Dolly Parton

Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman, known primarily for her decades-long career in country music. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album debut in 1967 with Hello, I'm Dolly, which led to success during the remainder of the 1960s (both as a solo artist and with a series of duet albums with Porter Wagoner), before her sales and chart peak came during the 1970s and continued into the 1980s. Parton's albums in the 1990s did not sell as well, but she achieved commercial success again in the new millennium and has released albums on various independent labels since 2000, including her own label, Dolly Records.

With a career spanning over fifty years, Parton has been described as a "country music legend" and has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling female artists of all time. Parton's music includes Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)-certified gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards. She has had 25 singles reach no. 1 on the Billboard country music charts, a record for a female artist (tied with Reba McEntire). She has 44 career Top 10 country albums, a record for any artist, and she has 110 career-charted singles over the past 40 years. She has composed over 3,000 songs, including "I Will Always Love You" (a two-time U.S. country chart-topper, and an international pop hit for Whitney Houston), "Jolene", "Coat of Many Colors", and "9 to 5". As an actress, she has starred in films including 9 to 5 (1980) and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), for which she earned Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress, and Rhinestone (1984), Steel Magnolias (1989), Straight Talk (1992) and Joyful Noise (2012).

She has received 11 Grammy Awards out of 50 nominations, including the Lifetime Achievement Award; ten Country Music Association Awards, including Entertainer of the Year and is one of only seven female artists to win the Country Music Association's Entertainer of the Year Award; five Academy of Country Music Awards, also including Entertainer of the Year; four People's Choice Awards; and three American Music Awards. She is also in a select group to have received at least one nomination from the Academy Awards, Grammy Awards, Tony Awards, and Emmy Awards. In 1999, Parton was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2005, she received the National Medal of Arts and in 2022, she was nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a nomination she had initially declined but ultimately accepted, and was subsequently inducted.

Outside of her work in the music industry, she also co-owns The Dollywood Company, which manages a number of entertainment venues including the Dollywood theme park, the Splash Country water park, and a number of dinner theatre venues such as The Dolly Parton Stampede and Pirates Voyage. She has founded a number of charitable and philanthropic organizations, chief among them is the Dollywood Foundation, which manages a number of projects to bring education and poverty relief to East Tennessee where she grew up.

In 2023, her cover of “Let It Be” featued Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, marking the first time in history that two Beatles are listed as separate artists on the same charting song. The song is credited to “Dolly Parton, featuring Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr” (Peter Frampton and Mick Fleetwood also contributed to the track, but aren’t listed as featured artists). Thus, Parton’s “Let It Be” marks the first time that Starr and McCartney — or any former Beatles, for that matter — are listed as separate artists on the same charting song.

Studio albums

 * Hello, I'm Dolly (1967)
 * Just Between You and Me (with Porter Wagoner) (1968)
 * Just Because I'm a Woman (1968)
 * Just the Two of Us (with Porter Wagoner) (1968)
 * In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad) (1969)
 * Always, Always (with Porter Wagoner) (1969)
 * My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy (1969)
 * The Fairest of Them All (1970)
 * Porter Wayne and Dolly Rebecca (with Porter Wagoner) (1970)
 * Once More (with Porter Wagoner) (1970)
 * Two of a Kind (with Porter Wagoner) (1971)
 * The Golden Streets of Glory (1971)
 * Joshua (1971)
 * Coat of Many Colors (1971)
 * The Right Combination • Burning the Midnight Oil (with Porter Wagoner) (1972)
 * Touch Your Woman (1972)
 * Together Always (with Porter Wagoner) (1972)
 * My Favorite Songwriter, Porter Wagoner (1972)
 * We Found It (with Porter Wagoner) (1973)
 * My Tennessee Mountain Home (1973)
 * Love and Music (with Porter Wagoner) (1973)
 * Bubbling Over (1973)
 * Jolene (1974)
 * Porter 'n' Dolly (with Porter Wagoner) (1974)
 * Love Is Like a Butterfly (1974)
 * The Bargain Store (1975)
 * Say Forever You'll Be Mine (with Porter Wagoner) (1975)
 * Dolly (1975)
 * All I Can Do (1976)
 * New Harvest...First Gathering (1977)
 * Here You Come Again (1977)
 * Heartbreaker (1978)
 * Great Balls of Fire (1979)
 * Dolly, Dolly, Dolly (1980)
 * Porter & Dolly (with Porter Wagoner) (1980)
 * 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs (1980)
 * Heartbreak Express (1982)
 * Burlap & Satin (1983)
 * The Great Pretender (1984)
 * Once Upon a Christmas (with Kenny Rogers) (1984)
 * Real Love (1985)
 * Trio (with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt) (1987)
 * Rainbow (1987)
 * White Limozeen (1989)
 * Home for Christmas (1990)
 * Eagle When She Flies (1991)
 * Slow Dancing with the Moon (1993)
 * Honky Tonk Angels (with Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette) (1993)
 * Something Special (1995)
 * Treasures (1996)
 * Hungry Again (1998)
 * Trio II (with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt) (1999)
 * Precious Memories (1999)
 * The Grass Is Blue (1999)
 * Little Sparrow (2001)
 * Halos & Horns (2002)
 * For God and Country (2003)
 * Those Were the Days (2005)
 * Backwoods Barbie (2008)
 * Better Day (2011)
 * Blue Smoke (2014)
 * Pure & Simple (2016)
 * I Believe in You (2017)
 * A Holly Dolly Christmas (2020)
 * Run, Rose, Run (2022)
 * Rockstar (2023)