Today (January 19) is Dolly Parton’s birthday! She turns 77.
Here are some interesting facts about Dolly.
1Her Parents Paid for her Birth in a Unique Way
The Tennessee native was born in the Great Smoky Mountains. Parton’s father, Robert paid the doctor who helped deliver her with a bag of oatmeal, shared Eastern Sevier County.
2Dolly is a Guinness World Record Holder
In 2018, Parton was awarded a spot in the Guinness World Record Book recognizing her for holding records for the Most decades with a Top 20 hit on the US Hot Country Songs chart and Most hits on the US Hot Country Songs chart by a female artist.
3Here’s One Thing She Doesn’t Do
Dolly doesn’t ride any of the rides at Dollywood. Telling New York Times, “I don’t ride the rides. I never have. I have a tendency to get motion sickness. Also, I’m a little bit chicken. With all my hair I got so much to lose, like my wig or my shoes. I don’t like to get messed up.”
4The Contest She Should’ve Won She Lost
In a Dolly look-alike contest, Parton lost. “At a Halloween contest years ago on Santa Monica Boulevard where all the guys were dressed up like me and I just overexaggerated my look and went in and just walked up on stage. … I didn’t win. I didn’t even come in close, I don’t think,” she told ABC.
5Elvis Wanted to Record This Dolly Classic
An incredible songwriter, she was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001, the HOF shares Parton has solely written 700 songs including “I Will Always Love You,” a song Elvis asked to record but wanted half of the publishing rights. Dolly turned down the deal.
“I thought, ‘Oh, no, that’s already been a hit and that’s what I’m leaving for my family.’ It had nothing to do with Elvis, because hopefully he was disappointed too,” she said to Oprah.com. “But I just wouldn’t let him have the publishing.”
