Dolly Parton, the irrepressible singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur, has died. She was 80. A representative announced that she died peacefully in Nashville. Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on Jan. 19, 1946, in the Smoky Mountains town of Pittman Center, Tennessee. She was the fourth of 12 children born to Avie Lee Owens and Robert Lee Parton, a sharecropper, tobacco farmer and occasional construction worker. By age 7, Parton had taught herself to play a homemade guitar. Parton soon had a performing career, singing on local radio and TV shows. After a couple of recordings for small labels, she landed an appearance at the Grand Ole Opry when she was 13. She started a several-year collaboration with country star Porter Wagoner, dueting with him on his television show. Her list of accomplishments were unmatched. This list is just a few of them:
– 25 number-one hits on the Billboard country music charts.
– Solo hits “9 to 5”, “Here You Come Again”, “Jolene”, “I Will Always Love You”, “Coat of Many Colors”
– Recorded several beautiful “Trio” albums with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris.
– Starred on movies “9 to 5”, “Steel Magnolias”, “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”
– Created Dollywood, and promoted it into one of the world’s top amusement destinations.
– Just opened the first of a projected chain of Dolly’s Tennessean Travel Stop, a highway travel stop and gas station
– Started the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in 1995 to honor her father, who could not read or write. The library mails one free book every month to children from birth to age five.
– Founded the Dollywood Foundation in 1988 to decrease high school dropout rates in Sevier County, Tennessee.
– Created the Buddy Program, which offered $500 to local students who graduated, dropping the dropout rate from 35% to 6%.
– Provided full tuition coverage for Dollywood employees pursuing higher education.
– Gave $1 million to Vanderbilt for pediatric infectious disease research and supported local hospital expansions.
– Established the My People Fund in 2016 to give $1,000 monthly to families who lost homes in East Tennessee wildfires.
– Currently developing a Broadway show based on her music.
– If you have another hour, we could go on.
Dolly’s husband of nearly 58 years, businessman Carl Dean, died at age 82 last year, on March 3, 2025.
