|
SPOTLIGHT ON
DOLLY PARTON
Of "Backwoods
Barbie"--the album's title track--is featured as one of the songs
for the "9 to 5" musical, for which DOLLY wrote all the music and
lyrics (marking yet another career first for the unstoppable
legend). The show premieres at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los
Angeles September 20 (previews began September 3) and hits Broadway
April 23, 2009 at the Marquis Theatre.
A live performance video for the third single
"Shinola" was filmed on her recently-completed European tour (which
was her most successful European trek ever) at a sold-out show at
London's O2 Arena in front of 18,000 fans.
Released February 26, the BACKWOODS BARBIE
album entered the Top 200 Albums chart at #17 and at #2 on both the
Country Album and Indie Album charts and marks her highest album
debut ever on the Billboard pop albums chart, and first entry into
the Top 20 since 1993's Slow Dancing With The Moon. The album
has already featured two singles and videos, "Better Get To Livin'"
and "Jesus & Gravity."
DOLLY MAFIA KICK OFF BACKWOODS BARBIE TOUR
This weekend kicks off the final leg of
Dolly Parton's Backwoods Barbie Tour, where she will make stops
across the East coast as well as Canada. Tour dates are available at
www.myspace.com/dollyparton
To help launch the tour, Dolly and the Dolly
Mafia worked together to create one of the most impactful satellite
television and radio campaigns of her touring career.
Pictured (l-r): Dolly Mafia: Kirt Webster (Publicist),
Sharla McCoy (Promotions Consultant/SMT Producer) Dolly Parton,
Danny Nozell (Manager), and Bruce Reiner (Dolly Records VP Radio
Promotions)
DOLLY's fall tour dates are as follows:
Date
City
Venue
U.S. Dates
Fri 10/31 - Newark, NJ
/ NJPAC
Sat 11/1 - Providence, RI
/ PPAC
Sun 11/2 -
Mashantucket, CT / Foxwoods MGM Grand Theater
Wed 11/5 - Raleigh, NC / RBC
Center
Thu 11/6 - Norfolk,
VA / Constant Convocation Center
Fri 11/7 - Reading,
PA / The Sovereign Center
Canada Dates
Sun 11/9 - Rama, ONT / Casino
Rama
Mon 11/10 - Rama, ONT / Casino
Rama
Thu 11/13 - Winnipeg,
MB / MTS Centre
Fri 11/14 -
Saskatoon SK / Saskatoon Credit Union Centre
U.S.
Dates
Mon 11/17 - Milwaukee, WI /
Riverside Theater
Tue 11/18
- Green Bay, WI / Resch Center
More Dolly Parton info at: www.myspace.com/dollyparton
MORE ON DOLLY PARTON:
"I've always been a writer. My songs are the door to every dream
I've ever had and every success I've ever achieved," says Dolly
Parton of her incredible career, which has spanned nearly five
decades and is showing no signs of slowing down.
An internationally renowned superstar, the iconic and
irrepressible Parton has contributed countless treasures to the
world of music entertainment, penning classic songs such as
"Jolene," "Coat of Many Colors," and her mega-hit "I Will Always
Love You." With 1977's crossover hit "Here You Come Again," she
successfully erased the line between country and pop music without
noticeably altering either her music or her image. "I'm not leaving
country," she said at the time, "I'm just taking it with me."
 Making her film debut in the 1980
hit comedy 9 to 5, Dolly earned rave reviews for her performance and
an Oscar nomination for writing the title tune, along with her
second and third Grammy Awards. Roles in Steel Magnolias, Best
Little Whorehouse in Texas, Rhinestone, and Straight Talk followed,
along with two network television series, made for television
movies, network and HBO specials, and guest-starring roles in series
television. In 2006, Dolly earned her second Oscar nomination for
"Travelin' Thru," which she wrote for the film Transamerica.
Dolly Parton's remarkable life began very humbly. Born January
19, 1946 on a farm in Sevier County, Tennessee, Dolly is the fourth
of twelve children. Her parents, Robert Lee and Avie Lee Parton
struggled to make ends meet in the impoverished East Tennessee
hills. This hard rural life was the foundation of Dolly's career, as
she began singing almost before she could talk, according to her
father.
By age 10, Dolly was performing on local television and radio
shows in nearby Knoxville, Tennessee. "I always wanted to be a star.
It just seemed natural to me," she said. "Making music is all I've
ever known."
Dolly left for Nashville the day after her high school
graduation. On her first afternoon there, she met a young man, Carl
Dean, who would become her husband. Two years later, in May 1966,
they were married. "He's good for me, cause he's so different in
nature from me," she smiles.
