Randy Parton, Dolly’s brother and former manager of troubled NC music venue, has died
Randy Parton, the brother of country music star Dolly Parton and the former manager of a failed music venue in Roanoke Rapids, has died. He was 67.
Dolly Parton announced her brother’s passing on her Facebook page, saying, “My brother Randy has lost his battle with cancer. The family and I are grieving his loss but we know he is in a better place than we are at this time. We are a family of faith and we believe that he is safe with God and that he is joined by members of the family that have gone on before and have welcomed him with joy and open arms.”
Parton said her brother was a great singer, writer and entertainer.
“He sang, played guitar and bass in my band for many years,” she wrote. “He headed his own show at Dollywood since it opened in 1986. He’s had several chart records of his own, but his duet with me on “Old Flames Can’t Hold A Candle To You” will always be a highlight in my own career.”
His last recording, she said, was on her Christmas album released last year.
Parton said her brother is survived by his wife, two children and two grandchildren.
The Randy Parton Theater
In 2005, the city of Roanoke Rapids borrowed $21 million to build a 1,500-seat complex within sight of Interstate 95 that officials hoped would spur growth in the historically economically depressed region.
The Randy Parton Theater opened in July 2007 with Randy Parton as its headliner at an initial salary of $750,000 a year. In November of that year, city leaders fired Parton as manager but kept him as a performer at reduced pay, complaining he had failed to draw expected crowds and claiming he had shown up drunk for a show. Parton denied the charge.
In December 2007 he was fired for good, and in March 2008 he settled with the city for $750,000 in back pay. The city changed the name of the property to Roanoke Rapids Theater.
Parton protested that he had done his job, and said the city had let him down by not attracting hotels and other businesses that were promised to create a tourism nexus near the theater. When it was in the planning stages, UNC researchers consulted on the project said it eventually could support nearly 2,600 jobs.
“The Parton name was used by the city,” Parton said in a statement after the deal came crashing down. “They came to me. I did not go looking for them.”
In 2012, the city agreed to lease the building for electronic gambling in an effort to help pay an annual debt of $1.7 million on the property and possibly draw a buyer for it. At the time, the debt was taking one tax dollar of every five paid by homeowners in the city, The News & Observer reported. For a while, the city also rented the site for weddings, concerts and other events, and used paid prison labor to keep the facility clean.
Internet sweepstakes machines
By 2015, the theater was leased to a company that used it to book some shows and to offer internet sweepstakes machines.
In July 2016, the city announced it was auctioning the 47,884-square-foot theater and the furniture, fixtures and sound and light gear inside it, but bids did not meet the undisclosed reserve price. A couple from Chocowinity finally bought the building for $3 million in 2018, saying they planned to use it for movies, music, car shows and other events. At the time, the city said it owed $15 million on its original loan.
The theater’s website indicates it is presently closed because of COVID-19.
This story was originally published January 21, 2021 at 11:26 AM with the headline "Randy Parton, Dolly’s brother and former manager of troubled NC music venue, has died."
