Thursday, January 20, 2011

Happy 65th birthday, Dolly Parton!

The Smoky Mountain Songbird. The Queen of Country. The Backwoods Barbie.

That may be what she’s known as today, but 65 years ago, Dolly Rebecca Parton was born to tobacco farmer Robert Parton and his wife Avie in Tennessee. Since then she’s become one of the most successful country singers in the world, a two-time Golden Globe nominated actress and a theme park owner.

We can never get enough, as this CNN.com anchor shows. So in celebration of her birthday, let’s take a look back at the 64th year of Dolly.


In May, Dolly Parton lost a Dolly Parton look-a-like contest… to a man. Apparently the 5-foot-tall singer didn’t measure up to Santa Monica’s expectations. She also bumped breasts with Wendy Williams at a rehearsal for Kenny Roger’s 50th anniversary TV special.

Not all of Parton’s year had to do with her high-profile figure. Her Broadway musical, “9 to 5,” launched its North American tour in September and she appeared several times on Disney’s “Hannah Montana” as Aunt Dolly.

In November, Parton celebrated the 25th anniversary of Dollyworld by accepting the theme park industry’s most prestigious award, the 2010 Applause Award. That same month she announced her plans to release a new album and begin a worldwide tour in 2011.

Also on the to-do list for 2011 is filming a movie with Queen Latifah called “Joyful Noise” and accepting the Lifetime Achievement award at the Grammys in February.

To start the new year off right, Parton tweeted this morning: “Thanks for all the lovely Birthday messages this morning. Very humbled you all remembered. XX”

As if we could forget, Dolly.

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