Country music icon: Dolly Parton

The beginning of this legendary country singer was a life not that of the rich but of that sort where one strives hard to keep food on the table. Dolly Rebecca Parton was born in January 19, 1946 on Sevierville, Tennessee. Living in a poor dilapidated one room cabin with eleven siblings, her mother Avie Lee Parton- a housewife and father-Robert Lee Parton a tobacco farmer can only afford to keep food in their stomachs. She described their life at that time as “dirt poor”. Her song “coat of many colors” describes her poor experience in her childhood. Since Parton’s parents are Pentecostal, religion has a great influence in her music.

As a child, she is already performing in the local radio and television in East Tennessee. At young age of 9 years old, she showed her appearance in the Cas Walker Show. She signed her contract for her debut album with Gold band Records at the age of 13. But Parton cherishes the importance of education so she patiently finished high school. Right after graduating in 1964, she moved to Nashville where she met a guy named Carl Dean who runs an asphalt paving business. This guy later became her husband on May 30, 1966. Although Dean doesn’t like publicity and rarely accompanies Parton during her performances, He simply loves Parton in simple and romantic ways such as writing poems for her. They never had children but their marriage had lasted up to now.

Parton is also a songwriter. She wrote songs for famous country artists like Hank Williams Jr. and Skeeter Davis. In 1965, her dream to become a singer was fully recognized. She signed with the Monument Records company as a pop star and owned her one national chart single entitled “happy happy birthday, baby”. After her performance in the “Porter Wagoner” show where she released her first album “Hello, I’m Dolly”. Dolly has stayed with Wagoner’s show for 7 years and she immediately became famous. Her first country single “Dumb Blonde” ranked number 24 in the country music charts (1967). In 1970, her single “Joshua” placed number 1 which made her decide to try out in the world of country music alone. In 1974, she left the show after performing their last concert with Wagoner.

Dolly Parton’s country music is very successful. Her signature song “Coat of many colors” ranked number four in the country charts. “Jolene” was her blockbuster song and it ranked number one in the singles chart in 1974 and ranked number 7 in the UK singles chart in 1976. Her song “I will always love you” skyrocketed to number one in 1974. Dolly Parton has received numerous awards such as Best female country Vocal  performance and 5 Country music association awards. In the 1970s, her popularity flourished as she is constantly appears on television. She got an Oscar Nomination for writing the title tune in the movie “Nine to five”. Dolly Parton’s country songs are still very well known today, they are considered as one of the best country music of aall time.

The life of Blake Shelton

Born from Ada, Oklahoma in June 18, 1976 Blake Tollison Shelton at the age of 8 was heard by her mother when he was singing in his bedroom. She made him participate in various talent shows and several years later, he has already mastered playing the guitar at the age of 12. He had won awards in his hometown like the Denbo Diamond Award (highest award for young Oklahoma performers) He took a giant step for his dream when he moved to Nashville after his high school graduation to start up his singing career. This was after his older brother died from a car accident.  In 1998, He has signed his first contract with the Giant Records and in the year 2001; he recorded “Austin” which topped number one for five weeks in the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks. Giant Records then underwent dissolution and Shelton was transferred to the Warner Bros, company. His next singles "All Over Me" and "Ol' Red" still gained recognition from the listeners. In 2003, his single “the baby” from his third album placed number one in the billboard country music charts for 3 weeks.

In November 17, 2003, Blake married his long time girlfriend Kaynette Williams but they were later divorced in 2006. Then Shelton met Miranda Lambert (fellow country music singer) in their first duet at a show of country music television and made her his girlfriend. Miranda has served a guest appearance with Shelton’s fourth album Pure BS which led to fans and media attraction. She had made another appearance on his 2008 album “Startin’ fires” in which they had a duet from the single entitled “Bare skin rug”. After dating for four years, Blake proposed to Miranda in 2010. His albums Hillybilly bone and All about tonight has contained three singles which topped the charts. In November, Blake Shelton released his first greatest hits album and was awarded as the Male Vocalist of the year by the 44th Annual Country Music Awards.  His single “Honey bee” placed number one in the Billboard hot country songs chart.  In May, Shelton married Lambert in Boerne, Texas. Several weeks later, he joined NBC’s singing competition “The Voice” as a judge/ coach. His single “Honey bee” from the album “Red river blue has been one of the top country songs 2011.  Recently (2012) , his song “Drink on it” has belonged to the top ten country songs of billboard.com.