Dolly Parton, a country, pop, and rock legend, is continuing to build her fame with every new step she takes. As of 1998, Parton is ranked the richest country singer of all time with a net worth of roughly $675 million. She continues to grow her franchise through new albums, a line of Lodge cast iron cookware, and her theme park, Dollywood. Even as she grows older, Parton’s faith, fame, and love for others is not diminishing.
Young life and family
77-year-old Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on January 19th, 1946 in Locust Ridge, Tennessee. She grew up around rural Appalachia and attended Catons Chapel Elementary school, Martin Middle School, and graduated from Sevier County High School in 1964. Her parents are Avie Lee Parton and Robert Lee Parton. Her father worked in the eastern part of the Tennessee mountains, beginning as a sharecropper and later tending to his tobacco farm. Parton grew up with 11 siblings, 6 of which were boys and the other 5 girls. Her siblings are as follows, from oldest to youngest, including Dolly Parton herself, their names were Willadeene, David, Coy, Dolly, Robert, Stella, Cassie, Randy, Larry, Floyd, and Freida who are fraternal twins, and Rachel. Her younger brother Larry, the 9th child of the Partons, unfortunately, died on July 6, 1955, the same day he was born.
Early Career
Parton says that music has always been her passion, starting at a young age. She grew up performing in church and had a musically gifted mother who played guitar when Dolly was growing up. At age 10, she began a professional music career, and at 13, she made her Grand Ole Opry debut at only 13 years old. Due to her love for music, she set off for a career in Nashville quickly following her high school graduation in 1964. Shortly after, in 1971, she released her first hit song known as “Joshua.” After this song skyrocketed, she continued releasing music such as songs “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You.” Since then, Dolly’s fame and success has continued to grow with each passing day.
New Album Release
On November 5, 2022, Parton was inducted into the Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame, but she originally declined. She believed that she was undeserving of such an honor, but she eventually accepted after the insistence of her many fans. Approximately 1 year later, on November 17, 2023, she released a new album called Rockstar in order to not only convince others, but convince herself that she deserved her induction. This has become one of Parton’s most successful albums, being ranked number 1 on the Billboard charts 6 times during its debut week.
Imagination Library
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to developing the minds of children across the world. In this program, all registered children, from birth to age 5, receive one free book every month of the year. These books are chosen based on age appropriateness and are intriguing to children’s young minds. “You can never get enough books into the hands of enough children,” Dolly says (Imagination Library). Currently, the Imagination Library website shows having approximately 3,121,384 registered children and having gifted roughly 251,386,641 books.
DollyWood
Dolly Parton’s theme park, Dollywood, is located in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and stretches across 125 acres. It has now been established as DollyWood since 1986, beginning with its first ever roller coaster, Blazing Fury. Featuring 10 roller coasters, many attractions and stores, and a museum dedicated to Dolly’s life and history, this park is an ideal retreat for people of all ages. According to an article on Chron, DollyWood receives roughly 3 million visitors annually and is one of the most highly ranked theme parks in the world. Men’s Journal says that it even surpassed Disney theme parks as TripAdvisor’s United States’ No.1 Amusement/Waterpark of 2024. Dolly herself makes multiple surprise visits to her park per year, yet it is undetermined when she will make each appearance.
Parton is now continuing her career through many different avenues and is living her life to the fullest. She and her late husband, Carl Thomas Dean, would have been married for 58 years as of May 30, 2024. Although Dolly and her husband never had any children, she has a goddaughter who is a famous popstar, Miley Cyrus. “Dolly Parton’s my godmother,” Cyrus said. “She’s taught me a lot about how you treat people. She always says ‘hi’ to the person on the bottom of the call sheet. I love that” (Adekaiyero). Dolly Parton, no matter her age, continues to influence and impact all the people around her. Her millions of fans and loving family admire her faith and determination and will forever look up to the person she has grown to be.
Sources:
Adekaiyero, Ayomikun, “Everything Miley Cyrus and her godmother Dolly Parton have said about each other,” Business Insider, Feb 16, 2023
“Dollywood Surpasses Disney in Attraction Rankings,” Men’s Journal, July 19, 2024
Caramanna, Carly, “Is Dollywood becoming the next Disneyland? It sure looks that way,” Chron, April 12, 2023
McEvoy, Colin, “Dolly Parton,” Biography, November 17, 2023.
