Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on January 19, 1946, in a one-room cabin[2] on the banks of the Little Pigeon River in Pittman Center, Tennessee.[3][4] She was the fourth of 12 children born to Avie Lee Caroline (née Owens; 1923–2003) and Robert Lee Parton Sr. (1921–2000).[5] The other siblings in her family are: Willadeene (born 1940), David Wilburn (1942–2024),[6] Coy Denver (1943–2026),[7] Robert Lee “Bobby” (born 1948), Stella Mae (born 1949), Cassie Nan (born 1951), Randle Huston “Randy” (1953–2021),[8] Larry Gerald (1955–1955),[9] twins Frieda Estelle (born 1957) and Floyd Estel (1957–2018),[10] and Rachel Ann (born 1959).[11][12] Parton’s middle name came from her maternal great-great-grandmother Rebecca (née Dunn) Whitted.[13]

Parton’s father, known as “Lee”, worked in the mountains of East Tennessee, first as a sharecropper and later tending his own small tobacco farm and acreage. He also worked construction jobs to supplement the farm’s small income. Despite her father’s illiteracy, Parton often said he was one of the smartest people she had ever known with regard to business and making a profit.[2][14][15] Parton’s mother cared for their large family. Her 11 pregnancies (the tenth being twins) in 20 years made her a mother of 12 by age 35. Parton credited her musical abilities to her mother’s influence; often in poor health, she still managed to keep house and entertain her children with Great Smoky Mountain folklore and old ballads. With Welsh ancestry, Avie Lee knew many songs that immigrants from Europe brought to southern Appalachia.[16][17][18] Avie Lee’s father, Jake Owens, was a Pentecostal preacher, and Parton and her siblings attended church regularly.[19]

Parton long credited her father for her business sense and her mother’s family for her musical abilities. When she was a young girl, her family moved from the Pittman Center area to a tworoom cabin and farm on nearby Locust Ridge. Most of her cherished childhood memories happened there. A replica of the Locust Ridge cabin is displayed at her namesake theme park Dollywood.[20] The farm acreage and surrounding woodland inspired her to write the song “My Tennessee Mountain Home” in the 1970s. Years after the farm was sold, Parton bought it back in the late 1980s. Her brother Bobby helped with building restoration and new construction.[2] Parton said her family was “dirt poor”.[21] Her father paid missionary Dr. Robert F. Thomas with a sack of cornmeal for delivering her.[22] Later in life, Parton wrote a song about Dr. Thomas.[23] She also outlined her family’s poverty in her early songs “Coat of Many Colors” and “In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad)“.

The Partons’ small subsistence farm on Locust Ridge was in a predominantly Pentecostal area located north of the Greenbrier Valley of the Great Smoky Mountains.[24] Music played an important role in Parton’s early life and she was brought up in the Church of God,[25] in a congregation pastored by her grandfather, Jake Robert Owens. Her earliest public performances were in the church, beginning at age six. At seven, she started playing a homemade guitar. When she was eight, her uncle bought her first real guitar.[26][27] The Parton family was well-fed despite their poverty, and her 2024 cookbook, Good Lookin’ Cookin’ (co-written with her sister Rachel), recalls numerous family meals.[28] After graduating from Sevier County High School in Sevierville, Tennessee, in 1964, Parton moved to Nashville, Tennessee, the next day.[2][29]

Career

1956–1966: Early work and songwriting

Parton began performing as a child,[30] singing on local radio and television programs in the East Tennessee area.[31] By 10, she was appearing on The Cas Walker Show on both WIVK Radio and WBIR-TV in Knoxville, Tennessee. At 13, she recorded the single “Puppy Love” on a small Louisiana label, Goldband Records,[29] and appeared at the Grand Ole Opry, where she first met Johnny Cash, who encouraged her to follow her own instincts regarding her career.[32]

Parton’s initial success came as a songwriter, having signed with Combine Publishing shortly after her arrival.[33] Along with her frequent songwriting partner, uncle Bill Owens, she wrote several charting singles during this time, including two Top 10 hits for Bill Phillips: “Put It Off Until Tomorrow” and “The Company You Keep” (1966). She also wrote Skeeter Davis‘s number 11 hit “Fuel to the Flame” (1967).[34] Her songs were recorded by many other artists during this period, including Kitty Wells and Hank Williams Jr.[35]

