Late last year fans were left terrified after rumours began swirling that Dolly Parton was worryingly sick.
The country singer’s sister appeared to blow things way ‘out of proportion’ after she shared she was ‘praying’ for Dolly, only for her manager to confirm that her health ailments weren’t serious and she was only suffering from kidney stones.
Taking to Instagram to shut down the news, the hitmaker penned: ‘I ain’t dead yet!’ and as she celebrates her 80th birthday the singer is showing no signs of slowing down.
Speaking in an interview last June, the 9 to 5 singer replied: ‘Well, so what?’ when asked about the huge milestone.
‘Age is just a number. Yes, I’m going to be 80, but I don’t feel 80. I honestly don’t feel much different to when I was 40,’ she told Woman’s Day.
She’s has sold over 100 million records and has an estimated fortune of $650 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth, but she claims she is just getting started.
‘I ain’t dead yet!’ As Dolly Parton celebrates her 80th birthday a look back at the country singer’s incredible career and why she is showing no signs of slowing down
She’s has sold over 100 million records and has an estimated fortune of $650 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth, but she claims she is just getting started (pictured in 1977)
The country singer’s sister appeared to blow things way ‘out of proportion’ regarding her health fears last year, and Dolly took to Instagram to confirm: ‘I ain’t dead yet!’
‘I don’t know what I’m going to be doing tomorrow, but whatever comes, I’ll give it my best. Unless my health gives way, which right now I seem to be doing fine. There’s a lot to be said about age.
‘If you allow yourself to get old, you will. I say, “I ain’t got time to get old! I ain’t got time to dwell on that”.’
Just last week the star shared a snap of her with her floral embroidered guitar as she wrote: ‘I wake up with new dreams every day’ and on Friday she released a new rendition of her song Light Of A Clear Blue Morning, featuring Lainey Wilson, Miley Cyrus, Queen Latifah and Reba McEntire.
Her latest book Star of the Show: My Life on Stage was released late last year, charting a look back on her seven decades of performing.
Yet before the flashing lights, big shows and dazzling looks, Dolly came from incredibly humble beginnings.
The fourth eldest of 12 children, Dolly and her family lived in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Tennessee, leading a simple life – with beds made of straw, no running water, gas or electricity.
Her mother Avie Lee often struggled with her mental health and their father Robert Lee Parton was a drinker, meaning Dolly and her siblings Stella and ‘second mother’ Willadeene were forced to parent the younger ones.
As was typical among poor Appalachian communities, which failed to feel the benefits of the post-war economic boom, they were scratching a living from the land and when Avie went into labour, her husband had to give the local doctor a bag of grain to persuade him to deliver her.
Raised in a house of 14, Dolly’s upbringing was anything but ordinary prior to her rise to fame as one of eleven sibling (pictured together)
Dolly and her family lived in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Tennessee, leading a simple life – with beds made of straw, no running water, gas or electricity. (pictured with her sister Freida (R) and Stella (middle))
Her fame and fortune have taken her far beyond what she could have ever dreamed of after bonding with her siblings over a shared love of folklore and ballads.
‘I grew up in a very musical family, all my mother’s people were very musical, so I was always around people playing instruments and singing, and my mom singing the old songs,’ Dolly told PEOPLE magazine in 2020.
‘So that was just part of my being and I just knew I loved it. I just continued doing that, it was just a natural thing.’
Her first chart hit was Dumb Blonde in 1967 which led to a life-changing gig on The Porter Wagoner Show, the biggest syndicated country music TV show in America.
Always staying in control of her career despite the sexism of the music industry she previously said: ‘I’m not offended by the dumb blonde jokes because I know I’m not dumb … and I also know I’m not blonde.’
In a genius move she set up her own publishing company back in 1965, which means she owns every cent her records make.
Almost half her fortune comes from royalties earned from covers of her songs by artists from The Bee Gees to Ellie Goulding. She’s earned more than £20 million from movies.
Her hit I Will Always Love You, sold 20 million copies when Whitney Houston recorded it in 1992 and she even had the guts to first turn down Elvis Presley who wanted to record the song but only if he owned 50 per cent of the rights.
Since then, she’s gone on to have 21 certified gold or platinum hits, won 11 Grammys, and dozens of other music awards.
Her first chart his was Dumb Blonde in 1967 which led to a life-changing gig on The Porter Wagoner Show (pictured), the biggest syndicated country music TV show in America
Over her nearly 60 year career, she has also earned an Emmy, a GLAAD Media Award, a Kennedy Center Honor and been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (pictured in 1980)
In 1978 Jane Fonda approached the singer to take on her first movie role, in the iconic 9 To 5, which is now also a West End Musical hit (pictured in the film with Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda)
Over her nearly 60 year career, she has also earned an Emmy, a GLAAD Media Award, a Kennedy Center Honor and been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 1978 Jane Fonda approached the singer to take on her first movie role, in the iconic 9 To 5, which is now also a West End Musical hit.
