The Story Of Dolly Parton ✨ Relaxing Biography for Insomnia

[00:00:10] Hi there, Sleepwavers. Karissa here with a bedtime story about the fascinating life of Dolly Parton, from humble beginnings in the Appalachian Mountains to the bright lights of Dollywood. If you've been with us for a while and are noticing you are looking forward to bedtime more and are sleeping better than ever, we'd be so grateful if you'd leave us a review. Reviews help people just like you who need better rest find us.

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[00:04:27] Bye. say the least. Let's all follow the true tale of Dolly Rebecca Parton as we settle down to rest.

[00:04:53] She was born in the small rural town of Locust Ridge, Tennessee. Nestled in the Great Smoky Mountains, this home would eventually inspire chart-topping songs and be rebuilt in a theme park, although it was nothing to look at at the time. Dolly was the fourth of 12 children, and they grew up, as she later said, dirt poor but loved. The whole family shared a run-down

[00:05:22] one-bedroom log cabin, and the children spent their childhoods roaming the outdoors. The small home had no electricity or running water, and they used to catch fireflies in mason jars and keep them in their room for light. Dolly is reported to have said that although her family had few material possessions, they were rich in things that money couldn't buy,

[00:05:49] like love, kindness, and understanding. This humble childhood led Dolly to fall in love with the mountains, finding a deep respect for the pastoral lifestyle they lived. Later, in the lyrics of a song, Dolly would reminisce that life was as peaceful as a baby sigh in my Tennessee mountain home.

[00:06:16] Dolly's parents, Robert Lee Parton and A.V. Lee Owens, instilled in her an early love for music. Her mother sang and played the guitar, and Dolly would later say that her mother always knew she was going to be a star. As just a young girl, after being given an old guitar by a relative,

[00:06:43] Dolly showed a remarkable talent for singing and songwriting. Growing up in the church, she developed her voice singing gospel hymns. And outside of that, she began writing and performing her own songs that were inspired by the mountain folk and bluegrass tunes of her community.

[00:07:11] Aged just 10, supported by her parents, Dolly appeared on local television and radio show, The Cass Walker Show, around an hour away in Knoxville, to great admiration from her small,

[00:07:29] close-knit community. In 1959, she released her first recording, Puppy Love, on Gold Band Records. And although it failed to hit the charts, she remained a small-town star. In 1964, the day after she graduated high school, Dolly Parton moved to Nashville,

[00:07:57] the heart of country music, to pursue her dreams of a music career. Three years later, she released her first album, Hello, I'm Dolly, which soon caught the attention of country music icon

[00:08:16] named Porter Wagoner. Wagoner, a country singer and TV personality, with his own show, became her mentor. The two began recording duets together, and performed on Wagoner's TV show, which attracted more and more spectators. Her regular spot on the Porter Wagoner show

[00:08:45] made Dolly a household name, giving her a chance to showcase her charisma and talent, and providing her her first stepping stone to establishing herself as a solo artist. It was with a heavy heart that Dolly decided to part ways with Wagoner to make it on her own in 1974.

[00:09:17] This led her to write, I will always love you, Dolly, created as a heartfelt goodbye to her former mentor. Dolly sat him down one day and sang him the song, and Porter Wagoner cried. He said that Dolly could go with one condition. He got to produce that song,

[00:09:46] the prettiest song he'd ever heard. And he did. The song was so well-received that even Elvis Presley wanted a piece of it, asking to record his own cover. Unfortunately, Presley's manager, the infamous Colonel, insisted that Dolly sign over half of the publishing rights.

[00:10:16] Having an eye for business, and being committed to protecting her work, Dolly refused with a heavy heart. This would later prove to be a smart decision. The song would be reinterpreted by Whitney Houston in 1992 as an iconic and emotive ballad that still holds a bidding

[00:10:43] as one of the most famous and celebrated love songs ever created. Houston's rendition would top the pop charts for 14 weeks and become one of the best-selling singles of all time. After Houston's death, Dolly would donate a huge chunk of her royalties for this song

[00:11:13] to an African-American community in Nashville in Houston's honor. The 70s were when Dolly Parton's solo career really began to boom. It was then that she wrote and released her arguably most well-known song, Jolene. In these lyrics, Dolly showed her openness

[00:11:42] to portray emotion and disrupt stereotypes. Instead of demonizing Jolene, the woman who threatens her relationship in the song, Dolly demonstrates vulnerability and jealousy without malice and seemingly becomes entranced by Jolene herself in a radical twist on the genre.

