American country music singer Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on 19th January 1946 in Pittman Centre, Tennessee and is married with no children. She is also a songwriter, actress, musician, philanthropist and businesswoman.
Coming from a large family, Dolly praises her mother for her love for music, who used to sing folklore songs and ballads to her and her 11 siblings to keep them entertained. Dolly’s initial singing performances were in the local church when she was just 6, and a year later she began to play a homemade guitar and eventually a real one gifted by her uncle when she was 8 years old.
Then, Dolly started singing on the radio and in TV programmes and at 13 recorded her first single named ‘Puppy Love’. In 1964, she graduated from high school and moved to Nashville where she gained success by composing songs for other music artists together with her uncle. She did release a few singles herself but just one managed to appear in the music charts.
She showed interest in country music but was discouraged in view of her voice, as she was told it was not suitable for that music genre. However, she persevered and 3 years later, she launched her first album which featured the singles ‘Dumb Blonde’ and ‘Something Fishy’, both making it in the country music charts.
In 1967, she joined entertainer Porter Wagoner on his weekly show and they released several successful duets together. Dolly also released some solo songs but were not credited. Then, in 1971, her career took a positive turn when in the years that followed Dolly became very popular and had a string of hits including ‘Mule Skinner Blues’, ‘Joshua’, ‘Coat of many Colours’ and her major hit ‘Jolene’.
Dolly continued recording duet albums with Wagoner until 1975 and then she was on her own. Meanwhile, she had another big hit ‘I will always love You’ which was covered by singer Whitney Houston and was also a major hit for her.
To date, Dolly recorded over 500 albums, 244 singles and 68 music videos. She received no less than 189 awards, including 4 American Music, 10 Country Music Association and 13 Academy of Country Music amongst many, many other honours. She is considered as one of the best female artists ever, with record sales of more than 100 million copies worldwide.
Dolly also acted in numerous movies and TV programmes and published 8 books. She is also an avid philanthropist and company director.
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