The single 9 To 5 remains – alongside Jolene and I Will Always Love You – one of her biggest hits. It was at No 1 in the UK for 10 weeks in 1992.
Yet her career hasn’t always been easy. She caused scandal in the conservative country music scene in the Seventies when she left the Wagoner TV show to find fame in Hollywood.
While it may be known as one of the greatest love songs of all time, I Will Always Love You was never about romance and Dolly wrote it for Wagoner after he refused to allow her to leave his show in 1974 after they put out 27 best-selling albums together.
They never had a romantic relationship, yet she said she loved him deeply and after writing that song he let her go and Dolly hit the mainstream.
The country legend also reached a whole new audience after she made multiple features in the hit Disney show Hannah Montana as the godmother of Miley Cyrus (both in the show and in real life).
The pair have collaborated numerous times with a rendition of Miley’s hit Wrecking Ball appearing on Dolly’s 2023 album Rockstar.
The duo also famously performed together for an NBC special for New Year’s Eve in 2023 and there are rumours that should a Dolly Parton biopic be in the works, Miley would fill her shoes.
The country legend reached a whole new audience after she made multiple features in the hit Disney show Hannah Montana as the godmother of Miley Cyrus (pictured in 2007)
The duo also famously performed together for an NBC special for New Year’s Eve in 2023 (pictured)
Undoubtedly her 80th milestone will be tinged with sadness as it marks the first birthday she will spend without her husband Carl, who passed away last March.
The couple were married for 59 years after tying the knot in 1966, two years after they first met at a laundromat in Nashville in 1964, before she soared to the top of the charts with hits like Jolene and 9 to 5.
Speaking in her new Channel 5 documentary, Dolly Parton: In Her Own Words, the singer opened up about how they first met.
‘When I first moved to Nashville in 1964 I was doing dirty laundry because I was in such a hurry to move to Nashville from my home in East Tennessee which was 200 miles away.
‘I’d never been in a laundromat before. I walked outside there was this good looking man that drove by the wishy-washy laundromat. And he pulled over to the side.
‘So we started talking and we married two years later and we’ve been married for 32 years now.’
Carl was known for being reclusive and the couple mainly kept their relationship out of the public eye despite Dolly’s global fame.
Dolly previously told Entertainment Tonight about a sweet conversation she had with her husband.
‘He said, ”I didn’t choose this world, I chose you, and you chose that world. But we can keep our lives separate and together.” And we do and we have.’
In 2011 Dolly told the Toronto Sun: ‘We’re really very proud of our marriage. It’s the first for both of us. And the last.’
While the pair have never had children, the musician insisted she has ‘not missed’ having children.
She admitted her career would have been put on the back-burner if she’d started a family and that little ones was not a ‘burning’ desire for her.
She told Saga Magazine: ‘I haven’t missed it like I thought I might. When you’re a young couple, you think you’re going to have kids, but it just wasn’t one of those burning things for me. I had my career and my music and I was travelling.
‘If I’d had kids, I’d have stayed at home with them. I’m sure and worried myself to death about them.
‘With everything that’s going on, I’d hate to be bringing a child into this world right now!
‘I always say God didn’t let me have children so that all kids could be mine.’
However, undoubtedly her 80th milestone will be tinged with sadness as it marks the first birthday she will spend without her husband Carl, who passed away last March
The couple were married for 59 years after tying the knot in 1966, two years after they first met at a laundromat in Nashville in 1964, prior to her fame
Addressing them in a video on her Instagram she joked: ‘I wanted to say I know lately everyone thinks that I am sicker than I am, do I look sick to you?’
Back in October fans were left worried after Dolly’s sister Freida said was ‘praying’ for Dolly, who had recently cancelled her Vegas residency, prompting fears that the star was in worse shape than fans initially thought.
However the star made sure to reassure fans she is not slowing down just yet.
Addressing them in a video on her Instagram she joked: ‘I wanted to say I know lately everyone thinks that I am sicker than I am, do I look sick to you?
‘I am working hard here. Anyway I wanted to put everyone’s mind at ease those of you who seem to be real concerned, which I appreciate and I appreciate your prayers because I am a person of faith and I can always use the prayers for anything and everything.
‘But I want you to know that I am ok. I have got some problems as I mentioned. Back when my husband Carl was very sick and then when he passed I didn’t take care of myself so I let a lot things go that I should have been taking care of.
‘Nothing major but I did have to cancel some things to have a few treatments here and there. But I wanted you to know I’m not dying’.
This September the star will perform six nights at the The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
While all proceeds from her latest single Light Of A Clear Blue Morning will benefit pediatric cancer research at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville.
Who knows what is next for the singer, but one thing is for sure as she celebrates her 80th, her big dreams came true.
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