With an infectious smile, a wicked sense of humour and the voice of an angel, Dolly Parton was known across the world as a living legend. But the singer with the big blonde hair – and trademark bust – never forgot where or how she grew up. Her life started in a one-room cabin on the banks of Little Pigeon River in Tennessee, with 11 siblings, a dad who couldn’t read or write, and a mum who fed her soul with ballads from the Great Smoky Mountains.
“If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one”
Dolly never forgot her roots, devoting much of her life to helping her community and the world with extraordinary acts of charity, and an almost unique power to bring disparate people together.
In fact, in a rare show of unity, four US presidents – George W Bush, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Donald Trump – all posted heartfelt messages when it was announced Dolly had passed away last week aged 80, after a short battle with an unspecified cancer.
Lasting legacy
When Dolly’s nephew Bryan Seaver posted a video announcing her death – something the star had asked him to do years earlier in the event of her passing – he told how his Aunt Dolly had opened doors for generations of singers, songwriters, musicians and dreamers.
“She never saw a door she couldn’t open, and the doors she opened made and changed history,” he said of the global superstar who championed so many, including the LGBTQ+ community she embraced, despite the backlash from her conservative fans.
“I think gay couples should be allowed to marry. They should suffer just like us heterosexuals”
But it was her dream of teaching the world’s children how to read through her literacy programme, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, that became her life mission, one she embraced to honour her illiterate dad Lee. She wanted to be remembered as “the book lady” whose library gave away more than 300 million books, rather than a singer with an incredible 3000 songwriting credits to her name, including 9 To 5 and Jolene.
Her two favourite songs were Coat Of Many Colours, because she was inspired to write it about a coat her mum made her, and I Will Always Love You, which was
a smash hit for both her and Whitney Houston – although she famously refused to let Elvis Presley record it because his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, demanded that Dolly sign over 50% of the track’s publishing rights if she wanted the song recorded by rock’n’roll’s original king.
Dolly refused, saying, “These are my songs – they’re like my children. And I expect them to support me when I’m old!”
Instead, Priscilla Presley told of how Elvis sang it to her on the steps outside the courthouse where they got their divorce.
Loving life
When Dolly turned 80 in January this year, she said she had no plans to slow down.
“I like to be busy,” she said. “I like to work as much as I can. But I’m lucky to be able to do what I do. People keep asking me if I will ever retire. Will I retire at 80? The answer is no because I still love what I do. I still have dreams I want to make happen if I can.”
Dolly posted what would be her final message just days before her death, reassuring fans she was getting better from health issues, despite admitting the first anniversary of her beloved husband Carl’s death in March had hit her hard.
Dolly was just 18 when she met the handsome asphalt contractor outside a laundromat in Nashville and the pair married in 1966.
She and Carl spent 60 blissful years together, largely out of the public eye because he hated the limelight, though Dolly once revealed he always picked her spring daffodils and wrote her love poems.
After his death, Dolly described him as the perfect partner, adding, “He is in God’s arms now and I’m OK with that.”
The singer will be laid to rest beside her beloved husband at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Nashville, wearing her signature high heels. Instead of sending flowers,
fans have been asked to make donations to the Imagination Library.
A gift to the world
Although many will expect I Will Always Love You to be played at her funeral, Dolly said she hoped the traditional country-gospel song If We Ever Meet Again to be sung. “That was my daddy’s favourite. We did sing it at his funeral and I would like it to be sung at mine.”
Dolly, who once said she could see herself joining a choir of angels in Heaven, even left a gift for the world – there’s a secret song hidden away at her Dollywood theme park only to be shared in 2045.
“Don’t get so busy making a living you forget to make a life”
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