Dolly Parton

Born: 19 January 1946
Where: Tennessee, USA

Born in a one-room cabin on the banks of the Little Pigeon River in East Tennessee, Dolly grew up to become the queen of country music and transformed her humble origins into the stuff of myth at Dollywood, her wildly popular Smoky Mountains theme park.

Performing on Knoxville radio as a singing guitarist by the time she was 11, she made her TV debut on The Porter Wagoner Show in 1960 and moved to Nashville following her graduation from high school in 1964.

She cultivated a "trashy" look early in her career, favouring bright red nails ("I needed to be colorful to look at"), bleach-blonde hair (replaced later by platinum wigs) and five-inch heals ("Because I can't find six-inch heels").

However, her abiding trademark is her chest, which has inspired a multitude of jokes, many told on herself by Parton - "I would have been very tall had I not got so bunched up at the top".

Parton joined Wagoner's Wagon Masters band in 1967, performing with him for the next seven years.

Her solo act repertoire became less overtly country, and there was no looking back after her 1977 Grammy-winning single Here You Come Again crossed over into the US Hot 100 pop charts.

Dolly ventured into movies in 1980, giving an engaging performance as a Southern secretary opposite Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin in 9 to 5. She also wrote the film's title song, which earned an Oscar nomination and a Grammy.

She played the good-hearted brothel owner opposite Burt Reynolds in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, followed by Rhinestone, featuring her first movie score.

Rebounding from these unsuccessful films, in 1986 she founded Dollywood, a theme park in her hometown Tennessee, and three years later played the owner of a hair salon in Steel Magnolias.

In 1991 she starred in, executive produced, provided story and wrote music for the TV-movie Wild Texas Wind, followed a year later by a feature role in Straight Talk, for which she also provided songs.

Dolly's song "I Will Always Love You" became a huge hit that year for Whitney Houston as the theme of The Bodyguard.

Music remains her first love, and recent years have seen her return to her country roots, less concerned in the crossover potential of her songs.