Dolly-Parton

Dolly Parton, born Jan. 19, 1946 in Locust Ridge Tenn. to 12 hungry children who would grow up with them eventually. She learned early on how to conquer of difficulties through her vibrant and vivid imagination. Her songs were written before she learned to write or read. When she was 8years old, she purchased the first electric guitar she owned and began singing on an Knoxville Tenn Radio Station. In the same year, she recorded her first record on Gold Band Records a tiny independent label. As a student in high school She made her mark local, but longed for a larger stage. On the very day she graduated high school, it was 1964. The first charting record she had for Monument Records included Dumb Blonde and Something Fishy both in 1967. Porter Wagoner, a syndicated show on TV in the late '60s, was looking for a female singer for his program. Parton joined Grand Ole Opry 1969 after contracting in 1969 with RCA Records. The year 1974 was the first that she opted to walk away from Wagoner's show because the success of her solo albums such as Joshua Coat, Many Colors and Jolene was outstripping their joint efforts. After their split, Parton wrote the song I Will Always Love You for Wagoner and it reached the top spot at No. #1 for the first time in 1974.