Dolly Parton, who died on Tuesday at the age of 80, was far more than the “backwoods Barbie” image she playfully cultivated throughout her six-decade career.

The American singer, songwriter, actress, businesswoman and philanthropist became one of the most successful entertainers in history, despite growing up in poverty in rural Tennessee.

Parton was an immense talent who started writing what she called “sad-ass songs” about heartbreak and tragedy at the age of 10. By her own count, she penned 3 000 tunes, including country standards like “Jolene” and the ballad “I Will Always Love You”, which became an international hit for Whitney Houston.

The queen of country music released 49 studio albums and more than 100 compilation and collaboration albums, selling over 100 million records and topping the charts more than any woman in the genre.

From poverty to stardom

Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on 19 January 1946 in Sevierville, Tennessee, the fourth of 12 children who grew up in a small shack in the Great Smoky Mountains.

As a child, she sang her first songs to chickens outside the cabin. In 1959, she made her debut on the Grand Ole Opry stage at 13.

The day after graduating from high school, Parton left for Nashville. By 1967, at 21, she was among the most recognised figures in American music, having joined Porter Wagoner’s syndicated country music television show that broadcast into millions of homes.

In 1971, she released “Coat of Many Colors”, her Bible-themed track about her mother overcoming poverty. She eventually released 26 number one country hits, winning 10 Grammys and 13 Academy of Country Music awards.

Breaking barriers in male-dominated industry

At the height of her fame, Parton reached number one on the pop charts with songs like “Islands in the Stream” and starred in Hollywood films “9 to 5”, for which she sang the title track, and “Steel Magnolias”.

She did not sweep sexism aside but defiantly played against it using her own rules, capitalising on her business savvy to build one of the largest fortunes of any American stage performer.

“I love makeup, I love clothes, and I got the personality that can pull it off,” Parton told National Public Radio in 2001.

Her signature ballad “I Will Always Love You”, a homage she wrote for Wagoner during their 1973 professional split, became a global phenomenon when Whitney Houston recorded it for the 1992 film “The Bodyguard”. It became one of the best-selling singles of all time.

Elvis Presley had wanted to record it, but required half the publishing rights to anything he recorded. Parton, who owned all her publishing rights, turned him down.

Business empire and philanthropy

Parton opened her theme park Dollywood in 1986 in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. It has grown into one of the most successful branding efforts in American entertainment history, drawing millions of visitors per year.

She launched publishing and music production companies, a radio station and restaurants, and co-wrote a best-selling novel with author James Patterson.

Her Instagram page attracted 8.6 million followers, and at 75 she unveiled a new fragrance called Dolly.

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In 2020, she gave $1 million to Vanderbilt University, which helped develop Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine. Her literacy programme has donated around 100 million books to children worldwide.

Parton earned a Kennedy Center Honor in 2006. In 2021, she revealed she had declined the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Donald Trump, saying she did not wish to travel to Washington during the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’d be nice but I’m not sure that I even deserve it,” she told NBC. “But it’s a nice compliment for people to think that I might deserve it.”

She was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in November 2022, despite initially turning it down.

Parton never had children. She was married to Carl Dean from 1966 until his death last year. Dean remained out of the spotlight throughout their marriage.

“I didn’t say I was dead, I said I was married,” she told television host Jay Leno in 2002 when asked whether she enjoyed her on-screen scenes with leading men like Sylvester Stallone.

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