Dolly Rebecca Parton

Dolly Rebecca Parton was conceived in Pittman Center on January 19, 1946. She was born in Sevierville to Avie Lee Parton (a housewife) and Robert Lee Parton (a tobacco farmer). At the age of 12 she was already on Knoxville TV. At 13 she was already recording on a label of a small size and performing on the Grand Ole Opry. She relocated to Nashville in 1964 to begin her country music career following her graduation from high school. She fell in love with Carl Dean, who ran an asphalt-paving firm. They were married on May 30 in 1966, and remain together. Porter Wagoner hired her in 1967 to appear on his show The Porter Wagoner Show (1961). She was on the show for seven years, her duets were made famous and she sang with the Porter Wagoner group at the Grand Ole Opry. She also sold records and performed on tour. At the point that her hit song "Joshua" hit #1 in 1970, her fame had overshadowed his, and she struck on her own though still recording duets with the singer. In 1974, she walked away from him to be a solo artist. Dolly was an extremely well-known musician and singer. Dolly was awarded numerous Country Music Association awards (1968-1971 1971, 1975-1976, 1975-1976). This petite (5'0") beauty was a natural on television at the time, and by the middle of the 1970s she was frequently appearing on television specials and talk programs before she got her own, Dolly (1976). Dolly got her first Grammy award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 1977 for "Here You Come Again". Dolly's debut in a film was 9 to 5 (1980), where she got an Oscar nomination for the song's title song, and Grammy Awards 2 and 3: Best Country Song, and Best Female Country Vocal Performance for the song "Nine to Five." Her most well-known performances were in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) and Rhinestone (1984) in which she sang "Tennessee Homesick Blues". She is the founder of Dolly Parton Enterprises, a $100 million media empire and in 1986 she founded Dollywood which is a theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, in celebration of her Smoky Mountain upbringing. She was a part of the television show Dolly (1987 TV series) as her character. In 1988 she was awarded another Grammy: Best Country Performance Duo or Group with Vocals, for "Trio".