Birth Name : Dolly Rebecca Parton
Nickname : The Smoky Mountain Songbird The Iron Butterfly The Queen of Country The Backwoods Barbie The Queen of Nashville The Book Lady The Leading Lady of Country Aunt Granny
Height : 4' 11" (1.50 m)
Mini 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 (née 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.young dolly parton dolly parton album dolly parton singing dolly parton jolene dolly parton 2011.
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" (1960).
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 the song "Nine to Five". Dolly got more fame for appearing in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (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 the "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".
Singer, songwriter, actress. Born Dolly Rebecca Parton on January 19, 1946 in Locust Ridge, Tennessee. Raised in a poor family with 12 children, Parton learned to escape her life by making up songs. By age 11, she was singing on a local radio station and after graduating from high school, she moved to Nashville to pursue a career in music.
Parton launched her solo career in 1967, and though she partnered with Porter Wagoner for his television show from 1967-1975, she remained primarily a solo act. (It was for Wagoner that Parton dedicated the ever-popular "I Will Always Love You.") She won the Country Music Award for female vocalist in 1975 and 1976.
In 1987, she recorded Trio with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt. In 1993, she put out another collaboration with Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette titled Honky Tonk Angels. In 1999, she returned to acoustics with The Grass Is Blue, which won a Grammy for best bluegrass album. Parton was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000.
In addition to music, Parton also became interested in acting, starring in 1980’s 9 to 5, 1982’s Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and 1989’s Steel Magnolias. She also opened the Dollywood theme park in 1985, which continues to be one of the South’s most popular vacation destinations. Parton married Carl Dean, who runs an asphalt-paving business, in 1966.
In 2006, Dolly Parton received special recognition for her lifetime contributions to the arts. She was one of five artists feted at the annual Kennedy Center Honors. This achievement is just the latest award for this remarkable performer who has forged her own place in country music history.
This Kennedy Center honoree has continued to keep busy. Her most recent release is Backwoods Barbie (2008), which featured two country hits “Better Get To Livin’” and “Jesus & Gravity.” That same year, Parton got into public feud with satellite radio shock jock Howard Stern after he aired a segment in which previous spoken recordings were manipulated to make it sound like she made some obscene statements.
After writing so many of her own hits, Parton had penned the songs for a new musical based on her earlier hit workplace comedy, 9 to 5. The show debut in the fall of 2008 in Los Angeles before it's brief Broadway run.Parton is currently in the studio working on her next studio album scheduled to be released later this year.