The Dolly Parton has come a long way since her impoverished upbringing as one of 12 children living in rural Sevier County, in east Tennessee. Back then, the little girl had big dreams of stardom, using whatever she found to transport herself to better days ahead.
When I was a little girl I used a tobacco stick and a tin can and pretended it was a microphone and I sang on my front porch, imagining I was on the Grand Ole Opry!,” Parton shared in an Instagram post.
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The 72-year-old has clearly not only achieved her dreams, but exceeded them. Becoming a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1969, Parton also was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999, sold over 100 million albums, and received more than 35 major awards (including nine GRAMMYS). In addition, Parton has had a successful career in film and TV, runs her successful The Dollywood Company (that includes the theme park, Dollywood, which employs more than 3000 people), and began her philanthropic Imagination Library, which to date has given 100 million books away.
Parton recently earned two Guinness Book of World Records, for being the artist with the most hits on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart, with 107 hits by a female, and the most decades with a Top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, spanning six decades on the chart.
For Parton, her secret to success is simple: doing whatever it takes to her dreams.
“Hard work, I think people attribute their success to, because you’re not going to do it without hard work,” explains Parton. “It certainly helps to have a talent, and it certainly helps to have a lot of people helping you out. I’ve been blessed with good people all through the years. I always pray that God will bring all the good and right people into my life, and take all the wrong ones out … I don’t think anybody becomes a great success without being willing to work for it.”
Photo Credit: Instagram/DollyParton
