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See the full story · 34 sourcesDolly Parton. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Before Dolly Parton was a country megastar, she grew up in a poor family in rural Tennessee.
She wrote her first song at age 5 and played her first show at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry at 13.
Her family announced her passing at age 80 on Tuesday.
Dolly Parton's journey from a humble two-room cabin in rural Tennessee to the bright lights of country music stardom is one of the most inspiring stories in the music industry.
Parton, who died at age 80 on August 25, became a cultural icon, celebrated not only for chart-topping hits like "9-to-5" and "I Will Always Love You," but also for her philanthropy, business ventures , and effortless charm.
Before her passing, Parton had canceled her scheduled Vegas residency, citing health concerns.
Here's a complete timeline of Parton's decades in the public eye and her remarkable career.
Dolly Parton was born in Locust Ridge, Tennessee, on January 19, 1946.
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
The fourth of 12 children, Parton was born to a poor family in rural Appalachia.
Parton's father, Robert Lee, was a tobacco farmer and a construction worker who never learned to read or write, having dropped out of school as a young child.
Her mother, Avie Lee Owens, was a preacher's daughter who spent most of her life raising and caring for her children.
Parton always knew she wanted to be a star. In the early days of her musical career, she sang barefoot on the front porch of her family's home in the mountains, a two-room log cabin with no running water or electricity.
In 1951, at just 5 years old, Parton wrote her first song, "Little Tiny Tassel Top."
Two years later, in 1953, Parton was so enthusiastic about playing music that she made her first guitar out of an old mandolin and two bass guitar strings, according to the Library of Congress .
Although Parton's family was poor, a wealth of musical talent surrounded her.
NASHVILLE - 1965: Country singer Dolly Parton poses for a portrait in 1965 in Nashville, Tennessee. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Biography reported that Parton's mother sang and played guitar. Parton's father also played banjo and guitar, but she has credited her uncle Bill Owens with helping launch her career.
Owens recognized her talent early on and became her first manager. According to the Library of Congress, he secured her first regular performing role in 1956 on Knoxville's "The Cas Walker Show."
He introduced Parton to the multimillionaire businessman and TV host after getting her backstage during a taping of the show. Once there, Parton told Walker that she wanted to work for him — and it paid off.
Parton professionally recorded her first single, "Puppy Love," in 1957.
American singer Dolly Parton performs during her Tokyo concert on Monday, July 30, 1979. The popular vocalist, who won the Grammy award this year, sang 20 songs before a crowd of 1,600. Tsugufumi Matsumoto/AP
The Library of Congress reported that Parton wrote the song with her uncle when she was 11 and released the single, along with the B-track "Girl Left Alone," on Goldband Records in 1959.
Speaking of the 30-hour bus ride to Lake Charles, Louisiana, to record the single, Parton has said , "I don't think I'll ever forget the way the inside of that bus smelled. It was a combination of diesel fuel, Naugahyde, and people who were going places."
The single didn't garner any commercial success.
At the age of 13, she performed at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry for the first time.
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Parton has said it was always her dream to perform at the Opry.
"For me, the Opry is like the song 'New York, New York' — if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere," she said, according to her Opry artist bio .
At age 13, she got her chance. On the night of her performance, Johnny Cash introduced the young Parton and, after singing George Jones' song "You Gotta Be My Baby," she received three encores, the Library of Congress reported.
Parton was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry 10 years later in 1969, and in 2019, the TV special "Dolly Parton: 50 Years at the Opry" aired on NBC, honoring her first performance at the famed Opry House.
In a 2019 interview with Variety about the TV special, Parton reminisced about how informative those early days at the Opry were.
"I just have so many memories, even as a child watching the people backstage and just standing out there on that stage where all the great people stood, just thinking maybe some day I could be part of them," Parton said.
"Now that I've been lucky enough and fortunate enough to see that dream come true, I wonder if some little kid might say 'I bet Dolly Parton once stood here' or 'I'm standing where Dolly Parton stood.'"
From 1962 to 1966, Parton and her uncle had mixed success writing and recording songs.
GAB Archive/Getty Images
The duo was signed to Tree Publishing and Mercury Records in Nashville in 1962 and recorded the songs "It's Sure Gonna Hurt" and "The Love You Gave."
The songs didn't make the charts, and the label dropped Parton and Owens, according to the Library of Congress.
Despite this, Parton has said it was magical hearing herself on the radio.
"I will never forget hearing [myself] on a Knoxville station, WIVK," she said . "There I was, actually hearing myself sing, not on a tape or studio monitor but on a real radio station that thousands of people were listening to… at that very moment.
"I was so proud I walked around for days with my chest all stuck out," she said. "Somehow, nobody noticed."
Parton recorded six songs for the 1963 album "Hits Made Famous by Country Queens." Two years later, she and Owens signed with Fred Foster's Combine Publishing House and Monument Records.
Their songwriting partnership quickly found success. In 1966, Bill Phillips reached the Top 10 with two songs Parton and Owens wrote together: "Put It Off Until Tomorrow" and "The Co...
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