LET'S MEET AND GREET DOLLY PARTON

Unarguably one of the most influential and pacesetting female singers of her time, Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean, popularly known as Dolly Parton has left an indelible mark on the world as a music legend of repute and one who musicians from all sphere duff hats to in great respect.

TOP 66 DOLLY PARTON SONGS PLAYLIST [VIDEO]

Born on January 19, 1946, Dolly Parton aside from being an astute musician doubles as a songwriter, actress, music producer, multi-instrumentalist, author, philanthropist and a no-nonsense businesswoman. This amazing 'lady of songs' is known worldwide for her soul-moving country music songs.

What many people do not know is that for years Dolly had been the brain behind many hit songs, she spent the earlier part of her musical career writing songs for other musicians before she hit the limelight with her 1967 hit album - HELLO, I'M DOLLY. 

History has been kind to Dolly Parton as she remains the most honored all-time female country music performer. Flowing through a music career that has spanned decades Dolly Parton is also unarguably one of the most successful country musicians the world has ever known as she has bagged to date 25 certified Gold, Platinum, and Muilti-Platinum RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) Awards, with 25 of her ong hitting and staying at the No. 1 spot on the U.S Billboard charts, 110 chartbuster singles, 41 country music albums that have hit the top 10 charts worldwide on release and she has sold a total of over 100 million records globally till date.

Below is a list of awards garnered by this great American musician:

• Grammy Awards (9)
• Academy Award Nominations (2)
• American Music Awards (3)
• Grammy Award Nominations (47)
• Academy Award Nominations (1)

Dolly through the course of her career has been inducted into various musical Halls of Fame, which include:

• Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (1986)
• Small Town of America Hall of Fame (1988)
• East Tennessee Hall of Fame (1988)
• Country Music Hall of Fame (1999)
• Songwriters Hall of Fame (2001)
• Junior Achievement of East Tennessee Business Hall of Fame (2003)
• The Americana Highway Hall of Fame (2006)
• Grammy Hall of Fame – "I Will Always Love You – 1974 Recording" (2007)
• Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame – Songwriter Category (2008)
• Gospel Music Hall of Fame (2009)
• Music City Walk of Fame (2009)
• Country Gospel Music Hall of Fame (2010)
• Grammy Hall of Fame – "Jolene – 1974 Recording" (2014)
• The National Hall of Fame for Mountain Artisans (2014)
• The Happiness Hall of Fame (2016)

Dolly has composed over 3,000 songs over her flourishing 40-year musical career and acted in 5 movies, namely:

• 9 to 5 (1980)

• The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982)

• Rhinestone (1984)

• Steel Magnolias (1989)

• Joyful Noise (2012)

Born into a poor construction worker and farmer family, Dolly is the fourth of a dozen children born to Robert Lee Parton Snr. (1921 - 2000) and Avie Lee Caroline (1923 - 2003). The Parton family resided in Locust Ridge (where Dolly was born) a rather very rural section of Sevier County in Tennessee.

The family was so poor that when Dolly was born her father paid the doctor that delivered her of her mother with a bag of oatmeal and to crown it all up, Mr. Parton popularly called Lee, along with his wife and 12 children lived in a rather outlandish one-room cabin in the predominantly Pentecostal Locust Ridge area.

Following her music closely or more lyrically, one can deduce the extent and heartful representation of how poor her family was. Another fact is that Dolly was raised in a pure church setting, her early life growing up in her maternal grandfather's church (Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee) where he (Jake Robert Owens) was the pastor and shepherd of the flock, greatly influenced and Dolly's life. 

Dolly's career in music started at age six where she performed publicly in church and at age seven she had combined her rare singing talents with renditions on her home-made guitar (not until eight years old did she have a real guitar which was a gift from her uncle).

By age nine Dolly was well positioned to take on the world and the world welcomed this child star with open arms as she began to perform on local radio and television programs in Tennessee; from this point onwards Dolly progressively found her way to the world stage where she occupies a top spot among legends of music to this day. 

Queer side of Dolly's life is that her husband, Mr. Carl Thomas Dean (1942-) who she got married to on May 30, 1966, never appears with his wife in public, he does not like the publicity in any way and once said in a rare interview that he had attended his wife's numerous shows only once. The couple's love life is exceptional and very private - as Dolly has been heard to praise her husband in interviews and had even gone ahead to call him very special names on camera. Dolly and Dean worked very hard to raise her siblings' children alongside theirs and within the extended family, Dolly is widely referred to as 'Aunt Granny', on the 6th of May 2016, the couple renewed their marriage vows to reinstate the unending love they have for each other.

Listed below are few of Dolly's musical albums which one can point a finger to anytime:

• Hello, I'm Dolly (1967)

• Just Because I'm a Woman (1968)

• In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad) (1969)

• My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy (1969)

• The Fairest of Them All (1970)

• The Golden Streets of Glory (1971)

• Joshua (1971)

• Coat of Many Colors (1971)

• Touch Your Woman (1972)

• My Favorite Songwriter, Porter Wagoner (1972)

• My Tennessee Mountain Home (1973)

• Bubbling Over (1973)

• Jolene (1974)

• Love Is Like a Butterfly (1974)

• The Bargain Store (1975)

• Dolly (1975)

• All I Can Do (1976)

• New Harvest - First Gathering (1977)

• Here You Come Again (1977)

• Heartbreaker (1978)

• Great Balls of Fire (1979)

• Dolly, Dolly, Dolly (1980)

• 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs (1980)

• Heartbreak Express (1982)

• Burlap & Satin (1983)

• The Great Pretender (1984)

• Real Love (1985)

• Rainbow (1987)

• White Limozeen (1989)

• Eagle When She Flies (1991)

• Slow Dancing with the Moon (1993)

• Something Special (1995)

• Treasures (1996)

• Hungry Again (1998)

• The Grass Is Blue (1999)

• Little Sparrow (2001)

• Halos & Horns (2002)

• For God and Country (2003)

• Those Were the Days (2005)

• Backwoods Barbie (2008)

• Better Day (2011)

• Blue Smoke (2014)

• Pure & Simple (2016)