Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton is the most famous and the most popular country music star on the planet. She is believed to have a fortune of approximately £350 million. She has won many awards and in 1997 had a sheep named after her. (“Dolly the sheep” was important because she was the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell. Her birth proved that specialised cells could be used to create an exact copy of the animal they came from).
One of my favourite singles of all time is Dolly Parton’s cover version of Harper Valley P.T.A. It’s one of those rare records that, no matter how often it comes on the radio, it never fails to both entertain and inspire me. The song wasn’t written for Parton and many other singers recorded versions before she got her hands on it. Dolly makes the song her own by singing it with incredible gusto and charm. Her voice is able to switch from expressing vulnerability to expressing confidence and swagger. Dolly makes movies happen. She co-runs a company called, Sandollar and is the unaccredited executive producer of Buffy, Sabrina and the Father of the Bride films.
Dolly can switch from being smart business woman to being a clown to being a serious artiste. The most famous song Dolly ever wrote was, I Will Always Love You which the late Whitney Huston covered in the film, The Bodyguard. She also composed other million sellers such as; 9 to 5, Jolene, Coat of Many Colours, and Love is like a Butterfly. Famous fans have also covered her songs — Sinead O'Connor did Dagger Through The Heart, Tina Turner did They’ll Always Be Music, and Hank Williams Jr sang, I’m in no Condition.
"I started playing guitar when I was seven years old," Parton once revealed. "I wrote some serious songs after that," adding, "I still write the same way and for the same reasons." Speaking of her song writing process, she admitted, "It's a very private thing for me ... I prefer to be alone, but I can write anywhere, and do. I can be right in the middle of a session with music playing back and I'll come up with an idea and go into that little space, that little zone."
Dolly was born into a family that was “dirt poor”. She was the fourth of 12 children born to Avie Lee Caroline (née Owens, 1923 – 2003) and Robert Lee Parton Sr (1921 – 2000). Her father was a subsistence farmer and construction worker, and her mother was a homemaker for their large family. Her 11 pregnancies between 1939 and 1959 made her a mother of 12 by the age of 35. Dolly always seemed to have a cheery disposition. When asked for advice she says, “If you see someone without a smile, give them yours.”
One of her more famous lines is, “It cost a lot of money to look this cheap.” According to legend, she once revealed to Andy Warhol that, “I know I look totally bizarre but I’m totally real inside.” I love Dolly’s inner strength and sincerity. I also love her comic timing and witty Dolly-isms. I will always love Dolly and so should you.
Harry Pye
