Dolly Parton

Induction Year: 1986

Birth Name: Dolly Rebecca Parton

Birth Date: 01-19-1946

Place of Birth: Locust Ridge, Tennessee

Dolly Parton's path to stardom was paved with self-penned songs of uncommon intellect and empathy. Known for her mountain-pure voice and her flamboyant appearance, Parton has made a major impact on country and pop music with such classics as "Jolene," "Coat of Many Colors," "9 to 5" and "Love Is Like a Butterfly." Her multi-genre smash "I Will Always Love You" has risen to the top of the pop, country, adult contemporary and R&B charts in versions by Parton and Whitney Houston.

Parton was raised in the mountains of east Tennessee. Her interest in music began in early childhood, and she was performing on local television by age 10. Aided by her music-making uncle, Bill Owens, she first appeared on the Grand Ole Opry at 13, and she moved to Nashville immediately after her high school graduation at 18.

With Owens, she co-wrote two Top 10 hits for Bill Phillips in 1966, the same year she signed with Fred Foster's Monument Records. In 1967, she scored her first solo hits, and she began a partnership with Porter Wagoner, appearing on Wagoner's syndicated television show and recording popular duets with him. In 1973, as she was ending that partnership, she wrote "I Will Always Love You" for Wagoner, and her initial version of the song topped the Billboard country chart in 1974. A second version, recorded for a movie soundtrack, was a country chart-topper for Parton in 1982. A decade later, Whitney Houston's soaring version became a cross-genre hit, and "I Will Always Love You" became Houston's signature song. It spent 14 weeks atop the Billboard pop charts and sold more than four million copies.

Parton went on to star on stages, on television and in the movies. She was the first female country artist to record two #1 pop singles (both self-penned), and the first to be nominated for an Academy Award. She was the first female songwriter to win BMI's Five-Million Air award, given for 5 million radio performances of "I Will Always Love You." She was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1986, the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999 and the national Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001. In addition to her eight Grammy Awards, nine Country Music Association awards and nine Academy of Country Music awards, she has been awarded the National Medal of Arts, a Kennedy Center Honor and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

"9 to 5"

BMI Country Song of the Year, Grammy for Best Country Song

Dolly Parton1980 #1 country, #1 pop, #1 adult contemporary
Alison Krauss2003 

"Coat of Many Colors"

Dolly Parton1971 #4 country
Emmylou Harris1975 
Maria Muldaur1992 
Shania Twain2003 

"I Will Always Love You"

NSAI Song of the Year

Dolly Parton1974 #1 country
Linda Ronstadt1975 
Dolly Parton (remake)1982 #1 country, #53 pop
Whitney Houston1992 #1 pop, #1 adult contemporary, #1 R&B
Kenny Rogers1993 
LeAnn Rimes1994 
Dolly Parton with Vince Gill1995 #15 country
LeAnn Rimes1997 
Melissa Etheridge2003 
Whitney Houston (re-issue)2012 #3 pop
Jennifer Hudson2012 
 

"It's All Wrong but It's Alright"

Dolly Parton1978 #1 country

"Jolene"

Dolly Parton1973 #1 country, #60 pop
Olivia Newton-John1976 
Reba McEntire1989 
Matraca Berg1993 
Rhonda Vincent2000 
Sherrie Austin2001 
Mindy Smith2003 
The White Stripes2004 
The Little Willies2012 

"Joshua"

Dolly Parton1970 #1 country
Skeeter Davis1972 
 

"Just Because I'm a Woman"

Dolly Parton1968 #17 country
Jeannie Seely1968 
 

"Kentucky Gambler"

Dolly Parton1973 
Merle Haggard1974 #1 country
The Gibson Brothers2000 
 

"Light of a Clear Blue Morning"

Dolly Parton1977 #11 country, #87 pop
Allison Moorer2003 
 

"Love Is Like a Butterfly"

Dolly Parton1974 #1 country
Deana Carter & Dolly Parton2007 
 

"My Tennessee Mountain Home"

Dolly Parton1973 #15 country
Maria Muldaur1973 
 

"Please Don't Stop Loving Me"

(written with Porter Wagoner)

Porter Wagoner & Dolly Parton1974 #1 country
 

"Put It Off Until Tomorrow"

(written with Bill Owens)

Bill Phillips1966 #6 country
Jeannie Seely1966 
Skeeter Davis1966 
Dolly Parton1967 
Ricky Skaggs1979 
The Kendalls1980 
Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette1993 
 

"Romeo"

Dolly Parton1993 #27 country
 

"Somethin' Fishy"

Dolly Parton1967 #17 country
 

"Tennessee Homesick Blues"

Dolly Parton1984 #1 country
 

"The Bargain Store"

Dolly Parton1975 #1 country, #35 adult contemporary
 

"The Company You Keep"

(written with Bill Owens)

Bill Phillips1966 #8 country
 

"The Grass Is Blue"

Dolly Parton1999 
Norah Jones2003 
 

"The Seeker"

Dolly Parton1975 #2 country
Merle Haggard1976 
Shelby Lynne2003 

Dolly Parton

Induction Year: 1986