Dolly Parton grew up in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, the fourth of 12 children, and appeared on the Grand Ole Opry in 1958. She wrote more than 3,000 songs, among them "I Will Always Love You," and opened the Dollywood park in 1986. She died on August 25, 2026, at 80.
The birth record and the 3 a.m. story
Astro-Databank rates the 8:25 p.m. time AA: the astrologer Frank C. Clifford supplied a copy of her birth record. Her own account differs. In 2001 she told the Sunday Times she was up by 3 a.m. most days because "I was born at three in the morning, so my mother says." She also told an astrologer that her own birth certificate showed no time and that she did not know where a 10 p.m. time came from.
The three times give three different rising signs, shown below. The Sun is in Capricorn in all of them. The Moon differs: it was still in Leo at 3 a.m. and entered Virgo at 6:41 p.m.
| Birth time | Where it came from | Rising sign | Moon |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8:25 p.m. | birth record, rated AA | ♍︎ Virgo 14°43′ | Virgo |
| 3:00 a.m. | what her father told her | ♐︎ Sagittarius 5°15′ | Leo |
| 10:00 p.m. | origin unknown, she said | ♎︎ Libra 4°27′ | Virgo |
| 12:30 a.m., Jan 20 | example for her "after midnight" guess | ♏︎ Scorpio 5°24′ | Virgo |
| Point | Sign at birth | In that sign | Before and after |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rising sign | ♍︎ Virgo | 7:14 p.m. to 9:38 p.m. | Leo before, Libra after |
| Midheaven | ♊︎ Gemini | 7:31 p.m. to 9:38 p.m. | Taurus before, Cancer after |
| Moon | ♍︎ Virgo | 6:41 p.m. to midnight | Leo before |
Rising sign and Moon calculated by us for each time, Sevierville, Central Standard Time. "Early on January 20" is our example time for her "after midnight" guess.
A Sun on its last degree, a Moon on its first
The Sun is at 29°26′ of Capricorn. It crossed into Aquarius at 9:45 a.m. on January 20, local time, so a calendar that gives Aquarius from January 20 makes her look like a borderline case. On the evening of the 19th, at the time in the record, the Sun was still in Capricorn.
The Moon sits at 0°58′ of Virgo. It had entered the sign at 6:41 p.m., about an hour and a half before her birth, so the Leo Moon some charts show belongs to the 3 a.m. version of her birth.
In the tradition a Capricorn Sun is linked with ambition, patience and a long working life, and a Virgo Moon with feeling expressed through useful work. Some astrologers give extra weight to a planet in the last degree of a sign and to the Moon at 0°, though not every astrologer does.
Our pages: Capricorn · Moon in Virgo · Aquarius.
Virgo twice: Moon and ascendant
Her ascendant is at 14°43′ Virgo, so the same sign holds both the rising degree and the Moon. With Whole Sign houses the Moon is in the 1st house; with Placidus it falls just above the horizon in the 12th. Virgo rising is read in the tradition as practical and attentive to detail.
Mercury rules Virgo, and here Mercury is in Capricorn, joined by the Sun and Venus. All three fall in the 5th house with Whole Sign houses, the house tradition gives to creative work and performance.
Our pages: rising sign calculator · Mercury in Capricorn · Venus in Capricorn · 5th house.
Seven planets in cardinal signs
Seven of her ten planets are in the cardinal signs, Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn, which astrologers associate with starting things. The closest pair is Mars on Saturn in Cancer, 0°06′ apart, both retrograde, in the 11th house. Venus squares Jupiter within 0°10′.
Five planets were retrograde when she was born: Mars, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. For the slow outer three that is ordinary, since they spend months of each year moving backward.
Our pages: Mars in Cancer · Saturn in Cancer · 11th house.
All major aspects between the planets in Dolly Parton's chart
- Mars conjunction Saturn orb 0°06′
- Venus square Jupiter orb 0°10′
- Neptune sextile Pluto orb 2°18′
- Sun square Jupiter orb 2°50′
- Uranus sextile Pluto orb 2°56′
- Sun conjunction Venus orb 3°00′
- Moon sextile Jupiter orb 4°22′
- Uranus trine Neptune orb 5°14′
- Mercury opposition Saturn orb 5°17′
- Mercury opposition Mars orb 5°23′
- Venus opposition Mars orb 5°33′
- Venus opposition Saturn orb 5°39′
- Mars square Jupiter orb 5°43′
- Jupiter square Saturn orb 5°48′
- Mercury square Neptune orb 6°55′
- Sun opposition Mars orb 8°33′
- Sun opposition Saturn orb 8°39′
- Sun trine Neptune orb 9°09′
Orbs: 8° for conjunction, opposition, square and trine, 6° for sextile, 2° more when the Sun or Moon is involved; Node, Lilith, Ascendant and Midheaven not counted. Same rules as our birth chart calculator.
Questions about Dolly Parton's chart
What were Dolly Parton's big three zodiac signs?
Capricorn Sun, Virgo Moon and Virgo rising, from the 8:25 p.m. time in her birth record.
Was Dolly Parton a Capricorn or an Aquarius?
A Capricorn. Her Sun was at 29°26′ of Capricorn and only reached Aquarius at 9:45 a.m. on January 20.
What was Dolly Parton's moon sign?
Virgo, at 0°58′. The Moon entered Virgo at 6:41 p.m. on January 19, 1946. A birth at 3 a.m., the time she remembered being told, would give a Leo Moon.
What time was Dolly Parton born?
8:25 p.m. Central Standard Time, according to her birth record, rated AA by Astro-Databank. She herself spoke of 3 a.m.
What was Dolly Parton's rising sign?
Virgo, at 14°43′ Virgo. Virgo rose in Sevierville that evening from 7:14 p.m. to 9:38 p.m.
When did Dolly Parton die?
On August 25, 2026, in Nashville, at 80.
Sources
- Astronomy Engine: the open-source ephemeris library behind our planet positions, dates and statistics
- Astro-Databank (Astrodienst): published birth charts we test the calculation against
- How we create our readings: our own calculation of sign dates, positions and the 1930 to 2025 statistics
More celebrity birth charts
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Astrology is a symbolic tradition, not a science. This page explains what the tradition says about the placements in a published chart; it makes no claims about Dolly Parton's character, health or private life. Birth data: Astro-Databank (Astrodienst), checked October 20, 2026. Positions: our calculation with the astronomy-engine ephemeris; it matches the Sun, Moon and ascendant degrees Astro-Databank publishes for this chart to within one arc minute.