Dolly Parton isn’t interested in giving up her “9 to 5.”
During a recent appearance on Greatest Hits Radio, the country music icon said she’d rather spend the rest of her life performing than opt for retirement, as she’s “not one to sit around and do nothing.”
“I would never retire,” Parton, 77, said. “I’ll just hopefully drop dead in the middle of a song on stage someday, hopefully one I’ve written.”
But, Parton said, a few things could convince her to stop working after 60-plus years in the music industry.
“As long as I’m able to work, as long as my health is good, and my husband is good,” she said. “I mean, the only way that I would ever slow down or stop would be for that reason … But in the meantime, I’m going to make hay while the sun shines.”
The legendary artist, who is set to release her 49th solo studio album “Rockstar” in November, wrote her first song at age 5 and played her first show at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry when she was 13.
Since then, she’s received 53 Grammy Award nominations, four Emmy Award nominations, one Tony Award nomination, has sold more than 100 million albums, opened a Dollywood theme park and launched The Dollywood Foundation where she started book-gifting program Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. She even helped fund the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine.
“I have new dreams every day … I’ve got lots of dreams,” Parton said of her future aspirations, noting that she wants to have her own network television show, as well as her own makeup and wig lines.
Part of what motivates Parton to keep working, she added, is wanting to see all of her professional goals through to the end.
“I always believed that if you’ve wanted your dreams to come true and you are lucky enough to have that happen, then you’ve got to be responsible because you gotta keep the dream alive,” she said. “And every dream kind of spawns another dream.”
