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![Dolly Parton attends the 61st Annual Grammy Awards Dolly Parton attends the 61st Annual Grammy Awards](https://cdn.aarp.net/content/dam/aarpe/en/home/entertainment/music/info-2021/dolly-parton-10-reasons-why-we-love-her/_jcr_content/root/container_main/container_body_main/container_body1/container_body_cf/container_image/articlecontentfragment/cfimage.coreimg.50.932.jpeg/content/dam/aarp/entertainment/music/2021/01/1140-dolly-parton-grammys.jpg)
"I'm like a cartoon,” Dolly Parton once said. “I can see it now — people will be rolling me around in a wheelchair and I'll still have my big hair, nails, my high heels and my boobs stuck out!"
The country music icon turns 75 on Jan. 19, and she's still got all that, minus the wheelchair. Known for her hyperfeminine style, lovely voice, stellar songwriting and rural Tennessee background (she was one of 12 children raised in a one-room cabin), Dolly has one of the most impressive legacies in show business: eight Grammys won, more than 100 million records sold and an empire worth an estimated $500 million that includes films, books, a production company and the Dollywood theme park.
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But there's so much more to the star — creator of timeless songs like “Coat of Many Colors,” “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You” — beyond her giant sales figures and outsized persona. “I believe that there is in that one woman more talent per molecule than any other person on the planet,” Ken Burns gushed in a 2019 interview with AARP about his Country Music documentary. “I love Dolly. She's fantastic."
Here are 10 reasons we, too, will always love her (with assists from her own Dollyisms).
![Dolly Parton poses for a portrait at age 9 Dolly Parton poses for a portrait at age 9](https://cdn.aarp.net/content/dam/aarpe/en/home/entertainment/music/info-2021/dolly-parton-10-reasons-why-we-love-her/_jcr_content/root/container_main/container_body_main/container_body1/container_body_cf/body_one_cf_one/par4/articlecontentfragme/cfimage.coreimg.50.932.jpeg/content/dam/aarp/entertainment/music/2021/01/1140-dolly-parton-1955.jpg)
1. Her humility
A superstar who never lost touch with her roots, Dolly addressed her “dirt poor” upbringing with candor, humor and even gratitude for the lessons it provided. “I'm proud of my hillbilly, white trash background,” she told Southern Living. “To me, that keeps you humble. That keeps you good. And it doesn't matter how hard you try to outrun it — if that's who you are, that's who you are."
![Dolly Parton performs onstage in 1975 Dolly Parton performs onstage in 1975](https://cdn.aarp.net/content/dam/aarpe/en/home/entertainment/music/info-2021/dolly-parton-10-reasons-why-we-love-her/_jcr_content/root/container_main/container_body_main/container_body1/container_body_cf/body_one_cf_one/par6/articlecontentfragme/cfimage.coreimg.50.932.jpeg/content/dam/aarp/entertainment/music/2021/01/1140-dolly-parton-1975-la.jpg)
2. Her blonde ambition
Dolly was determined to be a famous singer. In 2009, she described the night she graduated from high school, in 1964: “We were all asked to stand up and talk about what we were going to do with the rest of our lives. And everybody had a different story. And when it came my time, I stood right up there. I said, ‘I'm going to Nashville and I'm going to be a star.’ Well, the whole place laughed out loud. And I was so embarrassed, ‘cause I thought, ‘How odd. Why is everybody laughing? ‘Cause that is what I'm going to do.’ “
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