Dolly Parton is an American singer, songwriter, actress, author, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who is known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has a net worth of $650 million dollars. She has been writing and performing hit country songs for more than 40 years, and she is still going strong.
She has had 41 top-10 country albums to her credit, as well as 25 number one singles to her credit. She is well known for her songs “9 to 5” and “I Will Always Love You,” both of which were performed by Whitney Houston for the feature film The Bodyguard. Over the course of her career, she has sold more than 100 million CDs only as a solo artist.
This does not count the hundreds of millions of records that have been sold by other musicians who have covered her music. Dolly has made significant contributions to her home state of Tennessee through philanthropy and entrepreneurial endeavours, and she intends to continue doing so. Her theme park, Dollywood, is the 24th most visited theme park in the United States, with more than 3 million people per year, according to the company. She had donated and/or raised hundreds of millions of dollars to benefit a wide range of charitable organisations during the course of her life.
Dolly Parton Early Life
Dolly Rebecca Parton was born in 1946 in Sevier County, Tennessee, to a family of twelve children, the fourth of whom was Dolly. Her father was a tobacco farmer, and she grew up around tobacco. She would later characterise her family as being “dirt poor,” and she recalls hearing that her father compensated the doctor who assisted in her delivery with a bag of oatmeal, which she found amusing.
Throughout her life, music has played a significant role, and many of her earliest performances took place in churches. By the age of nine, Dolly Parton was appearing on The Cas Walker Show, and she was eventually signed to the little Louisiana label, Goldband Records, which is still in business today.
When Dolly graduated from high school in 1964, she relocated to Nashville the following day. She was able to achieve popularity as a songwriter rather rapidly. She collaborated with her uncle named Bill Owens on the writing of multiple hit tunes that reached the top of the charts.
Dolly Parton Success
Dolly joined the Monument Records label in 1965, when she was just 19 years old. She was initially advertised as a bubble gum pop vocalist, which she still is today. Her first few pop songs were not commercially successful. After one of her country songs, performed by another artist (Bill Phillips – with Dolly on harmony), reached #6 on the country charts, Monument Records finally saw the light and decided to give up their pop ambitions in order to support Dolly.
In her debut year as a country artist, Dolly’s first hit, “Dumb Blonde,” peaked at #24 on the country chart. Contrary to popular belief, she did not write this song. It’s one of only a handful of songs Dolly recorded during this period that wasn’t written by her. Her second single, “Something Fishy,” peaked at #17 on the Billboard Hot 100.
These two songs were included on Dolly’s debut studio album, “Hello, I’m Dolly,” which was released in 1967. The album also included her own versions of numerous songs she had composed that had gone on to become popular due to the efforts of other musicians. The album reached the top of the Billboard Hot Country Albums chart, peaking at number 11.
Dolly Parton Porter Wagoner
Dolly was invited to begin making regular performances on Porter Wagoner’s weekly syndicated broadcast “The Porter Wagoner Show” the following year, which she accepted. When Wagoner saw Dolly’s skill and unrealized potential, he quickly persuaded his record company, RCA Victor, to sign her. Along with that, Porter took over as her producer and obtained a 50 percent stake in Owe-Par Publishing, which she co-founded with her uncle Bill Owens. As a result, Porter had a strong interest in Dolly’s continued success.
Her debut song off her second studio album, 1968’s “Just Because I’m a Woman,” was a duet with Porter, which was released as the album’s first single.
Porter and Dolly would go on to record 13 studio albums as a duo between 1968 and 1980, all of which were certified gold. Their albums spawned 21 singles that reached the top of the country charts, including the number one hit “Please Don’t Stop Loving Me.”
Unfortunately, Dolly’s solo career had a difficult time getting off the ground for several years. She finally achieved success with the song “Jolene” in 1973, which became a huge smash. The song peaked at #1 on the country charts in February 1974 and went on to do extremely well in non-country charts all over the world. Rolling Stone magazine would subsequently rate the song as the 217th greatest song of all time on its list of the 500 greatest songs of all time, out of 500 total. In an interview, Dolly revealed that “Jolene” is the song she has written that has been covered the most by other singers, out of all the songs she has written.
Dolly parted ways with Porter Wagoner in April 1974 to pursue her solo career, while he continued to produce her songs until 1975.
Read More: Victoria Beckham Net Worth (Updated 2022)
Read More: Billy Ray Cyrus Net Worth : What Is Billy Ray Cyrus Income?
Read More: Luol Deng Net Worth : What Is Their Net Worth?