In 1967, Dolly's career took off when country music superstar
Porter Wagoner began featuring her on his popular syndicated
television show, exposing Dolly to over 45 million people in more
than 100 markets and attracting the attention of record executives
at RCA. Dolly and Porter had 14 Top Ten hits together, and Dolly
quickly blossomed into one of the best-selling country artists in
music history. By 1974, Dolly ended her working relationship with
Wagoner. She was voted the Country Music Association Female Artist
of the Year two years in a row, and in 1978, Dolly was named the CMA
Entertainer of the Year.
In 1974, "I Will Always Love You" topped the charts and did so
again in 1982 when it was revived in the movie Best Little
Whorehouse in Texas, making Dolly the first artist to earn a number
one record twice with the same song. In 1992, the song was recorded
by Whitney Houston for the movie The Bodyguard and went on to sell
in excess of 4 million copies, topping the charts once again. "I
Will Always Love You" was named BMI's Most Performed Song of the
Year in 1993.
Dolly saw a cherished dream become a reality in 1986 with the
opening of her own theme park called Dollywood, in Pigeon Forge,
Tennessee, at the base of the Great Smoky Mountains. The state's
number one tourist attraction, Dollywood was selected by the theme
park industry as one of the top three theme parks in the world in
2006.
In 1988, she began the Dollywood Foundation to inspire children
in her home community to dream more, learn more, do more and care
more. Currently the foundation funds the Dolly Parton Imagination
Library across America and in Canada, by giving every preschool
child a book each month from the time he or she is born until the
child reaches kindergarten. With the help of local sponsors, this
program has expanded to over 800 communities in 41 states and will
give away over 5 million books in 2007 alone. Dolly says, "My dad
was prouder of me for this program than for my music career. He
thought it was grand that all the kids called me the Book Lady."
Also in 1988, Dolly founded a group of dinner attractions called
Dixie Stampede. In 2001, she built Dollywood's Splash Country, which
is Tennessee's largest water park. Dolly Parton's entertainment
businesses attract 4.5 million visitors annually and employ more
than 3,000 people.
Long respected for her instinctive business savvy, Dolly
established Velvet Apple Music (BMI) early in her career and owns
the copyrights and the publishing for her vast songwriting empire.
She owns her own successful record label, Blue Eye Records.
Dolly Parton transitioned her flair for making hit music into
producing hit movies and television shows when she established
Sandollar Productions with former manager, Sandy Gallin. A film and
television production company, Sandollar has produced feature films
such as Father of the Bride I and II, Straight Talk, Sabrina,
Shining Through, IQ, and the Academy Award-winning (for Best
Documentary) Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt, along with Fox
television shows Babes and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Her 1994 autobiography was aptly titled "My Life and Other
Unfinished Business." Dolly Parton is the most honored female
country performer of all time. Achieving 25 RIAA certified gold,
platinum and multi-platinum awards, she has had 25 songs reach
number 1 on the Billboard Country charts, a record for a female
artist. She has 41 career top 10 country albums, a record for any
artist, and she has 110 career charted singles over the past 40
years. All-inclusive sales of singles, albums, hits collections,
paid digital downloads and compilation usage during her Hall of Fame
career have reportedly topped a staggering 100 million records
world-wide.
She has garnered 7 Grammy Awards, 10 Country Music Association
Awards, 5 Academy of Country Music Awards, 3 American Music Awards
and is one of only five female artists to win the Country Music
Association's Entertainer of the Year Award.
In 1999, Dolly Parton was inducted as a member of the Country
Music Hall of Fame. She has her own star on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame and became a member of the National Academy of Popular Music
Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001. Broadcast Music, Inc. honored
Dolly with their Icon Award in 2003, and in 2004, the U.S. Library
of Congress presented her with their Living Legend Award for her
contribution to the cultural heritage of the United States. This was
followed in 2005 with the National Medal of Arts, the highest honor
given by the U.S. government for excellence in the arts.
In December, 2006 Dolly was honored by the Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts for her lifetime of contributions to the arts. In
June 2007 Dolly was named the recipient of the prestigious Johnny
Mercer Award from the Songwriter's Hall of Fame. The Johnny Mercer
Award is exclusively reserved for a songwriter who has already been
inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in a prior year, and
whose body of work is of such high quality and impact, that it
upholds the gold standard set by the legendary Johnny Mercer.
Yet with all of the national and international recognition given
her, Dolly Parton calls the bronze statue of her, which stands on
the courthouse lawn in her hometown of Sevierville, Tennessee, her
"greatest honor, because it came from the people who know me."
Always dreaming and always looking forward, Dolly is busier than
ever. Writing the music and lyrics for the upcoming Broadway musical
version of 9-5, working on various children's projects, and writing
and recording a new album, "Backwoods Barbie," set for release in
February 2008; these projects are just a few of her many interests
at the moment. The phenomenon of Dolly Parton continues to flourish,
as she remains one of world's true superstars.
Thanks For The Music Dolly
Glenda S. Paradee & Dolly
Parton
|
