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 the difficulties she faced with her incredibly vivid imagination. Her songs were written before she knew how to write or read. When she got her first guitar at age of 8, she began to play on local radio stations from Knoxville in Tennessee. Gold Band Records is a small, independent label. While she was at school, she already made a name of herself in the local music scene. But her dream was to be able to play on a larger scale. The day she was able to graduate from the high school in 1964. Her first charting records on Monument Records included Dumb Blonde and Something Fishy both in 1967. Porter Wagoner, a syndicated TV show host at the time was searching for a girl to sing for his program. Parton was hired in 1966. She then was signed to RCA Records in 1968, and then the Grand Ole Opry was founded in the year 1969. She left Wagoner's show, but in 1974, because her solo albums such as Joshua Coat Of Many Colors and Jolene exceeded the sales of their joint albums. Following their breakup, Parton wrote the song I Will Always Love You for Wagoner and it climbed to the top spot at No. 1 for the first time since 1974.