COUNTRY QUEEN DOLLY PARTON TURNS 70

The grand dame and queen of country music, Dolly Parton turned 70 on Tuesday.

The country icon was born to a family she has described as ‘dirt poor’ in the small town of Sevierville, Tennessee in 1946. She was the fourth of 12 children and moved to Nashville as a teenager to follow her dream of becoming a country singer.
She rose to become one of country music’s biggest stars, including her own theme park Dollyworld, launching a successful film career, and a successful literacy program that has given away millions of books to children in need. Bright spark: Dolly attended the premiere of Coat Of Many Colors, the NBC TV movie based on her hardscrabble childhood, in Hollywood on December 2

Her hardscrabble childhood was recently made into the NBC TV movie Coat of Many Colors, which was one of the highest rated TV movies in years.

Dolly is married to Carl Thomas Dean, who shuns publicity and largely stays out of the spotlight. They will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in May.

Parton is the most honored female country performer of all time. Achieving 25 RIAA certified gold, platinum, and multi-platinum awards, she has had 25 songs reach No. 1 on the Billboard Country charts, a record for a female artist. She has 41 career top 10 country albums, a record for any artist, and she has 110 career charted singles over the past 40 years. All-inclusive sales of singles, albums, hits collections, and digital downloads during her career have topped 100 million worldwide.

She has garnered eight Grammy Awards, two Academy Award nominations, ten Country Music Association Awards, seven Academy of Country Music Awards, three American Music Awards, and is one of only seven female artists to win the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year Award. Parton has received 46 Grammy nominations, tying her with Bruce Springsteen for the most Grammy nominationsand placing her in tenth place overall.

In 1999, she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. She has composed over 3,000 songs, the best known of which include “I Will Always Love You” (a two-time U.S. country chart-topper for Parton, as well as an international pop hit for Whitney Houston), “Jolene”, “Coat of Many Colors”, “9 to 5”, and “My Tennessee Mountain Home”. Parton is also one of the few to have received at least one nomination from the Academy Awards, Grammy Awards, Tony Awards, and Emmy Awards.

As an actress, she starred in 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Rhinestone, A Smoky Mountain Christmas, Steel Magnolias, Wild Texas Wind, Gnomeo & Juliet, Straight Talk, Unlikely Angel, Blue Valley Songbird, and Joyful Noise