10 Things You Should Know About Dolly Parton

The death of Country music icon, singer-songwriter, actress cum philanthropist, Dolly Parton, has brought her more than six decades of career in music to an end.

Naija News reports that Dolly Parton’s death was announced on Tuesday, August 25, by her nephew, Brian Seaver, in a video shared on social media.

Below are ten things you should know about the late singer.

1. Dolly Parton was born on January 19, 1946, in a one-room cabin in Tennessee and was the fourth of 12 children raised by Robert and Avie Lee Parton.

2. She began her musical career as a child, as she was already performing on local television at 10 and recorded her first song when she was 13.

3. Parton gained national attention in 1967 after joining ‘The Porter Wagoner Show’, a programme that introduced her to a wider country music audience.

4. She famously revealed that she wrote two classics, “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You”, on the same day. Whitney Houston’s 1992 version of the latter became a global phenomenon.

5. Parton sold over 100 million records worldwide and won 11 Grammy Awards, establishing herself as one of the bestselling musicians in history.

6. Beyond music, Dolly Parton starred in popular films such as 9 to 5, Steel Magnolias and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

7. The country music icon became closely associated with Dollywood, the Tennessee theme park which opened under that name in 1986 and grew into a major tourist attraction.

8. Parton launched the Imagination Library in 1995 to send free books to children from birth until age five. The programme later expanded beyond the United States.

9. The late singer entered the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999 and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.

10. Parton married Carl Dean in May 1966, and their marriage lasted for almost 60 years until Dean’s death in March 2025.

Parton died three months after cancelling a Las Vegas performance amid health challenges.