Dolly Parton: From humble cabin to country music queen who championed literacy
Dolly Parton was a huge star whose influence extended far more than the world of country music in which she made her name.
A 10-time Grammy winner, she became one of the biggest-selling US musicians of all time, known for songs such as Jolene and 9 To 5.
After breaking into the music industry in the 1960s, she had hits throughout every subsequent decade, going on to achieve cult-like hero status in more recent years.
Parton was also a successful actress, starring in films including 9 To 5, Steel Magnolias and The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas.
Her 9 To 5 theme song and the track Transamerica’s Travelin’ Thru were both nominated for Academy Awards, while Jolene and I Will Always Love You were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Parton is one of an elite group of individuals to have received at least one nomination from all four major American entertainment award organisations: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony, and while she won the first three, she did not manage to secure a Tony so missed out on becoming an EGOT.
As well as being a huge presence in the entertainment industry, she dedicated a large part of her life to charitable work and in 1988 set up the Dollywood Foundation to support high school students in her home state of Tennessee.
In 1995 she set up a literacy programme, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which gives books to younger children.
Parton expanded the charity to Britain, with more than six million books now mailed out to youngsters in the UK alone.
In May 2025, Parton made it onto Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential philanthropists, and she has also been the recipient of the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
Born on January 19 1946 as the fourth child of 12, Parton grew up in a cabin in Locust Ridge in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.
She spoke of how music played a big role in her family, crediting her uncle Bill Owens, a successful country music songwriter, for helping her get started in the business.
Her debut album Hello, I’m Dolly was released in 1967 and was followed by a run of hits.
By the 1980s she was a huge star and made her movie debut in screwball comedy 9 To 5.
She continued to release music across the decades, and in 2014 attracted the biggest crowd of the festival when she played on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage.
Performing on the Sunday teatime legends slot, many fans dressed up as the diminutive singer, who was known for her rhinestone-encrusted outfits and big blonde mane of hair.
Her most recent solo studio album Rockstar was released in 2023, and included heavyweight British collaborators Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Ringo Starr, Sir Elton John and Sting.
Parton collaborated with Sabrina Carpenter on a duet of the American singer’s hit song Please Please Please in 2025, having requested a lyric be changed to avoid swearing. They starred in a black and white Thelma & Louise-inspired music video together.
She had not toured since her Pure & Simple Tour ended in 2016.
Craig Glenday, editor in chief at Guinness World Records (GWR), described Parton as a “living legend” in August last year, as she was named a GWR icon for holding 11 record-breaking titles.
These include most consecutive decades with top 10 album entries on the Billboard country chart, most studio albums released by a female country singer, and most Grammy nominations for a female country artist.
Parton’s husband of nearly 60 years, Carl Dean, died aged 82 in March last year.
The pair met outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat the day she moved to Nashville when she was 18 and he was 23.
They married on Memorial Day – May 30 1966 – in a small ceremony in Ringgold, Georgia.
Dean avoided the spotlight and inspired her timeless hit Jolene, about a flirty bank teller who seemed to take an interest in him.
She dedicated a new song – If You Hadn’t Been There – to her husband in May last year, and remained busy, but was affected by ill health, and in September 2025 announced the postponement of what would have been her first Vegas residency in more than 30 years.
The country star had been due to perform six shows at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace for Dolly: Live In Las Vegas in December, but rescheduled for September 2026, citing “health challenges”.
Parton was also unable to attend the announcement of a new ride at her Tennessee theme park Dollywood due to health issues in September.
In May this year, she cancelled the previously postponed Las Vegas residency entirely, telling her fans the medication she was on “makes me a lit bit swimmy-headed, as my grandma used to say”.
On Saturday, after she missed the opening night of a new attraction at Dollywood, saying: “It’s not like I haven’t been through hard times with my health.”