Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton (January 19, 1946 – August 25, 2026) was a singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman from Sevier County, Tennessee. She was the fourth of twelve children, born near Pittman Center in the Great Smoky Mountains. She sang in church as a child and first appeared on the Grand Ole Opry at 13. She moved to Nashville in 1964, after finishing high school, and married Carl Dean in 1966. She released her debut album, Hello, I'm Dolly, in 1967, the year she joined The Porter Wagoner Show. She stayed with Wagoner until 1974, and the two had a long run of hit duets. She wrote "Coat of Many Colors," "Jolene," and "I Will Always Love You." Her song "9 to 5," from her 1980 film debut, won Grammy Awards for Best Country Song and Best Female Country Vocal Performance. Trio, her 1987 album with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt, won the Grammy for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. She later recorded three bluegrass albums: The Grass Is Blue (1999), Little Sparrow (2001), and Halos & Horns (2002). The Grass Is Blue won the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album and IBMA's Album of the Year. Her version of "Shine," from Little Sparrow, won the Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. She opened the Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, in 1986, and started the Imagination Library, a children's book-gifting program, in 1995. She sold more than 100 million records and won eleven Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011. She joined the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001. She received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2006 and joined the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022. Carl Dean died in 2025. She died in Nashville on August 25, 2026, at age 80.
In the newsletter
- No. 3 April-June 1995
- No. 23 Spring/Summer 2000
- No. 24 Fall 2000
- No. 25 Winter 2001
- No. 26 Spring 2001
- No. 27 September 2001
- No. 31 December 2002
- No. 33 September 2003