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DOLLY WE WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU
Most people alive today, cannot remember not having Dolly Parton in the music world. Dolly Parton’s career spanned decades and included Grammy wins, film roles and, later in life, a musical inspired with her life titled Dolly. With a distinguished career that lasted decades, Dolly Parton is the best-selling female country music artist of all time, having sold more than 160 million albums worldwide. Her debut album was 1967’s Hello, I’m Dolly, and she went on to release a slew of hits, including “Will Always Love You,” “9 to 5” and “Jolene.” Born in Pittman Center, TN in 1946, Dolly had 11 siblings, and the family was poor. At age 6, she began playing her first guitar and singing in her grandfather’s church. She started writing songs a year later. During her career, Dolly won an Emmy, 11 Grammy awards, 10 Country Music Association awards, seven Academy of Country Music awards, three American Music awards and earned two Academy Award nominations, as well as an honorary Oscar. She was one of only seven female artists to win the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year award. Her list of awards is just to long to name all, but Rock N Roll Hall of Fame and Kennedy Honors were part of that impressive list of achievements. But more than her list of achievements was the love the music world had for this pint sized lady. Not just the Country music world, but across all genres. And the fans could not get enough of her either. They felt they knew her personally because her songs, her movies, her book, whatever she did, touched their heart. It is safe to say, everyone loved Dolly Parton. Dolly was set to return to Las Vegas in December 2025 for a residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace — her first extended run in the city in more than 30 years — but in September of that year, she announced that the dates had been postponed due to “health challenges.” She would never return to the stage. On August 25, 2026, the world lost their beloved Dolly, a little over a year after she lost her husband of 60 years, Carl Thomas Dean. Somehow it is easy to imagine Dolly Parton up in Heaven, singing once again “Islands In The Stream” with her best buddy, Kenny Rogers. And no doubt she knows, Dolly, we will always love you.