Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on January 19, 1946, in Locust Ridge, Tennessee, to Robert Lee Parton, an illiterate sharecropper and farmer, and Avie Lee Owens Parton. Dolly grew up in rural Appalachia and was the fourth of 12 children, all of whom her mother delivered before turning 35. Three of Dolly’s six brothers have died, including Larry who was just four days old at the time of his 1955 death. Dolly’s five sisters are all still living. She described her family as “dirt poor,” noting that money was always an issue for them while growing up. Parton’s first exposure to music came from her family members, including her mother, who sang and played guitar. She learned about music at an early age while performing in church and was writing songs before she knew how to read, according to People. Parton received her first guitar from a relative and soon began to pen her own tunes. At age 10, she started performing professionally, appearing on local television and radio shows in Knoxville, roughly an hour from her home, and made her Grand Ole Opry debut three years later. Set on a career in music, she then moved to Nashville the day after finishing high school in 1964. Parton’s singing career really started to take off in 1967. Around this time, she partnered with country singer Porter Wagoner on The Porter Wagoner Show. Parton and Wagoner became a popular duo, and the pair recorded a slew of country hits together. Much was made of her shapely curves, petite 5-foot-tall stature, and warm personality, which to some people belied a thoughtful, visionary artist with a strong business sense. Since her early career, Parton protected the publishing rights to her catalog of songs, which earned her millions in royalties. Her work with Wagoner also helped Parton land a contract with RCA Records. After having had several charting singles, Parton scored her first No. 1 country hit in 1971 with “Joshua,” a bluegrass-inspired track about two solitary figures who find love. More No. 1 hits followed, including “Jolene,” a haunting 1973 single with a real-life inspiration , and “I Will Always Love You,” a 1974 tribute to Wagoner as the two parted ways professionally. Elvis Presley wished to record a cover of the song, but Parton refused when Presley’s infamous manager, Colonel Tom Parker, tried to insist she sign half the song’s publishing rights over to Presley. Other country hits from this era included the ethereal “Love Is Like a Butterfly,” the provocative “The Bargain Store,” the spiritual “The Seeker,” and the rollicking “All I Can Do.” For the range of her compelling work, she won the CMA Award for Female Vocalist in 1975 and 1976. In 1977, Parton had her first crossover smash with the bouncy, bittersweet ode to a returning lover “Here You Come Again.” The song reached the top of the country charts as well as No. 3 on the pop charts and also marked the singer-songwriter’s first Grammy Award, for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. More emotionally-driven No. 1 country hits followed including “It’s All Wrong, But It’s Alright,” “Heartbreaker,” and “Starting Over Again,” a ballad written by disco star Donna Summer. Over the years, Parton enjoyed many successful collaborations. In 1983, she scored another major smash with “Islands in the Stream,” her duet with Kenny Rogers that topped the Billboard Hot 100. Four years later, she recorded the Grammy Award-winning album Trio with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt. Having reached the apex of her mainstream success, Parton made her movie debut in the 1980 comedy hit 9 to 5, starring alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. She played a secretary who, along with her two coworkers, plots against their egotistical and sexist boss in a movie that raised awareness of workplace harassment and discrimination. In addition to co-starring in 9 to 5, Parton also contributed to its soundtrack. The title song, with one of the most memorable opening lines in popular music history, proved to be another No. 1 hit for Parton on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the country chart. For “9 to 5,” Parton also took home two Grammy Awards for Best Country Song and Best Female Country Vocal Performance and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. Parton next starred with Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise in the musical movie The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas in 1982, which helped to introduce a new generation to her song “I Will Always Love You.” In 1984, Parton starred in the musical comedy Rhinestone as a country singer who tries to turn an obnoxious New York City cab driver, played by Sylvester Stallone, into a successful country singer. Over the years, Parton continued to work as an actor in an array of movies that include Steel Magnolias (1989), Straight Talk (1992), Unlikely Angel (1996), Frank McKlusky, C.I. (2002), and Joyful Noise (2012). She also hosted her own variety TV show in both 1976 and 1987-88. Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors, a television movie biopic about the singer’s childhood, aired in 2015. It starred Alyvia Alyn Lind as young Dolly and Jennifer Nettles of the musical duo Sugarland as Parton’s mother. Years later, in 2020, a two-hour A&E documentary, Biography: Dolly, traced Parton’s extraordinary journey from her childhood spent and early days in Nashville to her successful music empire. Parton branched out in another new direction in the 1980s, investing her considerable earnings into a variety of business ventures. In 1986, she opened her own theme park called Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, which remains a popular travel destination to this day. Located near her hometown, Parton said she invested in the park because, “I always thought that if I made it big or got successful at what I had started out to do, I wanted to come back to my part of the country and do something great, something that would bring a lot of jobs into this area.” Today, about 3 million people visit Dollywood annually.
