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DOLLY PARTON WAS just six years old when she began singing at her local church in East Tennessee, where her grandfather was a pastor.

By 13, she had recorded Puppy Love, her first single, and performed it at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, a venue described as country music’s biggest stage.

It was a grand opening for what went on to be a 67-year career that saw Parton ascend to the position of one of the world’s best-known country music stars. Smash hits like “Jolene” and “Working 9 to 5″ live on, and her song “I Will Always Love You” was famously covered by Whitney Houston.

With the news of her death aged 80, we’ve compiled some of Parton’s best performances and moments throughout her life and career, in no particular order.

Jolene, Glastonbury 2014

 At Glastonbury in 2014, Parton took to the stage in a bedazzled white catsuit and her signature big blonde hair.

“This is a real thrill and a real treat,” she told seas of attendees. “Now how many of you go so far back that you’d remember a song of mine called Jolene?”

Her reaction to that Whitney cover

Many people would be forgiven for forgetting that it was Parton who originally wrote and performed the heart-wrenching “I Will Always Love You”. 

Parton first released the song in 1973, but Houston’s 1992 cover has undeniably immortalised the song.

In 2020, she appeared on The Graham Norton Show and said when she first heard the cover come on the radio while driving home, she had to pull over.

“It was one of the most overwhelming feelings I’ve ever had to hear that done so well, so beautiful, so big – I had no idea I’d written a song that could be that important,” she said.

‘Just horny Baptists’

Like all the greats, Parton came to Ireland to sit in RTÉ studios and appear on The Late Late Show in 2002, then hosted by Pat Kenny.

She discussed her humble beginnings, where she grew up one of 12 children.

“People asked me if we were Catholic ’cause we had so many children. I said no, just horny Baptists,” she laughed, later saying she wanted to be “trash” when she grew up.

We Got Tonight, 1985

Another great live performance – this time on tour with Kenny Rogers in 1985. The famous duo embarked on a historic nine-city tour that year that was captured in an HBO live special.

When she randomly performed in Páidí Ó Sé’s pub, 1990

It was 1990, and Dolly Parton just so happened to be Dingle, Co Kerry, when she wandered into Páidí Ó Sé’s pub in Ventry.

She performed “Coat of Many Colours” and accepted Ó Sé’s Kerry jersey from the 1985 All-Ireland final, saying she was disappointed it had been washed in the years since.

Bury Me Under The Weeping Willow, 1976

In 1976, Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt sang The Carter Family’s 1927 song Bury Me Under The Weeping Willow on The Dolly Show, with Parton playing the guitar.

The trio went on to record famous collaborative albums named Trio (1987) and Trio II (1999).

I Will Always Love You, 1973

Finally, while it may have been Houston’s cover that took the spotlight, Dolly Parton’s own rendition of I Will Always Love You cannot be forgotten.

Several months after its release, she performed it live.

“In everybody’s life there’s a special person. A person that you love more than you love anybody else. This is a song about that special person in my life.”

Have you any standout Dolly Parton moments? Leave them in the comments