Dolly Parton Biography

Dolly Parton was one of the most popular and enduring country singers of the last 50 years, known especially for her outsized talent, hair and bosom.

Dolly Parton began writing and performing songs as a girl and made her first record in 1960. She moved to Nashville, and in 1967 released the album Hello, I’m Dolly and landed a job on Porter Wagoner’s syndicated television show. Parton and Wagoner had a string of hits as a duo throughout the 1960s and ’70s, with Wagoner’s spangled suits and grandiose pompadour matched by Parton’s enormous platinum hairdos and spectacular gowns over an hourglass figure Parade magazine once reported as 42-26-39.

After going solo, Parton became internationally famous for such hits as “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You.” Her 1973 album My Tennessee Mountain Home was called “a bittersweet look backward at a life and a tradition she was bound on leaving” by the Encyclopedia of Country Music.

Parton went on to win every major music award, including more than 50 Grammy nominations and 11 wins (including a Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 2011). Her songs ranged from pop and contemporary country to traditional country and bluegrass. Known as well for her business savvy, Parton also created Dollywood, a theme park in Tennessee with retail shops and entertainment. She was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999 and received Kennedy Center Honors for artistic achievement in 2006.

Dolly Parton made her acting debut in 1980, co-starring with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin in the comedy 9 to 5. Parton was nominated for an Oscar for the theme from the film, which became a hit single.  Her other films include The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982, with Burt Reynolds), Steel Magnolias (1989, with Julia Roberts), Straight Talk (1992, with James Woods) and Joyful Noise (2012, with Queen Latifah). Her life as a young girl was told in the 2015 TV movie Coat of Many Colors.