Parton was the co-owner of The Dollywood Company, which owns and operates a number of properties and entertainment venues in addition to the Dollywood theme park. Among them are the waterpark Dollywood’s Splash Country, the dinner attraction Dolly Parton’s Stampede, the Dream More Resort and Spa, and more. Parton’s 50 percent stake in the Dollywood theme park alone is estimated to be worth about $165 million, according to a 2021 Forbes article. In 1992, Whitney Houston recorded Parton’s song “I Will Always Love You” for the movie The Bodyguard. Houston’s version catapulted Parton’s song into a new stratosphere of popularity, with the single sitting atop the pop charts for 14 weeks and becoming one of the best-selling singles of all time. “When Whitney did it, I got all the money for the publishing and for the writing, and I bought a lot of cheap wigs,” Parton told Anderson Cooper when he asked her how she spent her royalties from the song. The next year, Parton teamed up with Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette for the album Honky Tonk Angels. Parton revisited her now-signature song “I Will Always Love You” in 1995 as a duet with Vince Gill. Next, Parton explored the music of her Appalachian roots with The Grass Is Blue (1999) with a little help from Alison Krauss and Patty Loveless. The record won a Grammy, Parton’s sixth, for Best Bluegrass Album in 1999. Parton was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame that same year before she won another Grammy in 2001 for the song “Shine” off her album Little Sparrow. Continuing to write and record, Parton released Backwoods Barbie in February 2008. The album featured two country singles, “Better Get to Livin’” and “Jesus & Gravity.” Three years later, in August 2011, Parton released the album Better Day, which included recordings of songs she previously wrote for the Broadway adaptation of the 9 to 5 movie. In August 2020, Parton released A Holly Dolly Christmas, her first holiday album in 30 years, featuring guest appearances by singers like Michael Bublé, Billy Ray Cyrus, Miley Cyrus, and Willie Nelson. In November 2022, Parton announced plans to release her first rock music album, appropriately titled Rockstar, partially in response to her nomination to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame earlier that year. The album was released a year later and features covers of famous rock songs, as well as collaborations with many artists from the genre. Among the covers are Parton’s versions of Prince’s “Purple Rain,” Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball,” The Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” and Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.” Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Elton John, Sting, Lizzo, and Pat Benatar are among the artists who appear in tracks on the album. Rockstar debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Albums Sales chart, selling more than 118,000 copies in its first week. The record also reached No. 3 the Billboard 200. Parton released her latest album, Smoky Mountain DNA: Family, Faith & Fables, in mid-November 2024. The 37-track country record featured vocals from several members of the singer’s extended family, including her sister Rachel and her niece Heidi.
Though many of her charitable contributions are anonymous, Parton used her success to give back to her community by providing scholarships for children, donating thousands to hospitals, and providing technology and supplies for classrooms. After the town of Gaitlinburg, Tennessee, and other towns near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park were devastated by wildfires in 2016, Parton helped raise $12.5 million to support the victims and help rebuild the area. She advised Oprah and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson when they launched a similar effort in the wake of the 2023 Maui fires. With a career spanning seven decades, Parton won a multitude of awards and lifetime honors. She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022. Parton initially declined her Rock & Roll Hall nomination because her music wasn’t part of the rock genre and she didn’t “feel I have earned that right,” but she later accepted after learning other non-rock musicians had been inducted and that fans help vote for inductees. In 2006, Parton received special recognition for her lifetime contributions to the arts as one of five artists feted at the annual Kennedy Center Honors. At the 50th Annual CMA Awards in 2016, she was honored as the recipient of the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award. Three years later, Parton joined a televised special to celebrate her 50th anniversary as a member of the Grand Ole Opry. In 2021, Time magazine named her to its annual Time 100 list of the most influential people. A decorated Grammy winner, Parton took home 10 trophies, as well as the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011. Three of her songs - “I Will Always Love You,” “Jolene,” and “Coat of Many Colors” - have been enshrined in the Grammy Hall of Fame as has her album Trio with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris. (“Coat of Many Colors” is also preserved of the National Recording Registry.) Parton received another Grammy tribute during the February 2019 ceremony, with artists like Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, and Kacey Musgraves joining her on stage to sing a medley of her hits. In November 2023, Parton received her 54th Grammy nomination; her single “The Last Thing On My Mind” competed for Best Country Solo Performance at the 2024 Grammy Awards. The icon earned an Emmy Award in 2021 for executive producing the Netflix movie Dolly Parton’s Christmas On The Square. She also secured two Academy Award nominations, both for Best Original Song, and a Tony nomination to her name. She picked up her first Oscar nod with “9 to 5” in 1980 and her second for “Travelin’ Thru” from the 2005 movie Transamerica. Her 2009 Tony nomination recognized her music and lyrics for 9 to 5: The Musical on Broadway, though it didn’t win Original Musical Score. Parton registered more No. 1 songs on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart (25) than any other woman artist, according to Guinness World Records. Underscoring her enduring appeal, Parton had songs chart in every decade of her career dating back to the 1960s. Her two No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 are “9 to 5” and “Islands In The Stream” with Kenny Rogers. On August 25, 2026, Parton died of cancer at the age of 80.
