Dolly Parton

Dolly Rebecca Parton was an American singer, songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman.

After achieving success as a songwriter for other artists, Parton's debut album, Hello, I'm Dolly, was released in 1967, commencing a career spanning 60 years and 50 studio albums. Referred to as the "Queen of Country", Parton was one of the most-honored female country performers in history and received various accolades, including 11 Grammy Awards and three Emmy Awards, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards including a humanitarian honorary Oscar win in 2025, six Golden Globe Awards, and a Tony Award.

Parton sold more than 100 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists ever. Her music includes Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)-certified gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards. She had 25 singles reach No. 1 on the Billboard country music charts, a record for a female artist (tied with Reba McEntire). She had 44 career Top 10 country albums, a record for any artist and she had 110 career-charted singles over the past 40 years. Her 49th and final solo studio album, Rockstar (2023), became her highest-charting Billboard 200 album, peaking at number three. Parton composed over 3,000 songs, including "I Will Always Love You" (a two-time U.S. country chart-topper and an international hit for Whitney Houston), "Jolene", "Coat of Many Colors" and "9 to 5". As an actress, she starred in the films 9 to 5 (1980) and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), for each of which she earned Best Actress Golden Globe nominations, as well as Rhinestone (1984), Steel Magnolias (1989), Straight Talk (1992), and Joyful Noise (2012).

Early life

Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on January 19, 1946, in a one-room cabin on the banks of the Little Pigeon River in Pittman Center, Tennessee. She was the fourth of twelve children born to Avie Lee Caroline (née Owens; 1923–2003) and Robert Lee Parton Sr. (1921–2000). Her siblings are Willadeene (born 1940), David Wilburn (1942–2024), Coy Denver (1943–2026), Robert Lee "Bobby" (born 1948), Stella Mae (born 1949), Cassie Nan (born 1951), Randle Huston "Randy" (1953–2021), Larry Gerald (1955–1955), twins Frieda Estelle (born 1957) and Floyd Estel (1957–2018), and Rachel Ann (born 1959). Parton's middle name comes from her maternal great-great-grandmother Rebecca (née Dunn) Whitted.

Parton's father, known as "Lee", worked in the mountains of East Tennessee, first as a sharecropper and later tending his own small tobacco farm and acreage. He also worked construction jobs to supplement the farm's small income. Despite her father's illiteracy, Parton often commented that he was one of the smartest people she had ever known with regard to business and making a profit.

Parton's mother cared for their large family. Her eleven pregnancies (the tenth being twins) in twenty years made her a mother of twelve by age thirty-five. Parton attributes her musical abilities to the influence of her mother; often in poor health, she still managed to keep house and entertain her children with Smoky Mountain folklore and ancient ballads. Having Welsh ancestors, Avie Lee knew many old ballads that immigrants from the British Isles brought to southern Appalachia in the 18th and 19th century. Avie Lee's father, Jake Owens, was a Pentecostal preacher and Parton and her siblings all attended church regularly.

Parton long credited her father for her business savvy and her mother's family for her musical abilities. When Parton was a young girl, her family moved from the Pittman Center area to a two-room cabin and farm on nearby Locust Ridge. Most of her cherished memories of youth happened there. A replica of the Locust Ridge cabin is displayed at Parton's namesake theme park Dollywood. The farm acreage and surrounding woodland inspired her to write the song "My Tennessee Mountain Home" in the 1970s. Years after the farm was sold, Parton bought it back in the late 1980s. Her brother Bobby helped with building restoration and new construction. Parton said her family was "dirt poor". Parton's father paid missionary Dr. Robert F. Thomas with a sack of cornmeal for delivering her. Later in life, Parton wrote a song about Dr. Thomas. She also outlined her family's poverty in her early songs "Coat of Many Colors" and "In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad)".

