MAIN Pop Culture Country Music   Dolly Parton

Smart and vivacious with a big talent to match her buxom figure, Dolly Parton was born Dolly Rebecca Parton on January 19, 1946 in Locust Ridge near Greenbrier, Tennessee.

The fourth of 12 children, Dolly Parton grew up in a one-room cabin in her home state's Great Smoky Mountains from which sprang much of her early inspiration in songwriting and performing.

Today, Parton has become one of the most accomplished women in show business and a Grammy Award winner with 26 No. 1 hits on the country & pop charts to her credit.

She also holds the record for having 42 Top Ten country albums, to date the most of any country music artist. Dolly has also received eight Country Music Association honors between 1968 and 1996, and three years later was into the Country Music Hall Of Fame in 1999.

Along with her musical career, Dolly Parton has turned her talents to Hollywood and TV, is a bestselling author, and a noted philanthropist and business woman. In 1985, she is said to have single-handedly turned around the depressed economic region of Seiver County in Tennessee with the opening of the Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge.

Dolly Goes Hollywood

Earlier in the decade, Parton was cast in her first Hollywood movie role in 9 to 5 (1980) starring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture Actress and an Oscar Award nomination for Best Original Song.

Parton's other films include "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" (1982), "Rhinestone" co-starring Sylvester Stallone, "Steel Magnolias" (1989) and in "Straight Talk" (1992) appearing opposite opposite actor James Woods.

On tour

Following a blockbuster European Tour in 2007, Parton now plans a world tour kicking off the summer of 2008 in Europe. The "Backwoods Barbie Tour" will then travel throughout the U.S., Canada and Australia throughout 2009.

Recent philanthropic work

Dolly published a cookbook in 2006 entitled Dolly's Dixie Fixin's, the proceeds from which help support the Dollywood Foundation.

Dolly Parton quotes

• I wanted to be the first woman to burn her bra, but it would have taken the fire department four days to put it out.
  
  
• I'm not offended by dumb blonde jokes because I know that I'm not dumb. I also know I'm not blonde.
  
  
• If you don't like the road you're walking, start paving another one.
  
  
• Storms make trees take deeper roots.
  
  
• The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.
  
  
• You'd be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap!
  
  
• You'll never do a whole lot unless you're brave enough to try.
  
  
• I'm old enough and cranky enough now that if someone tried to tell me what to do, I'd tell them where to put it.

Dolly Parton - Major fan site with tour dates, news & rumors, picture gallery, plus message boards & downloadable wallpapers with fan club signup.

Dolly Parton On-Line - A Dolly free-for-all community with active fan forum, tour date information, pictures, music videos, bio & career highlights, wallpapers & buddy icons.

Dollymania - Online fan magazine with all the latest news, FAQ, photos, feature stories, fan chat rooms and message boards, related links & resources.

CMT.com: Dolly Parton - Complete biography, career highlights & song lyrics, music videos, photo galleries, fan message boards, related links & resources.