At 19, she signed with Monument Records in 1965, where she was initially pitched as a bubblegum pop singer. She released a string of singles, but the only one that charted, “Happy, Happy Birthday Baby”, did not crack the Billboard Hot 100. Although she expressed a desire to record country material, Monument resisted, thinking her unusually high soprano voice was not suited to the genre.[36]

After her uncredited composition of “Put It Off Until Tomorrow” with Bill Phillips went to number six on the country chart in 1966, the label relented and allowed her to record country. Her first country single, “Dumb Blonde”, composed by Curly Putman, reached number 24 on the country chart in 1967, followed by “Something Fishy”, which went to number 17. The two songs appeared on her first full-length album, Hello, I’m Dolly.[37]

1967–1975: Country music success

In 1967, musician and country music entertainer Porter Wagoner invited Parton to join The Porter Wagoner Show, offering her a regular spot on his weekly syndicated television program and in his road show. As documented in her 1994 autobiography,[38] much of Wagoner’s audience was initially unhappy that Parton had replaced previous performer Norma Jean, who had left the show, sometimes chanting loudly for Norma Jean from the audience.[39] With Wagoner’s assistance, Parton was eventually accepted. Wagoner convinced his label, RCA Victor, to sign her. RCA decided to protect its investment by releasing her first single as a duet with Wagoner. That song, a remake of Tom Paxton‘s “The Last Thing on My Mind“, released in late 1967, reached the country Top 10 in January 1968, launching a six-year streak of virtually uninterrupted Top 10 singles for the pair.[40]

Parton’s first solo single for RCA Victor, “Just Because I’m a Woman“, was released in the summer of 1968 and was a moderate chart hit, reaching number 17.[41] For the next two years, none of her solo efforts – , even “In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad)“, which later became a standard – were as successful as her duets with Wagoner. The duo was named Vocal Group of the Year in 1968 by the Country Music Association,[42] but Parton’s solo records were continually ignored. Wagoner had a significant financial stake in her future; as of 1969, he was her co-producer and owned nearly half of Owe-Par, the publishing company Parton had founded with Bill Owens.[43]

By 1970, both Parton and Wagoner had grown frustrated by her lack of solo chart success. Wagoner persuaded Parton to record Jimmie Rodgers‘ “Mule Skinner Blues“, a gimmick that worked. The record shot to number three,[44] followed closely by her first number-one single, “Joshua” in February 1971.[45] For the next two years, she had numerous solo hits in addition to her duets, including her signature song, “Coat of Many Colors” (number four, 1971). Further Top 20 singles included “The Right Combination” and “Burning the Midnight Oil” (both duets with Wagoner, 1971); “Lost Forever in Your Kiss” (with Wagoner), “Touch Your Woman” (1972); “My Tennessee Mountain Home” and “Travelin’ Man” (1973).[46]

Although her solo singles and the Wagoner duets were successful, her biggest hit of this period was “Jolene“. Released in late 1973, the song topped the country chart in February 1974 and reached the lower regions of the Hot 100.[47] It also eventually charted in the U.K., reaching number seven in 1976, representing Parton’s first U.K. success. Parton, who had always envisioned a solo career, made the decision to leave Wagoner’s show and she stopped appearing in mid-1974. The pair performed their last duet concert in April 1974, although they remained affiliated, with Wagoner helping to produce her records through 1975.[38] Their final release as a duo was 1975’s Say Forever You’ll Be Mine.[46]

In 1974, Parton’s song, “I Will Always Love You“, written about her professional break from Wagoner, went to number one on the country chart. Around the same time, Elvis Presley indicated that he wanted to record the song. Parton was interested until Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, told her that it was standard procedure for the songwriter to sign over half of the publishing rights to any song recorded by Presley.[48] Parton refused. That decision was credited with helping to make her many millions of dollars in royalties from the song over the years.[49]

In 1974, Parton had three solo singles reach number one on the country chart, “Jolene”, “I Will Always Love You” and “Love Is Like a Butterfly“, and the duet with Porter Wagoner, “Please Don’t Stop Loving Me“. Parton again topped the singles chart in 1975 with “The Bargain Store“.[50]