Parton and her family lived in their one-bedroom cabin on their small subsistence farm on Locust Ridge. It was in a predominantly Pentecostal area located 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 (Cleveland, Tennessee), in a congregation her grandfather, Jake Robert Owens, pastored. Her earliest public performances were in the church, beginning at age six. At seven, she started playing a homemade guitar. When she was eight, her uncle bought Dolly her first real guitar The Parton family was well-fed despite their poverty, and her 2024 cookbook, Good Lookin' Cookin' (co-written with her sister Rachel), recalls numerous family meals. After graduating from Sevier County High School in Sevierville, Tennessee in 1964, Parton moved to Nashville the next day.

2022–2026: Rockstar and Las Vegas residency

In 2021, a duet version of the song "Does He Love You" with singer Reba McEntire was released. In early 2022, Parton was nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Parton initially declined the nomination believing that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was "for the people in rock music", but after learning that this was not the case, Parton said she would accept her induction if she were chosen for the honor. In May, her induction was announced and finally on November 5, 2022, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In October 2022, Parton stated in an interview that she would no longer tour, but would continue to play live shows occasionally. On December 31, 2022, Parton co-hosted NBC's New Year's special Miley's New Year's Eve Party.

On January 17, 2023, Parton announced she would release her first rock album, titled Rockstar, later that year, during an interview on The View. The lead single "World on Fire" was released on May 11, 2023, and it went on to peak at number one a week later. The album was released on November 17, 2023, and features collaborations with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Sting, Elton John, Sheryl Crow, Miley Cyrus and Lizzo, amongst others. The album received generally positive reviews from critics and debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, becoming Parton's highest-charting solo studio album as well as topping the Country and Rock Albums charts.

The soundtrack single "Gonna Be You" from the movie 80 for Brady was released January 20, 2023. The song was written by Diane Warren and performed by Dolly Parton, Belinda Carlisle, Cyndi Lauper, Debbie Harry and Gloria Estefan. The official music video shows Parton, Carlisle, Lauper and Estefan performing while wearing football jerseys similar to the ones worn by the women in the film, interspersed with clips from the film. On February 14, 2025, Parton featured on Sabrina Carpenter's song "Please Please Please" on the deluxe edition of her album Short n' Sweet and its accompanying music video.

On March 7, 2025, Parton released the single "If You Hadn't Been There", as a tribute to her husband, who had died a week before. In the United Kingdom, the single peaked at number twenty-one on the sales and downloads chart components. On June 23, 2025, it was announced that Parton would be embarking on a six-date Las Vegas residency, Dolly: Live in Las Vegas, at Caesars Palace. The run was set for December 2025, but Parton postponed her residency until September 2026 due to health procedures she would be undergoing. In May 2026, she canceled the residency altogether due to the treatment.

On January 16, 2026, in anticipation of her 80th birthday, Dolly Parton released a new live version of the song "Light of a Clear Blue Morning" featuring several celebrity guests: Queen Latifah, Lainey Wilson, Miley Cyrus, Reba McEntire, David Foster. On March 13, 2026, Parton made her first major appearance since the health scare to give the keynote address at Dollywood during the 41st anniversary celebration.

Spouse - Carl Dean ​(m. 1966; died 2025)​

Relatives: 

• Bill Owens (maternal uncle)
• Randy Parton (brother)
• Stella Parton (sister)
• Rachel Parton George (sister)

Public image

The way I look and the way I looked then was a country girl's idea of glam, just like I wrote in my "Backwoods Barbie" song. People wanted me to change, they thought I looked cheap. But I patterned my look after the town tramp. Everybody said, "She's trash." And in my little girl mind, I thought, "Well, that's what I'm going to be when I grow up." It was really like a look I was after. I wasn't a natural beauty. So, I just like to look the way I look. I'm so outgoing inside in my personality, that I need the way I look to match all of that.

