Jenny Sanders reflects on the Christian faith, remarkable generosity and sharp business mind behind the much-loved singer’s glittering public persona – and asks what we can learn from the legacy she leaves behind.
Iconic country singer Dolly Parton, died on 25 August aged 80. As tributes pour in, and the airwaves ring with toe-tapping versions of 9 to 5 and the minor cadences of Jolene, it is worth remembering that she was more than a sparkling country singer who played the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury in 2014.
From an unpromising start in poverty in a one-room cabin in Tennessee alongside 11 siblings, a hard-working mum and a tobacco-farming dad with no education, the instantly recognisable Dolly sold more than 100m records, wrote more than 3,000 songs and picked up 11 Grammy awards (from 54 nominations), three Academy Awards, three Emmys (from six nominations) and a Tony nomination in her lifetime.
It was her uncle who encouraged her to sing. She wrote her first song at the age of seven and, like many creatives, considered her craft a form of therapy. At 13, she sang in Nashville, the epicentre of all things country, and enjoyed three encores under the eye of Johnny Cash.
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Her award-winning song Coat of Many Colors was written on the back of a dry-cleaning receipt, telling the story of a childhood poor in terms of money but rich in other ways. ‘We didn’t have anything that money could buy,’ she once told an audience, but ‘we had help, helping hands. We had kind words. We had whatever we could do to help, we did. That’s just instilled in me.’
The persona of the dumb blonde wrong-footed many businessmen in the music industry, well aware as she was that she was neither blonde nor stupid.
The persona of the dumb blonde wrong-footed many businessmen in the music industry, well aware as she was that she was neither blonde nor stupid. She told Barbara Walters that showbusiness was ‘a money-making joke’ and would say: ‘It costs a lot of money to look this cheap.’ The high heels, long nails and general bling helped get her noticed. ‘I look like a woman but I think like a man,’ she observed. ‘I’ve done business with men who think I’m as silly as I look. By the time they realise I’m not, I’ve got the money and gone.’
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Astute in business, with her own record label and the famous Dollywood company, which includes an amusement park, she couldn’t read music, but she certainly knew how to write it. Dolly’s grandfather was a Pentecostal preacher and she spoke about how she grew up knowing that Jesus loved her. Her mother would remind her that ‘with God all things are possible’, and Dolly wove prayer into every aspect of her life: ‘I pray every day that God will lead me, guide me, and direct me; that he’ll bring all the right things, all the right people into my life, and take all the wrong things out. I ask him to let me every day do something to uplift mankind and to glorify him. Those are my prayers in the mornings.’
Her legacy is far greater than a catalogue of memorable songs, including the anthem I Will Always Love You, written when she parted company with her performance partner Porter Wagoner to pursue a solo career, and famously belted out by Whitney Houston in 1992.
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Thirty-one years ago, she started her Imagination Library, a project conceived to honour her father, who remained illiterate throughout his life.
Thirty-one years ago, she started her Imagination Library, a project conceived to honour her father, who remained illiterate throughout his life. Encouraging literacy, the programme posts free, high-quality books to children, regardless of income, every month until they turn five – over 300m so far. From Tennessee, this has expanded to include Canada, Australia, the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
Dolly’s official obituary referred to her ‘rhinestone life’, but also to ‘her wit, warmth and kindness’. Her music career aside, she enjoyed a 60-year marriage to her devoted husband, Carl Dean, and has left a legacy by ‘paying it forward’ and investing in future generations through her generous philanthropy.
We may not have the reach of her platform, her musical talent or the financial resources to facilitate a literacy programme, but we all have the capacity to leave a different sort of legacy: a spiritual investment in the next generation. It is one we should take seriously, emulating her conviction that we too are loved, that nothing is impossible with God, and that every day we can glorify him as we uplift and serve others.
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