Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on January 19th in 1946 in a small town in Tennessee. She was the fourth child born in a family of TWELVE children. Growing up in a one room rundown shack in the Smokey Mountains the Parton family was, as Dolly puts it, "dirt poor".
Bu the age of 13 Dolly had already sung on some local Tennessee radio shows and had appeared at the Grand ole Opry in Nashville. It was there she met the legendary Johnny Cash, who encouraged her to go after her dreams.
The day high school was over, Dolly packed up her few belongings and moved to Nashville.
Dolly worked as a song writer in the beginning of her music career, writing hit songs for Hank WIlliams Jr. among others. 
The record label had a hard time figuring out how to present Dolly, and tried to make her into a bubblegum pop act. Monument records finally agreed to let Dolly try recording country when one of the country songs she wrote for singer Bill Williams went to number 6 on the country charts.
Dolly recorded her first country songs called Dumb Blonde and Something Fishy with this label in 1967, and both broke onto the top 20 country charts that year.
The rest is history.
Dolly Parton has been nominated for Academy Awards, she has won Grammys Awards, been nominated for Tony awards and Emmy awards, she has her own theme park.
Dolly has had 25 number one singles, a record 41 top ten country records and has has preformed on a TOP five country hit in each of the past 5 decades.
Not to shabby for a girl from a one room shack in the Smokey Mountains.
With her singing career going so well, Dolly took the logical next step... She started making movies, and man did she make some great ones. 
The amazingly funny and classic film 9 to 5 stared Dolly along with Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda as renegade secretaries who kidnap their boss played by Dabney Colman and hold him hostage till he promises to stop acting like a total prick. In fact this movie is SO amazing.. It is set to be released on Broadway as a musical this year!!
Oh my, this film is ALSO really really good. A true classic. Dolly Parton and Burt Renoylds? Are you kidding me? She is the hooker with a heart of gold and he is the sweet and sexy sheriff who is trying to protect her. But trust me comedy is high in this funny western movie. Plus the girls all wear really cute costumes.
Never one to back down from making the most of what she has, Dolly Parton is blonde and bawdy and boobilicious and bold, and we heart her for that. 
Because you don't have to look like a book worm to be a smart and successful woman. Dolly Parton has always represented that to us, you can be all woman and still get the job done. Known as the 'Iron Butterfly" in business circles, Dolly has made some great decisions throughout her career. One of the most notable and most likely a very hard choice to make happened around 1974 when Elvis Presley wanted to cover the song she had just written called "I will always love you", but according to how the King did things, if he covered the song, she had to sign over half of the publishing rights to him.... Well imagine the biggest star in the world wanting to sing your song... And you are a young girl struggling to make it big... What would you have done? Well Dolly said No dice. Years later the pay-off for that bold move came when Whitney Huston covered the song, Dolly claims to have made enough money from that version of the song to buy Graceland.
Iron Butterfly.
Please watch these videos...
XOXO- Things-We-Heart
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