Dolly Parton, the country singer from the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, died aged 80 after a brief battle with cancer,  will be remembered for her songs that told beautiful stories so honestly, such as Coat of Many Colors, Jolene and Will Always Love You. In her seven-decade career, Parton won 10 Grammy awards, sold more than 100 million records worldwide, and wrote in excess of 3, 000 songs.

Dolly Parton in1980 was filming her first Hollywood movie, 9 to 5, her idea for the tune title song that would become the movie’s theme song. Her guitar was banned from the set, and she made the beat by strumming her acrylic nails together, which sounded like the typewriter used by her character, a married secretary who is constantly belittled and sexually harassed by her boss.

Co-stars Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda, who was also the film’s producer saw the song as an anthem. Fonda said: “Lily and I looked at each other and we had gooseg=bumps, and we knew, this is not just a movie song, this is an anthem.” The song released in November 1980, 9 to 5 became Parton’s only US number one as a solo artist, and earner her an Oscar nomination for best song.

In 1967 she was hired as the “girl singer” on The Porter Wagoner Show,  a TV showcase for country singer Porter Wagoner that reached millions of viewers each week. They together released 21 hit duets including Just Someone I Used to Know, If Teardrops Were Pennies and Please Don’t Stop Loving Me.

Parton helped the world from children’s books to supporting Covid vaccine, as she supported communities in need, especially in her home state of Tennessee, by funding medical research that led to one of the first Covid-19 vaccines, donated to wildfire victims and even helped the once-endangered bald eagle, America’s national bird. She helped by setting up her Imagination Library- her charity work that has helped millions of children learn to read by sending  out free books. She wrote “ I think deep down inside, my daddy was prouder of the library than he even was of my career”.