Dolly Parton says she would rather 'drop dead' onstage than retire
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Dolly Parton is still chugging that cup of ambition.
The '9 to 5' singer has spent five decades making waves as a country music icon and has no plans to leave the spotlight anytime soon. During a chat with Greatest Hits Radio, Parton said she'd rather "drop dead" onstage than plan her swan song.
"I'm not one to sit around doing nothing," Parton told host Ken Bruce. "I would never retire. I'll just hopefully drop dead in the middle of a song onstage someday. Hopefully, one I've written."
Theo Wargo/Getty Dolly Parton
She continued, "That's how I hope to go. Of course, we don't have much of a choice in that. But as long as I'm able to work, as long as my health is good and my husband is good. I mean, the only way that I would ever slow down or stop would be for that reason. But in the meantime, I'm gonna make hay while the sun shines."
Elaborating on the reason for her work ethic, Parton explained her belief that those "lucky enough" to have their dreams come true are responsible for "keeping the dream alive"
"And every dream kind of spawns another dream," Parton added. "You can branch off of almost anything that happens and make a business of that as well. So it's kind of like a tree with good roots – it's got a lot of limbs and it's also got a lot of leafs. So, why not make the most of it?"
The singer solidified her legendary status in May with three new Guinness record titles. The organization awarded her for having the longest span of No. 1 hits and the most Top 10 entries on the US Top Country Albums chart. She was also awarded for having the most studio albums released by a female country singer, with a whopping 65 studio albums to her name.
To put it mildly, Parton is not one to stay idle for very long. Her latest project comes in the form of her upcoming album, Rockstar. The hotly-anticipated release was inspired by her 2022 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and features collaborations with numerous rock legends, like surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, Journey's Steve Perry, Sting, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Sheryl Crow, Pat Benatar, and Elton John.
While her output is unlikely to slow down, the 77-year-old singer previously made it clear that her onstage presence ends when it ends. Parton has no interest in being preserved via the artificial intelligence hologram technology that so many of her peers are exploring.
"I think I've left a great body of work behind," she told The Independent earlier this year. "I have to decide how much of that high-tech stuff I want to be involved [with] because I don't want to leave my soul here on this earth."
Related content:
