Dolly Parton – The Queen of Country

Dolly Rebecca Parton was born January 19, 1946, as the fourth of twelve children born to Avie Lee Caroline and Robert Lee Parton Sr. She has described her family as being "dirt poor." They lived in a rustic, one-room cabin in Locust Ridge, just north of the Greenbrier Valley of the Great Smoky Mountains. Music played an important role in her early life. She was brought up in the Church of God and began her earliest performances there when she was six years old. She received her first real guitar when she was eight years old. At 13, she was recording on a small Louisiana label, Goldband Records, and appeared at the Grand Ole Opry, where she first met Johnny Cash.

The day after she graduated from high school in 1964, she moved to Nashville. Her initial success came as a songwriter, her songs were recorded by many other artists during this period, including Kitty Wells and Hank Williams Jr. Although her first singing musical break came as a duo with Porter Wagoner and launched a six-year streak of virtually uninterrupted top-10 singles for the pair, her first commercially successful song came from “Mule Skinner Blues.” It was used as a gimmick to attract attention because of the yodeling like quality of the song, a sound that Parton pulled off effortlessly. It was followed by her 1st number one "Joshua," and then by an array of successful solo hits and duet hits with Wagoner.



Her biggest hit of the time and my favorite Dolly song was “Jolene.” Parton’s most covered song topped the country chart in February 1974 and charted in the UK, reaching number seven, in 1976 – it was her first UK success. Parton wrote “I Will Always Love You” about her professional break from Wagoner; it went to number one on the country chart.

Parton made a transition over to pop music at the height of her country music success, she created Here You Come Again – her first million-seller. For the majority of the 1970s and into the early 1980s, many of her singles moved up on both pop and country charts simultaneously. The theme song to the 1980 feature film 9 to 5, in which she starred along with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, "9 to 5," not only reached number one on the country chart, but also, in February 1981, reached number one on the pop and the adult-contemporary charts, giving her a triple number-one hit.

Parton is one of the most-honored female country performers of all time. The RIAA has certified 25 of her single or album releases as either Gold Record, Platinum Record, or Multi-Platinum Record. She has had 26 songs reach No. 1 on the Billboard country charts. Parton has earned nine Grammy Awards – including her 2011 Lifetime Achievement Grammy. She is one of only six female artists, to win the Country Music Association's highest honor, Entertainer of the Year. And in 1999, Parton received country music's highest honor, an induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Since the mid-1980s, Parton has supported many charitable efforts, particularly in literacy, primarily through her Dollywood Foundation. Her literacy program, Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, a part of the Dollywood Foundation, mails one book per month to each enrolled child from the time of their birth until they enter kindergarten. In 2018, Parton was honored by the Library of Congress because of the "charity sending out its 100 millionth book.

Without Dolly Parton, Whitney Houston would’ve never belted out that amazing ballad. She has 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. She remembered her childhood of being “dirt poor” and tried to do what she could to make the world a better place. Actress, singer, songwriter, and philanthropist, Dolly Parton deserves her recognition this Women’s History Month.