DOLLY PARTON: COUNTRY MUSIC LEGEND HELPING THE WORLD FIGHT A PANDEMIC

You can’t think of country music without thinking of the great Dolly Parton. Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer, songwriter, actress, author, businesswoman, humanitarian and record producer, known primarily for her work in country music with hit songs like Jolene, Coat of Many Colours, I Will Always Love You and many more.

Dolly Parton’s introduction to music began from a young age as she started singing on local radio and appearing on TV programs in the East Tennessee area where she was born. At age 13, she had recorded a single Puppy Love with a small music label. After graduating from Sevier County High School, Dolly moved to Nashville where she began to work as a songwriter and wrote several top chart songs like Skeeter Davis’s Fuel to the Flame (1967).

At age 19, she signed to Monument Records who initially didn’t let her record country songs, but after she wrote ‘Put It Off Until Tomorrow’ recorded by Bill Philips went to number six on the country charts in 1966, they relented. Dolly released her first full-length album, Hello, I’m Dolly in 1967. She went on to release more chart-topping singles including one of her biggest hits, ‘Jolene’, in late 1974.

Dolly Parton has been a philanthropist, supporting many charitable efforts, since the mid-1980s. She runs a literacy program, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which mails one book per month to every child enrolled – from birth till kindergarten. The program currently has about 850,000 children enrolled. She is also the author of several books including a children’s picture book Coat of Many Colours.

Parton has donated over 100 million free books. She is also involved in helpful environmental causes and raises money to health organisations like the American Red Cross and HIV/AIDS-related charities.

Parton was also among the first set of celebrities to donate to finding a solution to the pandemic. She donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee to help facilitate research on the vaccine for COVID-19.

Parton is one of the most awarded female country performers of all time. She has won nine Grammy awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award in 2011. In 2014 she was awarded the Living Legend Medal by the U.S. Library of Congress, for her contributions to the cultural heritage of the United States. She has also been inducted into numerous Halls of Fame including Grammy Hall of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame and Country Music Hall of Fame.

This makes her more than worthy of her inclusion on the Neusroom 100 list, for her efforts in helping people and the world.