On November 16, 2010, Dollywood earned the industry's most prestigious award, the Liseberg Applause Award, which was accepted by Dolly Parton during a ceremony at IAAPA Attractions Expo 2010 in Orlando.

Dolly Rebecca Parton ( born January 19, 1946 ) is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress, and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music.

The day after she graduated from high school in 1964, Parton moved to Nashville taking many traditional elements of folklore and popular music from East Tennessee with her.

The label agreed to let Parton sing country music after her composition, " Put It Off Until Tomorrow ," as recorded by Bill Phillips ( and with Parton, uncredited, on harmony ), went to number six on the country music charts in 1966.

According to Parton, he has only ever seen her perform once.

In 1967, country entertainer Porter Wagoner invited Parton to join his organization, offering her a regular spot on his weekly syndicated television program The Porter Wagoner Show, as well as in his road show.

As documented in her 1994 autobiography, initially, much of Wagoner's audience was unhappy, that Norma Jean, the performer whom Parton had replaced, had left the show, and was reluctant to accept Parton ( sometimes chanting loudly for Norma Jean from the audience ).

Wagoner and Parton were both frustrated by her lack of solo success, because he had a significant financial stake in her future: as of 1969, he was her co-producer and owned nearly half of Owepar, the publishing company Parton had founded with Bill Owens.

By 1970, both Parton and Wagoner had grown frustrated by her lack of solo chart success, and Porter had her record Jimmie Rodgers ' " Mule Skinner Blues ", a gimmick that worked.

Parton and Wagoner performed their last duet concert in April 1974, and she ceased appearing on his TV show in mid-1974, though they remained affiliated, with him helping to produce her records through 1975.

Parton was interested until Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, told her, that it was standard procedure for the songwriter to sign over half of the publishing rights to any song Elvis recorded.

Parton refused, and that decision is credited with helping to make her many millions of dollars in royalties from the song over the years.

Parton had her own syndicated-television variety show, Dolly!

It was also during this period, that Parton began to embark on a high-profile crossover campaign, attempting to aim her music in a more-mainstream direction and increase her visibility outside of the confines of country music.

With her 1976 album All I Can Do, co-produced by herself with Porter Wagoner, Parton began taking more of an active role in production, and began specifically aiming her music in a more mainstream, pop direction.

After New Harvests disappointing chart performance, Parton turned to high profile pop producer Gary Klein for her next album.

The second season episode " Long Walk Down a Short Dirt Road ", featured country star Lynn Anderson as a singer being stalked by a deranged person and was based upon a real-life incident involving Dolly Parton.

" In October 2011 he self-released his second solo album titled Piety & Desire — featuring the Felice Brothers, Brandi Carlile, Jolie Holland, Ketch Secor, and Samantha Parton ( of the Be Good Tanyas )— where he " creates a whole film and stereo hi-fi noir milieu " by realizing " a dozen rootsy, ambient and mostly catchy hardscrabble southwestern tinged originals.

With " 9 to 5 ", Parton became only the second woman to top both the U. S. country singles chart and Billboard's Hot 100 with the same single.

The songwriters ( Sager, Ingram, and Clif Mangess ) were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song and Parton and Ingram performed the song on the awards telecast.

The theme song, " The Day I Fall in Love ", performed by Dolly Parton and James Ingram, was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a Grammy Award for Best Song from a Motion Picture.

" His 1994 composition " The Day I Fall in Love ", a duet with Dolly Parton, was the theme song for the movie Beethoven's 2nd and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song.

The film's title song garnered Parton an Academy Award nomination and four Grammy Award nominations, winning her the awards for " Best Country Song " and " Best Country Vocal Performance, Female ".

In 1978, Parton won a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for her Here You Come Again album.

Her 1995 re-recording of " I Will Always Love You " ( performed as a duet with Vince Gill ), from her album Something Special won the Country Music Association's Vocal Event of the Year Award for Parton and Gill.

The best of these theses are given the Charles Parton Award, named in honor of the former director of the Ashbrook Center who inspired the creation of the Statesmanship Thesis program.

Parton received her first Grammy nomination in the Best Country Female Vocal category for the song, losing to Lynn Anderson.

Atkins produced records for The Browns, Porter Wagoner, Norma Jean, Dolly Parton, Dottie West, Perry Como, Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, Eddy Arnold, Don Gibson, Jim Reeves, Jerry Reed, Skeeter Davis, Waylon Jennings and many others.

She has composed over 3, 000 songs, the best known of which include " I Will Always Love You " ( a two-time U. S. country chart-topper for Parton, as well as an international pop hit for Whitney Houston ), " Jolene ", " Coat of Many Colors ", " 9 to 5 ", and " My Tennessee Mountain Home ".

While receiving generally favorable reviews, however, the album did not achieve the crossover success Parton had hoped for.

In addition to her Grammy for " Let Me Be There ", Newton-John was also named the Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year in 1974, defeating more established nominees Loretta Lynn, Canadian Anne Murray, Dolly Parton and Tanya Tucker.

* Dollywood, Pigeon Forge: The theme park named for part-owner Dolly Parton ( who was born in Sevierville ) admits 2. 2 million guests a year, making it both the most popular theme park and most frequented attraction ( after the Great Smoky Mountains National Park ) in Tennessee.

Dolly Parton and Sylvester Stallone filmed scenes for their movie, Rhinestone ( 1984 ), in Piru.

Dollywood and Dollywood's Splash Country, which are both named for Dolly Parton, are amusement parks located in nearby Pigeon Forge.

Parton has been honored with the Dolly Parton Parkway being named for her and with a statue on the lawn of the Sevierville courthouse.

Although the actual town involved in the real story of the " Chicken Ranch " is located a few miles north of Hallettsville on Highway 77, film makers chose the town's historic Lavaca County Courthouse square to serve as backdrop for the city scenes in " The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas ," the 1982 musical starring Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton.

Decca also was a label in 1997-98 for Dolly Parton.

Parton continued to make inroads on the pop charts as well with a re-recorded version of " I Will Always Love You " from the feature film The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas ( 1982 ) scraping the Top 50 that year and her duet with Kenny Rogers, " Islands in the Stream " ( written by the Bee Gees and produced by Barry Gibb ), spent two weeks at number one in 1983.

* 1987 — Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, Trio ( with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris )

* 1999 — Best Country Collaboration with Vocals, " After the Gold Rush " from Trio II with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris

* 1999 — Best Country Album, Trio II with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris

* 1987 — Best Album / ' TRIO '— Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris

However the choice of titles seized appeared to be completely arbitrary, one raid famously netting a copy of the Dolly Parton musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas ( 1982 ) under the mistaken belief it was pornographic.

In The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas ( 1982 ), about a sheriff ( Reynolds ) who falls in love with a brothel madam ( Dolly Parton ), Nabors played Deputy Fred, a character similar to Gomer Pyle.

* The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas ( 1982 ) with Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton

When her single " Let Me Be There " became a big pop-country crossover hit in 1974, it became quite controversial, especially after Newton-John won a Grammy award for " Best Female Country Vocal Performance " for the song, and also won the CMA's most coveted award for females, " Female Vocalist of the Year " ( beating out established Nashville artists Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn and Tanya Tucker, as well as Canadian transplant Anne Murray ).

She also appeared alongside Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton in the film adaptation of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.