— Dolly Parton, 2022

Parton had turned down several offers to pose nude for Playboy magazine, but did appear on the cover of the October 1978 issue wearing a Playboy bunny outfit, complete with ears. The issue featured Lawrence Grobel's extensive and candid interview with Parton, representing one of her earliest high-profile interviews with the mainstream press. The association of breasts with Parton's public image is illustrated in the naming of Dolly the sheep after her, since the sheep was cloned from a cell taken from an adult ewe's mammary gland. In Mobile, Alabama, the General W.K. Wilson Jr. Bridge is commonly called "the Dolly Parton Bridge" due to its arches resembling her bust. The thickened appearance of the turret frontal armor of the T-72 A main battle tank led to the unofficial Army nickname "Dolly Parton" and later the T-72 BIs got the "Super Dolly Parton" nickname.

Parton was known for having undergone considerable plastic surgery. 

On a 2003 episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, Winfrey asked what kind of cosmetic surgery Parton had undergone. Parton replied that cosmetic surgery was imperative in keeping with her famous image. Parton repeatedly joked about her physical image and surgeries, saying, "It takes a lot of money to look this cheap." Her breasts have garnered her mentions in several songs, including "Dolly Parton's Hits" by Bobby Braddock, "Marty Feldman Eyes" by Bruce Baum (a parody of "Bette Davis Eyes"), "No Show Jones" by George Jones and Merle Haggard and "Make Me Proud" by Drake, featuring Nicki Minaj. When asked about future plastic surgeries, she famously said, "If I see something sagging, bagging or dragging, I'll get it nipped, tucked or sucked." Parton's feminine escapism is acknowledged in her words, "Womanhood was a difficult thing to get a grip on in those hills, unless you were a man." Parton said in 2012 that she had entered a Dolly Parton drag queen lookalike contest and lost.

Personal life

Faith

Parton talked about her liberal approach to faith in the January 2024 issue of New Humanist magazine. "I wouldn't even say I'm religious, though I grew up with that background. But I have a lot of faith in myself and I've been so blessed to have been around great people my whole life, my Uncle Bill and my family being supportive and all the people I met along the way."

Carl Dean

Parton arrived in Nashville on a Saturday morning, the day after graduating from Sevier County High School. After starting her laundry inside the Wishy Washy Laundromat, she got a cold drink and stepped outside. Carl Thomas Dean (July 20, 1942 – March 3, 2025), a Nashville native, pulled up along the sidewalk where she was standing. He mentioned she might get sunburned because of the style of shirt she was wearing. They began talking.Two years later, they were married in Ringgold, Georgia, on May 30, 1966. Although Parton did not use Dean's surname professionally, she said that her passport read "Dolly Parton Dean" and she sometimes used Dean when signing contracts.

Dean, who ran an asphalt road and driveway-paving business in Nashville for decades, always shunned publicity and rarely accompanied his wife to public events. According to Parton, he only saw her perform once. However, she would also state in interviews that even though it appeared they spent little time together, it was because nobody saw him publicly. Dean would often visit Dollywood by himself and tour the park unrecognized.

Parton commented on Dean's romantic side, saying that he did spontaneous things to surprise her and sometimes even wrote poems for her. In 2011, she said, "We're really very proud of our marriage. It's the first for both of us. And the last." On May 6, 2016, Parton announced that she and Dean would renew their vows in honor of their 50th wedding anniversary later in the month.

Dean and Parton moved into their long-term home on 75 acres in Brentwood, Tennessee, in 1972. However, they retained ownership of their prior home in Antioch, Tennessee, for several years. Since the 2010s, many clickbait articles and videos claim Dean and Parton purchased their home in Brentwood in 1999. This is not correct. Parton's uncle, Dot Watson, and Dean constructed the home in 1970 and 1971. Parton's brothers Denver and Randy also worked on the structure. Several years later, they added a guesthouse to the property Dean and Parton lived at their home together for over 52 years until Dean's death.

While Parton and Dean never had children, they helped raise several of her younger siblings in Nashville, leading her nieces and nephews (and great nieces and nephews as well) to refer to them as "Uncle Peepaw" and "Aunt Granny"; the latter moniker later lent its name to one of Parton's Dollywood restaurants. Parton was also the godmother of singer-songwriter and actress Miley Cyrus.

