Dolly’s mother told her “you are only poor if you choose to be”, however, a line she used in her autobiographical Coat of Many Colors, one of a brace of songs about her childhood. Show Her mother sang folk songs and there were musical instruments lying around at home so Dolly began writing music and singing. Her Uncle Bill decided that if Parton was serious about music, she’d need to learn guitar. “He was like a kindred spirit. He saw that I had potential,” Dolly wrote in her 2020 book Songteller: My Life in Lyrics. Like many in the rural South, Dolly started her music career in the church, but before long, she appeared on the local radio and began to record on a small label. Through recording and performances, she met other musicians who were further along in their careers. The Great Johnny Cash“I was about 13 when I first met Johnny Cash and that’s when Johnny was all strung out on drugs and everything, but he was so magnetic, so sexy. He was my first male grown-up crush, he just really moved me,” Dolly told The Big Issue in 2020. Soon afterward, she met her husband Carl outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat. She was 18. He was 21. They married in 1966 and are still together, although Carl shuns the spotlight. Dolly’s recording career during the 1960s was slow to take off but in February 1971 she had her first No 1 hit, Joshua. Between 1971 and 1974 she released some of her most famous songs: Coat of Many Colors, My Tennessee Mountain Home, Jolene, and I Will Always Love You, to name a few. Hits continued through the 80s, and, in truth, she’s never been far from the charts since 1971. Dolly the businesswomanWith Dolly’s great success, has come great wealth. Forbes estimates her back catalog is worth about $150m and brings in $6m to $8m a year. In 1986, she started investing in amusement parks, partnering with Herschend Family Entertainment to develop their Tennessee park into Dollywood. Dolly Parton's company will pay 100% tuition for employees to attend collegeHerschend employs 11,000 full-time, part-time, and seasonal workers - all of whom are now eligible for Dolly’s new education plan called ‘Grow U’. In 2022, the country singer’s company said it would pay for employees who want to pursue a college degree and cover 100% of their tuition, books, and other fees. Books, not looksIn 1988, she set up the Dollywood Foundation, initially an education foundation to decrease the high school dropout rates in Tennessee. In 1995 the foundation set up Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a book-gifting program that now distributes 1m books a month to children worldwide. “When I was growing up in the hills of East Tennessee, I knew my dreams would come true,” she said on the library’s website. Dolly’s goal now is to inspire others to overcome their obstacles and give back the way she has. What makes Dolly Parton so special?For all of her amazing feats and accomplishments outside the industry, Parton is first and foremost a musician of exceptional caliber. She's composed more than 5,000 songs (including one you can't hear until 2045), received nearly 200 industry awards and sold more than 100 million records around the world.
What are Dolly Parton's biggest accomplishments?Parton's superstardom, and the various genres in which she has excelled, are attested to by her many awards--more than two dozen albums gone gold, platinum or double platinum, an Academy Award nomination, Emmy and Golden Globe award nominations, countless Grammy nominations, and eight Grammy Awards, as well as dozens ...
What song is Dolly Parton most famous for?Jolene. Dolly's most famous song is also her best. The song tells the tale of a woman confronting Jolene, a beautiful woman, who she believes is trying to steal away her lover/husband.
How did Dolly Parton change the world?She's enriched the lives of millions of children through books. Dolly launched her Imagination Library in 1995, to distribute free, high-quality books to children in her hometown of Sevier County, Tennessee, from birth until they reached school age – regardless of their family's income.
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