[00:12:12] Dolly reinvented archetypes often to serve her evolving worldview, bringing a humanized, emotional perspective to country traditions that typically relied heavily on gender conventions and formulaic storytelling. Dolly continued to write her own songs throughout her career. To date,

[00:12:42] she has written, by her estimation, around 3,000 songs and has constantly been picking up new instruments. Today, she can play around 20, including the fiddle, banjo, mandolin, and pan flute. Dolly has never been afraid to dip her toes into different music styles

[00:13:12] and the music styles over the years. Her early albums were heavily inspired by Appalachian folk ballads and tended to tell sad stories about the struggles faced by people, mostly women, out in the country. She then rocketed to stardom with pop hits that had a wider appeal and gave her more freedom to experiment

[00:13:41] as she liked. She would go on to release a bluegrass album and most recently forade into rock, working with major stars like Elton John, Joan Jett, and Stevie Nicks to cover classic rock hits as well as writing rock originals herself. Although Dolly's musical style

[00:14:11] was heavily influenced by and developed for the American South, she has wide appeal and is loved across the world. She has toured in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America and has always been received by huge crowds.

[00:14:41] There are countless stars who are believed to have been inspired by Dolly whilst crafting their own identities, including powerhouses Shania Twain, Taylor Swift, and Dolly's own goddaughter, Miley Cyrus. In 1980, Dolly Parton made her mark in Hollywood, starring alongside

[00:15:11] Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin in the hit film Nine to Five. Not only acting, but contributing to the film's soundtrack with the Grammy-winning title track. Dolly played a secretary who joins up with her two co-workers to kidnap their misogynist boss and take over, implementing progressive changes

[00:15:40] to revolutionize their workplace with feminist ideals that haven't even been attained today. The movie raised awareness of workplace discrimination in a time when it was rife. It put modern women's problems and experiences on the screen in a time when they were overlooked,

[00:16:08] and empowered spectators to believe they could really make a change. In addition to co-starring in Nine to Five, Parton also contributed to its soundtrack with one of the catchiest songs in movie soundtrack history. The title song reached number one

[00:16:36] on both the pop and country charts, as well as bringing Parton two Grammys, one for best country song, and the other for best female country vocal performance. It even earned an Academy Award nomination for best original song.

[00:17:03] Dolly continued to charm audiences on the silver screen in Steel Magnolias in 1989, taking the role of a beauty salon owner in a plot that centered around the friendships of a group of women in small-town Southern America. In 1984, she starred alongside Sylvester Stallone

[00:17:32] as a country music star who must turn an obnoxious New York cabbie into a singer in order to win a bet. In 1992, she played a Southern belle in the movie Straight Talk. in which a woman ditches her small-town life for big city Chicago, where she becomes a sensation as a radio show host.

[00:18:04] Her roles made the most of her natural wits and feel for comedy, as well as her capability to come off as warm and good, charming audiences as the reliable friend or admirable protagonist. She has continued to pick up acting roles throughout her career, appearing frequently on talk shows

[00:18:34] and in cameos, too. In the mid-1980s, Dolly showed her business savvy in founding Dollywood, a theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, which aimed to celebrate the culture of the Smoky Mountains. Dollywood became one of the top tourist destinations in the region,

[00:19:03] and Dolly stuck to her commitment in preserving and promoting Appalachian heritage. She said of the decision, I always thought that if I made it big or got successful at what I had started out to do, I wanted to come back to my part of the country and do something great, something that would bring a lot of jobs into this area.

