, 1946, one of 12 children of Robert Lee Parton, a tobacco farmer, and Avie Lee Parton (nee Owens). Dolly grew up on a run-down farm in Locust Ridge, TN. At 12 she was appearing on Knoxville TV, and at 13 she was already recording on a small label and appearing at the Grand Ole Opry.
After graduating from high school in Sevier County, Tennessee, in 1964, she moved to Nashville to launch her career as a country singer. She fell in love with Carl Dean, who ran an asphalt-paving business; they got married on May 30, 1966 (and they are still together).
The next year, Dolly's singing caught the attention of Porter Wagoner. He hired Dolly to appear on his program, "The Porter Wagoner Show." Dolly stayed with the show for 7 years, their duets became famous, and she appeared with his group at the Grand Ole Opry; she also toured and sold records.
By the time her hit "Joshua" reached #1 in 1970, her fame had overshadowed Porter's, and she struck out on her own, though still recording duets with him. She left him for good to become a solo artist in 1974. Dolly gained immense popularity as a singer/songwriter. Dolly won numerous Country Music Association awards (1968, 1970, 1971, 1975, 1976). This petite (5'0") beauty was a natural for television, and by the mid-1970s Dolly was appearing frequently on TV specials and talk shows.
Dolly then got her own show, aptly titled "Dolly" (1976). In 1977 Dolly got her first Grammy award: Best Female Country Vocal Performance, for her song "Here You Come Again." Dolly's movie debut was in Nine to Five (1980), where she got an Oscar nomination for writing the title tune, and also Grammy awards 2 and 3, Best Country Song, and Best Female Country Vocal Performance for "9 to 5." Dolly got more fame for appearing in Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, The (1982), and in Rhinestone (1984) with the song "Tennessee Homesick Blues."
She is the head of Dolly Parton Enterprises, a $100 million media empire, and in 1986 she founded Dollywood, a theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, celebrating her Smokey Mountain upbringing. She appeared as Herself in "Dolly" (1987) TV series. In 1988 she won another Grammy award: Best Country Performance Duo or Group with Vocals, for "Trio." Dolly was in the acclaimed picture Steel Magnolias (1989) with Julia Roberts, and went on to appear in 15 movies and TV-movies for the 1990s, and of course garnered more Country Music Association awards.
In 2000, Dolly received her 5th Grammy award: Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. She also released a Bluegrass Album. Dolly is known for beautiful songs such as "Coat of Many Colors" and "Jolene" and "I Will Always Love You." Dolly said in an interview, "My music is what took me everywhere I've been and everywhere I will go. It's my greatest love. I can't abandon it. I'll always keep making records." |
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Additional Dolly Parton Biography
Dolly Records, Goldband, Mercury, Somerset, Monument, RCA, Warner Bros., Columbia, Rising Tide, Decca, Asylum, Sugar Hill Records
Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is a Grammy-winning and Academy Award-nominated American country singer, songwriter, composer, musician, author, actress, and philanthropist.
On May 30, 1966, at the age of 20, she married Carl Dean in Ringgold, Georgia. She met Dean on her first day in Nashville, at age 18, at the Wishy-Washy Laundromat. His very first words to her were: "You're gonna get sunburnt out there, little lady." Dean, who runs an asphalt-paving business in Nashville, has always shunned publicity and rarely accompanies her to any events. The couple have raised several of Dolly's younger siblings at their home in Nashville. Dean and Parton have no children together.
Parton's initial success came as a songwriter, writing hit songs for Hank Williams, Jr. and Skeeter Davis. She signed with Monument Records in late 1965, where she was initially pitched as a bubblegum pop singer, earning only one national chart single, "Happy, Happy Birthday Baby," which did not crack the Billboard Top 100. Additional pop singles also failed to chart.
In 1967, Parton was asked to join the weekly syndicated country music TV program hosted by Porter Wagoner, replacing Norma Jean, who had returned to Oklahoma. Parton also signed with RCA Victor, Wagoner's label, during this period, where she would remain for the next two decades. Wagoner and Parton immediately began a hugely successful career as a vocal duet in addition to their solo work and their first single together, a cover of Tom Paxton's "The Last Thing on My Mind," reached the top ten on the U.S. country charts in late 1967, and was the first of over a dozen duet singles to chart for them during the next several years.
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 received acclaim for her performance, receiving Golden Globe nominations for Best Motion Picture Actress — Musical/Comedy and New Star of the Year in a Motion Picture — Female. She also scored the biggest solo hit of her career with the title song, which she wrote; it earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. She received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song — Motion Picture. The song 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 was also named the Top Female Box Office Star title by Motion Picture Herald in both 1981 and 1982.
Parton has also done voice work for animation, playing herself in the TV series Alvin & the Chipmunks (episode: Urban Chipmunk) (1987) and her voice role as Katrina Eloise "Murph" Murphy in The Magic School Bus (episode: The Family Holiday Special) (1994). She has appeared on many non-musical television shows, usually in cameo roles as herself, for example in a 2006 episode (Good Golly, Miss Dolly) of children's program Hannah Montana, as "Aunt Dolly" visiting Hannah and her family.
Aside from 9 to 5, Parton's music has been featured prominently in other films. 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.
According to a broadcast of the public radio program Studio 360 from 10-29-05, as of October 2005 Parton was in the midst of composing the songs for a planned Broadway musical adaptation of the film 9 to 5. In late June 2007, 9 to 5, the Musical was read for industry presentations. The readings starred Megan Hilty, Allison Janney, Stephanie J. Block, Bebe Neuwirth, and Marc Kudisch.
Parton is the most-honored female country performer of all time. She has achieved 25 RIAA certified gold, platinum and multi-platinum honors She has had 26 songs reach No. 1 on the Billboard country charts, a record for a female artist. She has 41 career top 10 country albums, a record for any artist, and 110 career charted singles over the past 40 years. All inclusive sales of singles, albums, hits collections, paid digital downloads and compilation usage during Parton's career have reportedly topped 100 million records around the world.
She was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording in 1984, located 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. She has called the statue of herself in her hometown "the greatest honor," because it came from the people that knew her.
Her Dollywood theme park has also been noted for bringing jobs and tax revenues to a previously depressed region.
She has also worked to raise money on behalf of several other causes, including the Red Cross and a number of HIV/AIDS-related charities.
Dolly published a cookbook in 2006 entitled Dolly's Dixie Fixin's. The proceeds support the Dollywood Foundation, under which falls the Dolly Parton Imagination Library. |
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