Country icon Dolly Parton grew up in a group of twelve children.Who are the star's five sisters and six brothers?
Country star Dolly Parton is well aware of what "a big family" means. She was raised as number four in a group of twelve children.
Parents Avie Lee Caroline and Robert Lee Parton Sr. raised the children in a one-room cabin in the state of Tennessee, USA.
- It was crowded! With so many brothers and sisters, there was a lot of teasing and bickering, but we were all in the same boat together, Dolly told The Guardian newspaper in 2016. The family was hard hit financially, but always made the best of the situation.
- We were poor, but we never felt poor. We always had food, a roof over our heads and clothes on our bodies. It wasn't exactly what we wanted, but Mom and Dad were always quick to point out how there were families even worse off than us. For my part, it was experienced as a normal upbringing, she said.
Growing up, the Dollys dreamed of a successful career as a country musician. She moved away from home right after high school to pursue her dreams, and it worked out, to say the least.
Today, she has eleven Grammy Awards and several well-known hit songs such as 9 to 5 , Jolene , Islands in the stream and Here you come again .
Her siblings have not reached the same star status as her, but some of them have managed to make a name for themselves in the same music genre as artists. Dolly's mother was the one who taught all twelve children to sing, play instruments and appreciate the power of music.
- There are twelve of us children, six girls and six boys, and we all write music and play. I'm not better than any of them, but I was willing to sacrifice more and work a little harder. They wanted to invest in family life and do other things. But there's a lot of talent in my family, Dolly said in a 2010 NPR radio interview.
Willadeene Parton, or Willa as she was called, is the oldest of the siblings. She recorded a gospel album with sisters Stella and Cassie, before turning to a career as a writer. She has written many books about growing up and in 1985 the book In the Shadow of a Song: The Story of the Parton Family came out . A book on which she and her sister Dolly adorn the cover.
