SHE’S been wowing crowds for six decades, but Dolly Parton doesn’t want to keep going from beyond the grave.
The country icon was as colourful as ever when she made an appearance in London yesterday, where she said she has no interest in AI technology keeping her on stage after she dies.
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She joked: “I don’t want AI. The only intelligence I have is artificial. Everything I have is artificial.
“I’ve left a great body of work behind and I don’t know at this moment in time how they’d manage to keep me around.
“I’ll have to decide how much of that hi-tech stuff I want to be involved in, but I don’t want to leave my soul here on this Earth.
“I feel like I’d be grounded here for ever. When I go I want to fly away. I ain’t leaving any time soon if I can help it.”
Even after all these years, the straight-talking singer, whose hits include Jolene, 9 To 5 and I Will Always Love You, isn’t afraid to laugh about herself.
Asked about the secret to looking young, she said: “Good doctors, good make-up and good lighting.
“How else would I do it? I keep trying. I try to stay young in spirit and I think that spills over a little bit. I’ll never feel as old as I am.”
Dolly is in the UK to promote her upcoming 49th album Rockstar, featuring a handful of original songs alongside covers of her favourite rock tunes, which she has recorded with stars including Sir Elton John, Miley Cyrus, Debbie Harry, and Sting.
And it’s all been done to impress her husband, Carl Dean, who once referred to her previous cover of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway To Heaven as “Stairwell To Hell”.
‘Going back to Broadway’
She said: “I’m a rock star at 77. I made him sit down and listen to the whole thing.
“At the end he said, ‘It’s really good’, and so, to me, that’s like somebody else jumping up and down saying, ‘That’s the best thing I’ve ever heard’.
“He was proud of it, so that made me feel good. I wanted to please him, to be honest, more than anybody else.”
While there is new music from Dolly, one thing she has ruled out is a tour.
Following the news of Madonna being taken to hospital as she prepared for her own global run of gigs, Dolly said: “Well, it’s always been taxing.
“The reason I don’t tour now is because I don’t want to be that far away from home. I do not plan to tour with this album.”
Instead, she has other fish to fry, including a musical about her life.
Dolly explained: “I was thinking about doing a biopic but everybody seems to be doing that. I love them but I decided I was going to go back to Broadway with my life story as a musical.
“So I’m working really hard on that and I’m hoping maybe some time next year I might have something on Broadway.”
Dolly also plans to get to work soon on another major music project.
She said: “I have one more big album that I want to do to feel like I’ve accomplished everything. I want to do a great gospel album.
“At my age, you think about what’s going on in the world and you think, ‘I’m not going to be around here that long, so I want to leave some kind of messages’.”
Her epic 30-track album Rockstar is out on November 17 and she has an important reason why fans should listen.
Signing off with a twinkle in her eye, she said: “I hope it’s a big hit because it costs a lot of money to look this cheap. I need the money.”
Never change, Dolly.
SPARKLY RITA SEIZE IT HER WAY
RITA Ora sings of going from friend to lover with hubby Taika Waititi on her new single.
The track, called Don’t Think Twice, is out today and my exclusive still from the video sees her showing off her impressive abs in glittering leggings and a bra.
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I can reveal Rita opens the song with: “We’ve already crossed that line. And baby when you saw me naked I’ve never felt more alive.”
The single is a final teaser ahead of the release of her third album You & I, out on July 14.
Rita said: “It is about not thinking twice and just jumping in, romantically.
“You only live once, so it’s really about seizing the moment and not being held back by thoughts of what might or might not happen.”
As well as singing about director Taika, she has saved a few quid by getting him to oversee the video, just as she has done with her last two clips.
Tomorrow, Rita will perform the song live for the first time during a set at London Pride, taking over Trafalgar Square at 3.30pm.
Pinning my hopes on Jamaica
LEIGH-ANNE Pinnock wants to quit the UK and move to Jamaica.
The Little Mix singer has Jamaican and Barbadian heritage and says she has an affinity for the Caribbean.
Read Related Also: Molly-Mae Hague reveals she hasn’t left the house in FOUR days as she shares candid dressing gown snap
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During an In Conversation With Julie Adenuga on YouTube, Leigh-Anne said her husband, footballer Andre Gray, has agreed to the plan.
She explained: “We’ve spoken about it. I will be rocking on my veranda in my rocking chair, eating my good food, growing my own vegetables, growing my own chickens, I can see it now.
“Life looks good there man, life is good there. I can’t wait.”
The singer, who released debut solo single Don’t Say Love this month, now plans to get her forthcoming record to the top of the charts.
Leigh-Anne added: “I would love a No1 album.”
RISING star Sonny Tennant performs at Hyde Park tomorrow as the support act for headliners Take That in front of 65,000 people.
And in an exclusive chat ahead of his performance at American Express Presents BST Hyde Park, Sonny admitted he is still pinching himself.
He said: “I just feel pretty honoured that I’ve been invited to play there. I’m from a tiny little town up north, South Shields. It’s just mad to be doing it.”
He added of Take That: “I hope I get to meet them. I would ask Gary Barlow if I can get in a writing session with him.”
PAUL’S LOST GEMS IN ‘CRAZY SIXTIES’
PAUL McCartney lost a load of priceless Beatles artefacts in the Sixties – because he never locked his door.
Thankfully, he held on to some prized photos, which are key to his new project.
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At the launch of his photography book 1964: Eyes Of The Storm in London yesterday, Paul said: “So much was lost in the Sixties.
“It was a very hippy time and people didn’t bother locking their doors. I did lose a lot of stuff, so I assumed these images went too.”
He added: “As things got crazier and crazier I must admit drugs were involved. I know, I know, but it was the Sixties, man.
“You would want to do stuff that was groundbreaking. We were always trying to do one better.”
The book, out now, features pictures taken by Paul during The Beatles’ rise to the top.
He said rediscovering them was like having his late bandmates John Lennon and George Harrison back with him.
Macca added: “They were from a time I remember, but not in detail. Suddenly here were the details of the time we had together.
“As John and George aren’t here, it was very poignant to have my old mates back. It wasn’t sad. I expected it would be sad and bring me down.
“But no, it was very uplifting remembering that time. It brought the characters back and the places we had been.”
- Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes Of The Storm, with 250 previously unseen photos, is at the National Portrait Gallery until October 1.
Akon: I’m in shape for shoot
AKON still feels pressure to look good ahead of video shoots despite having abs of steel and the sort of biceps I could only dream of.
As he drops new video Slow Motion from his latest EP, TT Freak, the Lonely singer said: “I want to look my best.
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“I always work out before. I eat well and try to shake some of that weight off.
“The thing is, when you get on the camera it adds 10lb to you. Now with flat screens, everything is wide.
“Already I don’t drink and I don’t smoke.”
Akon will tour the UK early next year, at the same time he drops another album that will feature a host of top-secret big names.
He told me: “I am super excited. I have a lot of collaborations on it. I work with people I am a fan of. I rock with people I love.”
ANNE-MARIE’S KENTRY & WESTERN
ANNE-MARIE and Shania Twain look like they mean business as they horse around on the set of their new video.
The pair teamed up for the song Unhealthy, which reached a new peak of No24 last week, and my exclusive pic shows them going riding in the upcoming promo.
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Anne-Marie took an 8,000-mile round-trip to shoot scenes with Shania, but ended up doing her own parts back in Blighty.
She explained: “I went there to film some bits with her but, weirdly, Nashville don’t have any Western sets, they just have fields.
“So I was like, I can’t do a whole Western video in a field dressed as cowgirls, it didn’t make sense to me.
“So we found this set in Kent which is a whole town in some woman’s back garden.”
To take the edge off, Anne-Marie enjoys a is seen enjoying a Malibu cocktail in the video, which is out today
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