Dolly Parton, the Music Legend with a well-lived life

Remember Dolly, the cloned sheep? Do you know how she got her name? Well, she was named Dolly because she was cloned with cells from the mammary glands of an ewe. Mammary, as in of breasts, breasts like those of Dolly Parton’s.

Oh, there is also a bridge named Dolly Parton somewhere in Alabama, which got its name because it has arches that resemble Dolly’s breasts.

Breasts are not all there are in the Dolly Parton legend. She once joined a drag Dolly Parton look-alike contest and lost.

Dolly is also famous for her quotes. On cosmetic enhancement, she said, “If something is bagging, sagging or dragging, I’ll tuck it, suck it or pluck it.”

There is also an almost serious take on women’s rights. “Womanhood was a difficult thing to get a grip on in those hills, unless you were a man.”

Dolly was born in a one-room cabin in Tennessee to a family of 12 children on Jan. 19, 1946. She was 12 years old when the family moved into a two-room cabin.

As of a year ago, when she turned 79, she was said to be worth $500M, thanks to a successful career.

As a singer and songwriter, she was known as the Queen of Country Music with hits in the Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platinum categories.

Among these are I Will Always Love You, also a massive hit for Whitney Houston, Jolene, Coat of Many Colors, Light of a Clear Blue Morning, 9 to 5, Islands in the Stream with Kenny Rogers, The Day I Fell in Love with James Ingram, and others.

She had been singing since she was six years old and continued to do so until two years ago when she cancelled a Las Vegas stint. She has sold over 100 million records all over the world.

She had recently collaborated with Beyoncé, a version of Jolene in “Cowboy Carter,” with Sabrina Carpenter in Please Please Please and had Paul McCartney, Elton John, Ringo Starr, Sting, Sheryl Crow, Steve Perry and  her goddaughter  Miley Cyrus singing with her in World on Fire, a track in her last album, “Rockstar,” her 49th release from three years ago.

She was an actress who starred in “9 to 5,” “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” “Rhinestone,” “Steel Magnolias,” “Joyful Noise,” and others.

She had won Grammys and Emmys and had been nominated for the Academy Award, the Golden Globes and even the Tonys, which was for the musical “9 to 5.”

Among her business ventures is a theme park named Dollywood, which she built on one of her former homes. She was supposed to launch a new roller coaster ride before she passed away.

She is a published author, her autobiographies, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics, Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones, the cookbook Good Lookin’ Cookin’, Run Rose Run, a novel with James Patterson, a children’s book, Billy the Kid Makes It Big, plus others.

She founded the Imagination Library, which supplies books to families, especially to children every year from birth, and it is all for free.

For this and her other philanthropic efforts, she was a recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

These facts contributed to making Dolly Parton a living legend. Now that she has passed on to eternity, there will surely be more of them brought to the open to celebrate a well-lived life.

Dolly Parton passed away last Aug. 25. She was 80 years old. Would you believe she left behind the recording of a new song to be released only after her death.