Dolly Rebecca Parton

Dolly Rebecca Parton was conceived in Pittman Center on January 19 1946. She was raised in Sevierville to Avie Lee Parton (a housewife) and Robert Lee Parton (a tobacco farmer). When she was 12 she was already on Knoxville TV. At 13 she was already recording for a small record label and performing at Grand Ole Opry. She relocated to Nashville in 1964 to begin her singing career after graduating from high school. Carl Dean, a asphalt-paving company owner was her first love. They got married on May 30 the 30th of May, 1966. Porter Wagoner hired her in 1967 to sing on his show, The Porter Wagoner Show (1961). She remained on the show for seven years. Her duets gained fame and she sang with the Porter Wagoner group at the Grand Ole Opry. She also sold records and toured. In the year that her hit "Joshua" hit #1 in the year 1970, her popularity had overshadowed his, and she began to go out on her own even though she recorded duets with him. The singer left him to become a solo artist in 1974. Dolly was a popular singer/songwriter. Dolly won many Country Music Association awards (1968 1970, 1970, 1971 1975, and 1976). She was a diminutive (5'0") beauty who was an ideal choice for television. The mid-1970s saw Dolly was frequently appearing on talk-shows and TV specials prior to getting her own show, Dolly (1976). Dolly received her first Grammy award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 1977 for "Here You Come Again". Dolly's movie debut was in 9 to 5 (1980) and she was awarded an Oscar nomination for the song's title track, as well as Grammy awards 2, 3, Best Country Song, and Best Female Country Vocal Performance for the track "Nine to Five." Her most well-known performances were in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982) and Rhinestone (1984) in which she sang "Tennessee Homesick Blues". She is the president of Dolly Parton Enterprises, a 100 million-dollar media empire and in 1986 she created Dollywood the theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, which is a tribute to her Smoky-Mountain roots. She was in the Dolly (1987 TV series) as herself. In 1988, she won another Grammy: Best Country Performance Duo or Group with Vocals, for "Trio".