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Top 10 Famous People from Tennessee

The State of Tennessee, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina to the east, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi to the south, Arkansas to the southwest, and Missouri to the northwest. Nashville is the state’s capital city.

Tennessee is known to be the starting place for many of the country’s greatest artists and musical genres, from the rock ‘n’ roll of Elvis to country greats like Johnny Cash. Take a look at the top 10 famous people from Tennessee;

1. Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin, 1968 – Wikipedia

Aretha Louise Franklin was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist popularly referred to as the “Queen of Soul”. She was born on March 25^th 1942 in Memphis, Tennessee. Franklin began her career as a child, singing gospel at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan, where her father C. L. Franklin was a minister.

At 18, she embarked on a music career and found commercial success after signing with Atlantic Records in 1966. From then on, Franklin continued to record acclaimed albums. In 1987, she became the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2008 she won her 18th Grammy Award, making her one of the most honored artists in Grammy history.

Franklin was also an integral part of the Civil Rights movement. Her song 鈥淩espect鈥� became an anthem for the racial and gendered political movements of the time. She offered to post bail for revolutionary activist and scholar Angela Davis in 1970.

The musical icon, who passed away at the age of 76.

2. Dolly Parton

Young Dolly Parton – Wikipedia

Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on January 19, 1946, in Sevierville, Tennessee. She is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, actress, author, businesswoman and humanitarian, noted for pioneering the interface between country and pop music styles.

Dolly began her career at the young age of 13. She initially found success with country star Porter Wagoner before embarking on a solo career. Upon her departure she wrote “I Will Always Love You” to her friend and mentor Porter Wagoner. The song was a two-time U.S. country chart-topper, as well as an international pop hit for Whitney Houston.

Up to date, she continues singing and has won 11 Grammy Awards and 50 nominations, including the Lifetime Achievement Award; ten Country Music Association Awards, including Entertainer of the Year and is one of only seven female artists to win the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year Award; five Academy of Country Music Awards, also including Entertainer of the Year; four People’s Choice Awards; and three American Music Awards. In 1999, Parton was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

She has also starred in films like 9 to 5 and Steel Magnolias, and opened her Dollywood theme park in 1986.

3. Tina Turner

Tina Turner – Wikipedia

Tina Turner is an American singer, songwriter, dancer and entertainer born in Brownsville, Tennessee, on 26^th November 1939. She is known for the rhythm-and-blues, soul, and rock genres that contribution to her being called, “The Queen of Rock & Roll”.

Born Anna Mae Bullock she started out performing under the name Little Ann, until her partner Ike Turner persuaded her to change it to Tina Turner, thus the renowned duo Ike & Tina Turner. In 1978, Tina embarked on a solo career. Her debut solo album, Private Dancer (1984), won three Grammys and sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.

To add to her success, she has received 12 Grammy Awards, which include eight competitive awards, three Grammy Hall of Fame awards, and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. She is the first black artist and first female to be on the cover of Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone ranked her among the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the St. Louis Walk of Fame. She is a two-time inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with Ike Turner in 1991 and as a solo artist in 2021.

4. Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino is an American director and screenwriter whose films are noted for their stylized violence, razor-sharp dialogue, and fascination with film and pop culture. He was born Quentin Jerome Tarantino in March 27, 1963 in Knoxville, Tennessee.  

From an early age, Tarantino loved to write and was described as being a movie buff. He received his first paid writing assignment in the early 1990s when Robert Kurtzman hired him to write the script for 鈥淔rom Dusk till Dawn.鈥� Today he has established himself as a leading director who has received many industry awards, including two Academy

Quentin Tarantino 2011 – Wikipedia

Awards, two BAFTA Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and the Palme d’Or, and has been nominated for an Emmy and five Grammys. In 2005, he was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.

5. Morgan Freeman

Morgan Freeman 2018 – Wikipedia

Morgan Freeman is an American actor, director, and narrator born in Memphis, Tennessee on June 1, 1937. Freeman is known for his various roles in a wide variety of film genres, but his deep, smooth, calm and authoritative voice is one of his distinct features.

He began acting as a child, where he won a state wide drama competition when he was just 12. He studied theatre arts in Los Angeles and appeared in stage productions in his early career. For his performances in theatrical productions, he has won three Obie Awards. He rose to fame in the 1970s for his role in the children’s television series The Electric Company. He has come to received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Golden Globe Award.

As a director, Freeman has directed the drama Bopha! (1993). He also founded film production company Revelations Entertainment with business partner Lori McCreary.

6. Julian Bond

Julian Bond – Wikipedia

Julian Bond is an American social activist, leader of the civil rights movement, politician, professor, and writer. He is remembered as one of the original leaders of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960. The activist group made significant contributions to the 1960s civil rights movement, leading seat-ins and taking part in Freedom Rides to desegregate buses.

Horace Julian Bond was born in Nashville, Tennessee on January 14, 1940. He first came on the national scene in the 1960s as a student activist. He was the first African-American to have his name placed in nomination for Vice President of the United States.

7. Randy Orton

Randy Orton 2014 – Wikipedia

Randal Keith Orton professionally known as Randy Orton is an American professional wrestler and actor born in Knoxville, Tennessee on 1^st April 1980. He is known for being the youngest world champion in WWE history after he won the World Heavyweight Championship at the age of 24.

Randy Orton is a third-generation professional wrestler; his grandfather Bob Orton, father Bob Orton Jr., and uncle Barry Orton were all wrestlers. He trained in and wrestled for the Mid-Missouri Wrestling Association and Southern Illinois Conference Wrestling. He signed with the WWF now WWE where he has held the WWE Championship 10 times and WWE鈥檚 Word Heavyweight Championship four times.

As an actor, Orton has appeared in a few films and TV shows. He played the lead role in the 2015 American action film 鈥楾he Condemned 2鈥�.

8. Reggie White

Reggiewhite – Wikipedia

Reggie White nicknamed the “The Minister of Defense” was an American professional football player who played defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons during the 1980s and 1990s. Born Reginald Howard White in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1961 began his professional career in 1984 playing for the United States Football League (USFL) Memphis Showboats.

White was a two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, winning the award in his final season with Green Bay in 1998. He was also a 13-time Pro Bowl, 12-time All-Pro selection, and holds 2nd place all-time among career sack leaders with 198 (behind Bruce Smith’s 200 career sacks) and was selected to the NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team, NFL 1990s All-Decade Team, NFL 1980s All-Decade Team, and the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.

After retiring following the 1998 season, White returned in 2000 with the Carolina Panthers to finish his career.

9. Davy Crockett

Portrait of Davy Crockett – Wikipedia

David Crockett was born in Tennessee on August 17, 1786. He was a frontiersman, soldier, politician, congressman and prolific storyteller. He is commonly referred to in popular culture by the epithet “King of the Wild Frontier”. Made famous as by Walt Disney as the raccoon-skin wearing frontiersman on the television series titled 鈥淒avy Crockett鈥� in 1954.

As a politician, he represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives and served in the Texas Revolution.

Crockett鈥檚 death on 6^th March 1836 at the Battle of the Alamo burnished his reputation as a hero and cemented his legendary status.

10. Kathy Bates

Kathy Bates – Wikipedia

Born Kathleen Doyle Bates in Memphis, Tennessee on 28^th June 1948. Kathy Bates is an American actress of stage, screen, and television, especially known for her portrayals of strong women who act against the social milieu.

She studied theatre at the Southern Methodist University. Her first on-screen role was in 1971 appeared in 鈥淭aking Off.鈥� She continued to appear in numerous films and has received f numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards.