The Legacy of Dolly Parton

Written by: Anna Pafenberg

On August 25th, 2026, beloved country music star and American legend Dolly Parton passed away at 80 years old. However, Dolly’s legacy is everlasting in the way that she grew and expanded her career and became an icon for generations and more to come. Parton was born on January 19th, 1946. Born in Locust Tennessee, she was one of twelve other kids, born to a sharecropper and farmer. Dolly’s mother, Avie Lee Owens Parton, had all twelve children before the age of 35 and money was very tight for her family growing up. Their family was so poor that her father had to pay a doctor for her birth with a sack of cornmeal. 

In terms of music, Dolly grew up hearing a lot of singing and guitar from her mother. When she received a guitar, she quickly got to writing songs and starting to perform them. When she was ten, she began to professionally perform her music in Knoxville, Tennessee. The day after she finished high school she moved to Nashville, Tennessee and kickstarted her music career in 1967, just three years after graduation. Parton soon got together with Porter Wagoner for his television show, aptly named The Porter Wagoner Show. Dolly made money from her songs mostly from royalties as she did not sell them to record labels. She was so protective of her songs that she denied Elvis Presley permission to cover her song I Will Always Love You because it would mean he got half ownership of the song. As soon as she could make her own, she did. Her first Number One Hit was a song called Joshua and then shortly after was Jolene. Due to her voice on these amazing songs, she won Female Vocalist at the CMA’s in 1975 and 1976.

Dolly’s first movie debut was in 9 to 5 in 1980, a hit movie about workplace harassment and sexism in the role of a secretary. The song 9 to 5, written by her, was one of the most iconic songs from a movie and won two Grammys!

Dolly Parton’s estimated net wealth was around $650 million and could have been over a billion dollars if not for the amazing contributions she donated in her lifetime. In 1996, she created the Dollywood Foundation, and within it created Dolly’s Imagination Library which donates about 10 million books every year. She has donated millions to charities, mostly anonymously, and even given $1 million to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.