On March 3, 2025, Parton announced on her social media that Dean had died in Nashville at the age of 82. In July 2025, she announced that she was putting her music career on hold.

Death

Parton died in Nashville, Tennessee on August 25, 2026, at age 80. Her death was announced by her nephew. A cause of death was not given.

Philanthropy

Since the mid-1980s, Parton supported many charitable efforts, particularly in the area of literacy, primarily through her Dollywood Foundation. Her literacy program, Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, which is a part of the Dollywood Foundation, was founded in honor of her father, who never learned to read or write. It mails one book per month to each enrolled child from the time of their birth until they enter kindergarten. Over 1600 local communities provide the Imagination Library to almost 850,000 children each month across the U.S., Canada, the UK, Australia and the Republic of Ireland. In February 2018, she donated her 100 millionth free book, a copy of Parton's children's picture book Coat of Many Colors, to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. and was honored by the Library on account of the "charity sending out its 100 millionth book".

In February 2025, Indiana governor Mike Braun declined to continue a state 50% match for Parton's Imagination Library. Dollywood Foundation President Jeff Conyers said, "We are hopeful that Governor Braun and the Indiana Legislature will continue this vital investment by restoring the state's funding match for local Imagination Library programs." Braun would soon afterwards task his wife Maureen with finding ways to keep the Imagination Library's Indiana chapter alive.

For her work in literacy, Parton received awards including the Association of American Publishers Honors Award (2000), Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval (2001) (the first time the seal had been awarded to a person), American Association of School Administrators – Galaxy Award (2002), National State Teachers of the Year – Chasing Rainbows Award (2002) and Parents as Teachers National Center – Child and Family Advocacy Award (2003).

On May 8, 2009, Parton gave the commencement speech at the graduation ceremony for the University of Tennessee, Knoxville's College of Arts and Sciences. During the ceremony, she received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the university. It was only the second honorary degree given by the university and in presenting the degree, the university's Chancellor, Jimmy Cheek, said, "Because of her career not just as a musician and entertainer, but for her role as a cultural ambassador, philanthropist and lifelong advocate for education, it is fitting that she be honored with an honorary degree from the flagship educational institution of her home state."

In 2006, Parton published a cookbook, Dolly's Dixie Fixin's: Love, Laughter and Lots of Good Food.

The Dollywood Foundation, funded from Parton's profits, has brought jobs and tax revenues to a previously depressed region. Parton also worked to raise money for other causes, including the American Red Cross and HIV/AIDS-related charities.

In December 2006, Parton pledged $500,000 toward a proposed $90 million hospital and cancer center to be constructed in Sevierville in the name of Robert F. Thomas, the physician who delivered her. She announced a benefit concert to raise additional funds for the project. The concert played to about 8,000 people. That same year, Parton and Emmylou Harris allowed use of their music in a PETA ad campaign that encouraged pet owners to keep their dogs indoors rather than chained outside.

In 2003, her efforts to preserve the bald eagle through the American Eagle Foundation's sanctuary at Dollywood earned her the Partnership Award from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Parton received the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars of the Smithsonian Institution at a ceremony in Nashville on November 8, 2007.

In response to the 2016 Great Smoky Mountains wildfires, Parton was one of the country music artists who participated in a telethon to raise money for victims of the fires. This was held in Nashville on December 9. In addition, Parton hosted her own telethon for the victims on December 13 and reportedly raised around $9 million. Her fund, the "My People Fund", provided $1,000 a month for six months to over 900 families affected by the wildfires, culminating with $5,000 to each home in the final month due to increased fundraising, totaling $10,000 per family. In 2018, the FBI honored Parton for her wildfire aid, awarding her the 2018 Director's Community Leadership Award at a ceremony at FBI Headquarters. The honor was bestowed by Director Christopher Wray and was accepted on Parton's behalf by David Dotson, the CEO of the Dollywood Foundation.

The impact of the fund's financial relief for the 2016 wildfire victims was studied by University of Tennessee College of Social Work professor Stacia West, who examined the impact of cash transfers on poverty alleviation. West surveyed 100 recipients of the emergency relief funds in April 2017 on topics including housing, financial impact, physical and emotional health and sources of support, with a follow-up survey conducted in December 2017. West found that the "My People Fund", in tandem with traditional disaster response, gave families the ability to make decisions that were most beneficial to them and concluded that unconditional cash support may be more beneficial for disaster relief than conditional financial support. The report cited the impact of the monthly financial disbursements from the "My People Fund" on residents' emergency savings: "Following the monthly disbursements of unconditional cash assistance, participants were able to return to baseline financial stability reported prior to the wildfire and improve their ability to set aside savings for hypothetical future emergencies."

Parton was a generous donor to Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). Among her gifts was a contribution to the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt Pediatric Cancer Program in honor of a friend, Naji Abumrad and her niece, Hannah Dennison, who was successfully treated for leukemia as a child at the Children's Hospital.

In the aftermath of 2024's Hurricane Helene, Parton announced a donation of $2 million to relief efforts, $1 million personally and another $1 million through her various businesses and the Dollywood Foundation.

Hall of Fame honors

During her career, Parton had gained induction into numerous Halls of Fame. Those honors include:

• Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (1986)[23
• Small Town of America Hall of Fame (1988)
• East Tennessee Hall of Fame (1988)
• Country Music Hall of Fame (1999)
• Songwriters Hall of Fame (2001)
• Junior Achievement of East Tennessee Business Hall of Fame (2003)
• The Americana Highway Hall of Fame (2006)
• Grammy Hall of Fame – "I Will Always Love You – 1974 Recording" (2007)
• Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame – Songwriter Category (2008)
• Gospel Music Hall of Fame (2009)]
• Music City Walk of Fame (2009)
• Country Gospel Music Hall of Fame (2010)
• Grammy Hall of Fame – "Jolene – 1974 Recording" (2014)
• The National Hall of Fame for Mountain Artisans (2014)
• The Happiness Hall of Fame (2016)
• East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame (2019)
• Nashville Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame (2019) 
• Grammy Hall of Fame – "Coat of Many Colors – 1971 Recording" (2019)
• Grammy Hall of Fame - "Trio w/ Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris (Album)" (2021)
• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2022)
• International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions Hall of Fame (2025)
• Licensing International Hall of Fame (2025)
• Volunteer State Music Hall of Fame (2025)
• Musicians Hall of Fame (2026)

Hall of Fame honors

During her career, Parton had gained induction into numerous Halls of Fame. Those honors include:

• Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (1986)
• Small Town of America Hall of Fame (1988)
• East Tennessee Hall of Fame (1988)
• Country Music Hall of Fame (1999)
• Songwriters Hall of Fame (2001)
• Junior Achievement of East Tennessee Business Hall of Fame (2003)
• The Americana Highway Hall of Fame (2006)
• Grammy Hall of Fame – "I Will Always Love You – 1974 Recording" (2007)
• Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame – Songwriter Category (2008)
• Gospel Music Hall of Fame (2009)
• Music City Walk of Fame (2009)
• Country Gospel Music Hall of Fame (2010)
• Grammy Hall of Fame – "Jolene – 1974 Recording" (2014)
• The National Hall of Fame for Mountain Artisans (2014)
• The Happiness Hall of Fame (2016)
• East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame (2019)
• Nashville Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame (2019)
• Grammy Hall of Fame – "Coat of Many Colors – 1971 Recording" (2019)
• Grammy Hall of Fame - "Trio w/ Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris (Album)" (2021)
• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2022)
• International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions Hall of Fame (2025)
• Licensing International Hall of Fame (2025)
• Volunteer State Music Hall of Fame (2025)
• Musicians Hall of Fame (2026)