Dolly Parton is one of the most-honoured female country performers of all time. A composer of more than 3,000 songs, she is also one of the few to have received at least one nomination from the Academy Awards, Grammy Awards, Tony Awards, and Emmy Awards.
Just some of her achievements and awards include:
– 25 of her single or album releases reached either Gold Record, Platinum Record, or Multi-Platinum Record
– 26 songs reached No. 1 on the Billboard country charts (a record for a female artist)
– She has 42 career top-10 country albums, a record for any artist, and 110 career-charted singles over the past 40 years.
– 9 Grammy Awards (from 46 nominations)
– 7 awards from the Academy of Country Music
– Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year (1978).
– Nominated for two Academy Awards and a Tony Award.
– Nominated for an Emmy Award in 1978.
– Inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 1969
– Named one of Ms. Magazine’s Women of the Year in 1986.
– Inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1986.
Parton was awarded the Living Legend Medal by the U.S. Library of Congress in 2004, for her contributions to the cultural heritage of the United States.
Dolly Parton was also honoured in 2018 by the US Library of Congress to mark the 100 millionth book that she has donated to children.
Her nonprofit, “Imagination Library”, was founded more than two decades ago with the goal of giving books to kids around the world.
“Of all the things I’ve done in my life, and it’s been a lot ’cause I’ve been around a long time, this is one of the most precious things and the proudest I am of any program,” Dolly told the gathered audience of wee ones and adults.
She engaged the audience during the celebration by reading—and singing—her children‘s book created from her song, “A Coat of Many Colors,” about a child who treasured a coat that her momma quilted from rags.
Known by the children who received her gifts as “The Book Lady”, she started the program to honour her father, who couldn’t read, yet was the “smartest man” she ever knew.