[00:19:32] Now, more than 3 million people visit Dollywood annually. Dolly Parton's philanthropic efforts are as legendary as her music career. Since the beginning, Parton has protected the publishing rights to her catalog of songs, which has earned her millions in royalties, much of which she has injected back

[00:20:02] into her community. Much of her charity work revolves around education for young people, especially in her home region of Appalachia. Dolly established the Imagination Library in 1995, a program providing free books to children

[00:20:31] from birth to age 5, an initiative that has distributed over 100 million books worldwide. She has also worked on schemes to keep kids in school up until graduation and offered countless scholarships

[00:21:00] for underprivileged students. Her Dollywood Foundation has been dedicated to improving life in Appalachia, providing funding for hospitals, rebuilding homes after wildfires,

[00:21:27] and protecting wildlife too. In 2020, Dolly made headlines for her million-dollar donation to Vanderbilt University Medical Center at a time when they needed it most. So key has Dolly been to the shaping

[00:21:56] and history of Appalachia that the University of Tennessee offers a course entitled History 307, Dolly's America. Dolly also worked social change, mostly through unapologetically being herself.

[00:22:27] She has consistently celebrated femininity as a strength and demonstrated her beliefs that everybody should be free to express themselves. She has consistently redefined what it means to be a successful woman in the entertainment industry

[00:22:55] and taken more agency than was allowed to previous stars before her. She has never been afraid of speaking on what she believes in. And unlike other stars, that has never really proven divisive for Dolly's fans.

[00:23:25] Dolly once said, I think that I've been at this so long that my audience has come to know me. They know I'm not judgmental. I like everybody. I want to be accepted myself. And I not only accept, but celebrate the difference in everyone.

[00:23:56] Perhaps her ability to spread a message, whether it be to push for equality, encourage charity, or benefit one of her own philanthropic pursuits, is facilitated by the wit and charisma that immediately endears her to an audience.

[00:24:27] Her witty one-liners and self-deprecating humor have always made it easy for fans and critics to respect her voice. Despite Dolly's outspokenness, there's one thing she won't speak freely on,

[00:24:56] and that's her private life. What little we do know about her private life, we have learned through her songs. Dolly has maintained a rare balance of being open whilst maintaining her boundaries.

[00:25:26] The media still knows little about Dolly's love life. She has been married to Carl Dean, a businessman. Since 1966, and their enduring relationship has been admired by fans from afar.

[00:25:55] The couple has no children and appear to be very much in love. Dolly made the decision not to have children early in her career, and once said on television that God has a plan for everything. I think it probably was his plan

[00:26:24] for me not to have kids, so everybody's kids could be mine. And they, later in life, Dolly forayed into authoring books, her memoir, including the publication of her memoir, which provided an intimate and candid glimpse into her life,

[00:26:56] shared personal anecdotes, triumph, and challenges, and in the past. And offered a glimpse behind that mysterious persona. Never shying away from being vulnerable, she has also ventured into children's literature,

[00:27:26] with stories designed to pass on themes of acceptance, confidence. Over her career, Dolly has gathered an impressive voice and recognitions

[00:27:53] and will likely continue to do so with a staggering total of nine, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011. Parton's vocal and songwriting talents have been widely celebrated.

[00:28:26] She has secured prestigious accolades from the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music, earning titles such as Entertainer of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year.

[00:28:54] Her contributions to the arts were acknowledged with the Kennedy Center Honors in 2006, and she holds esteemed positions in the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

[00:29:20] Parton's star power extends to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, where she boasts two stars, one for music and one for cinema. Dolly's cultural impact extends far beyond her award.

[00:29:54] Her ability to transcend genre, challenge societal norms, and maintain unwavering authenticity has solidified her as a cultural icon.

[00:30:19] Her fan demographic is wide and indiscriminate, touching every generation, background. She brands herself as apolitical,

[00:30:43] demanding only kindness and understanding from her fans. She's been called a unifier, allowing fans to believe in her come from, or what they believe in.

[00:31:12] Never publicly saying a bad throughout. Lifted up those who were less fortunate on her way to stardom. From the hills of Tennessee

[00:31:41] to the glitz of Hollywood. She has remained true to herself, and her music continues to resonate with audiences worldwide.

[00:32:10] And her impact industry is immeasurable. And all this, she has done without compromising her identity. With dazzled outfits to boot.