The Amazing Life of Dolly Parton

The Amazing Life of Dolly Parton

Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re looking at the incredible story behind Dolly Parton’s rise to superstardom.

Childhood

Parton was born in 1946 to an extremely poor sharecropper and homemaker in rural Appalachian Tennessee. She was the fourth of twelve children, and at the time, the family lived in a one-room cabin on the banks of the Little Pigeon River. Parton’s father, Robert Lee Parton Sr., famously paid the doctor who delivered Dolly with a sack of cornmeal. Later, the family moved to a two-room cabin in Sevierville, Tennessee, which had no electricity or running water. Parton came from a musical family – her mother often sang the ancient Welsh ballads of her ancestors to the children, and her grandfather was a fiddle player and songwriter. Parton started singing in church at the age of six and began playing the guitar at seven. She made her first instrument herself using the strings of old bass guitars and the body of a mandolin, until her uncle and future songwriting partner, Bill Owens, gifted her a guitar at the age of eight. In her autobiography, Parton recalls that she wrote her first song at age six. It was about a doll her mother made her out of a corn cob, with corn silk for hair.

Early Career

Parton recorded her first record, “Puppy Love,” at age twelve, and by the time she was a teenager, she was performing regularly on local radio and television shows. She made her debut at the Grand Ole Opry at just thirteen years old, where she was thrilled to be introduced by none other than Johnny Cash. In 1962, Parton and Bill Owens co-signed a songwriting deal with Tree Publishing. Owner Buddy Killen also arranged for Parton to record two demo songs with Mercury Records, “It’s Sure Gonna Hurt” and “I Wasted My Tears (When I Cried Over You).” Unfortunately, the songs failed to take off on the radio, and Parton made the difficult decision to return home and finish high school. However, she moved back to Nashville the day after she graduated. Her first few months there were difficult, and with almost no money, she often went hungry before she finally signed a songwriting deal with Combine Publishing. She and Uncle Bill wrote a number of songs for other artists during this time, including two songs recorded by singer Bill Phillips which became top ten hits. She also met her future husband, Carl Dean, at a laundromat the same year.

Success as a Singer

Parton’s deal with Combine eventually led to a recording contract with Monument Records. The label insisted on marketing her as a pop singer rather than a country singer, thinking her voice was better suited to the pop genre. However, her pop songs never took off, and Monument finally gave in and agreed to let her start recording country music. She found immediate success with her first country single, “Dumb Blonde,” which rose to number twenty-four on the charts. In 1967, she joined “The Porter Wagoner Show,” where she and Wagoner often performed duets together. Despite their contentious relationship, over the next six years, the two recorded one top ten hit after another. Parton later described it as “the hardest and worst period” of her life, but also the most creatively prolific. Parton’s solo career took off during this time, and her first number-one solo hit, “Joshua,” was released in early 1971. Parton quit Wagoner’s show in 1974 and recorded “I Will Always Love You” to commemorate their time together. She famously wrote the song and another mega-hit, “Jolene,” in one sitting in 1973. The following year, Parton won Female Vocalist of the Year at the Country Music Awards. Later, Wagoner sued her, claiming that since he had given her her big break, she owed him a portion of her earnings for life. To avoid a difficult battle in court, she settled with him for $1 million, despite not having that amount of money at the time.

Pop Career

In the mid-1970s, Parton decided to try her hand at pop music again. Her first crossover album, “New Harvest...First Gathering,” made it to number one on the country charts, and although it eventually went platinum, it only reached number seventy-one on the pop charts. Her next album, “Here You Come Again,” was more successful, climbing to number twenty on the pop charts, with the top single reaching number three. That album earned Parton her first Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance. Parton was already well-known on the country music scene, but she shot to true superstardom during this era. She made a number of high-profile TV appearances, including a famously unfiltered interview with Barbara Walters. On Valentine’s Day 1979, Parton and Carol Burnett starred in a TV special to promote Parton’s new album, “Heartbreaker.”

1980s Through the 2000s

Parton kicked off this era with a bang by starring in her first feature film, “9 to 5,” in 1980. In this workplace comedy – which many modern critics consider to be years ahead of its time – she proved she could hold her own on the big screen alongside co-stars Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. She also received her first Oscar nomination and a couple of Grammys for the movie’s theme song, which she wrote and recorded. Parton would go on to star in a number of other movies throughout the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, some more successful than others. In 1986, she bought a stake in a small eastern Tennessee amusement park called Silver Dollar City, which was then renamed to Dollywood. In addition to the park, the Dollywood Company now oversees a water park, multiple resorts and spas, and dinner theaters. In 1999, Parton expanded her musical repertoire to include bluegrass with the album “The Grass Is Blue,” which, of course, won a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album. She followed it up with “Little Sparrow” in 2001 and “Halos & Horns” in 2002. Around the age that many Americans start thinking about retirement, Parton started her own record label, Dolly Records. She earned her first Tony nomination in 2009 for the score of “9 to 5: The Musical,” which premiered on Broadway the same year.

Philanthropy

In recent years, Dolly Parton has become just as beloved for her incredible generosity as she is for her unmatched talent and tenacity. She has given a staggering amount of money to charitable causes, including hundreds of thousands of dollars to hospitals and medical research, the American Red Cross, and HIV/AIDS research. Though she typically avoids talking politics, she’s been an open advocate for LGBTQ rights and a beloved friend of the queer community for decades. Following the Great Smoky Mountains wildfires in 2016, her Dollywood Foundation donated over $12.5 million to families affected by the disaster. In 2020, she gave a million dollars to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, which helped fund the development of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. She even reimagined her classic hit “Jolene” to celebrate getting her first dose and to encourage others to do the same. Perhaps her most well-known philanthropic endeavor is her literacy project, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Founded in 1995 to honor her father, who was illiterate, the program sends a free book every month to children up to age five. It’s now working in five countries and has donated over two hundred million books to children in need. For this work to promote literacy, she’s received many awards, including an honorary doctorate from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Today

No matter her age, Dolly Parton shows no signs of slowing down. She continues to write, sing, record albums, and appear on TV, not to mention manage her many business ventures. She’s published multiple books, including a thriller that she co-wrote with James Patterson called “Run, Rose, Run,” released in 2022. She even recorded a brand-new album to accompany it. In November 2022, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an honor that many considered to be long overdue. The following year, she released her first rock album, “Rockstar.” The record features new songs, covers of classic rock songs, and team-ups with a host of music legends, including Elton John, Joan Jett, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and Pat Benatar. The same year, she released two more books and an Apple podcast series. She also gave an extremely memorable performance at the halftime show of the Washington-Dallas Thanksgiving Day game – dressed as a Cowboys cheerleader. And she’s still testing out new business opportunities, such as expanding the Dollywood Company and releasing her own line of cookware and home goods. Although she’s no longer touring, she has said that she never plans to retire – and those words are music to every Dolly fan’s ears.

Which part of Dolly Parton’s story inspires you the most? Let us know in the comments below.