'My tribute act keeps Dolly Parton's legacy alive'
'My tribute act keeps Dolly Parton's legacy alive'
Matthew Lockwood - Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and BuckinghamshireSat, September 5, 2026 at 5:59 AM UTC
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Kelly O'Brien grew up listening to her icon and said she felt like her best friend
One of Dolly Parton's leading tribute acts has said she will continue performing the singer's songs so that her "light will never ever go out".
Kelly O'Brien, from Aldbury, Hertfordshire, has been impersonating the country music star for about 20 years.
She said she broke down when she learned of the singer's death but carried on with The Dolly Show at the Watford Palace Theatre on Thursday, a week on from the funeral.
The show was not about "saying goodbye, but celebrating the remarkable life of this amazing woman who has changed the world", she added.
The singer and entertainer is endorsed by the Parton family and has worked as her body double on film projects.
Parton had taught her to "lead with kindness, to dream big and, most importantly, to love one another", she said.
O'Brien said that Parton felt like her best friend
The news of Parton's death, aged 80 on 25 August, brought sadness to millions around the world.
O'Brien was abroad with family when she learned of her passing.
"I was in Italy with my family and that was really tough," she explained.
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"Then my husband said 'You've got to do about 50 radio interviews, so I kind of had to put on my working britches and get on with it."
After returning home, the performer went to her studio, which is filled with costumes, wigs and artwork dedicated to Parton.
"I just cried and fell onto my carpet, and my little dog came in and gave me a cuddle," she said.
O'Brien recalled how Parton had a "line for everything, a Dollyism for everything."
"When she was being interviewed, even back in the 70s, she would take the mickey out of herself before the interviewers could do it," she said, adding that she tries to bring that same humour to The Dolly Show.
During a career spanning seven decades, Parton won 10 Grammy Awards, sold more than 100 million records worldwide and wrote more than 3,000 songs.
She was laid to rest alongside her late husband, Carl Dean, at Woodlawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Nashville, Tennessee.
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