“Dolly Parton @ Lanxess-Arena (Köln)” by Josef Just is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

American Singer-Songwriter, Actress, Icon • Born January 19, 1946 • Country, Country Pop, Bluegrass, Gospel, Rock, EDM

Fast Facts

• Dolly Parton started writing songs before she learned how to read.
• She started performing professionally when she was 10 years old, performed at the Grand Ole Opry at 13, and moved to Nashville the day after finishing high school in 1964.
• Dolly Parton’s Q score is one of the highest in the world for her recognizability and her resounding lack of haters.
• She is Miley Cyrus’s godmother.
• Dolly Parton refused a deal where Elvis would have sang “I Will Always Love You” to keep her rights as a songwriter.
• “I Will Always Love You” is the greatest selling song by a female artist of all time and hit #1 in three consecutive decades.
• Dolly plays over 20 instruments she self describes as “mountain sounds”: guitar, dulcimer, autoharp, banjo, pan flute, penny whistle
• Dollywood (Dolly Parton’s theme park) has a replica of the one room cabin she was raised in with her eleven brothers and sisters.
• She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.