Entertainment
Dolly Parton delights superfan with personalised Christmas message to thank him for collecting £10,000 worth of memorabilia-Emily Bashforth-Entertainment – Metro
Joe Skelly couldn’t have asked for a better gift.
Joe Skelly has been a Dolly Parton fan since he was eight-years-old (Picture: Caters News Agency)
Christmas has come early for one Dolly Parton superfan.
The country music icon, 76, has garnered a legion of diehard fans over her decades-long career, but Joe Skelly is an avid collector of Dolly memorabilia.
As a way of saying thanks for his unfaltering support, Queen Dolly herself sent a special message to Joe, which is a gift he probably won’t forget in a hurry.
‘Christmas is my favourite holiday for many reasons,’ the 9 to 5 hitmaker began in the personalised clip.
‘I love the true Christmas story. I love being with all of my family and friends and I love all of the shiny decorations.
‘Mostly, I am grateful for all of my fans out there like you so, Joe, have a great Christmas season and a fulfilling New Year.’
The superfan owns a collection of memorabilia worth £10,000 (Picture: Caters News Agency)
From lunchboxes to teapots and life-size cutouts to signed guitars, Joe has it all (Picture: Caters News Agency)
Dolly signed off with a nod to one of her most famous hits.
‘And always remember that I will always love you.’
Joe – who owns everything from a signed Dolly guitar to life-size cutouts – said the message came as a shock – understandably.
‘I opened it and of course I recognised the motif of the website on the disk and I put it in the machine and the personal message using my name makes me delighted,’ he told ITV News.
‘After everything I have done over the years and all of the things that I have attended, I was still surprised.
He’s also met Queen Dolly on several occasions (Picture: Caters News Agency)
‘It came all the way from her offices in Tennessee. As I say it was a major surprise but a nice surprise.
‘To make time for the fans and to actually sit down and do that for somebody it was really nice.’
Joe has been collecting Dolly merchandise for years, and previously made headlines for spending a whopping £10,000 building up his collection.
However, he insisted his memorabilia is ‘priceless’, with one of the most expensive items he owns being a set of rare original recordings, which set him back £2,000.
The country star is forever spreading the love for her fans (Picture: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
The Cumbrian, now in his fifties, has been a fan since he was around eight-years-old, having initially fallen in love with her music and then her ‘cartoon’ style image.
Joe – who knows the lyrics to every song in Dolly’s catalogue – has also met the Jolene songstress on several occasions.
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‘You can be talking to her directly face to face and someone else, the Queen or the King, whoever it is, could walk in the room and she would not take her gaze off of you until you are finished talking to her,’ he said.
So, if you’re ever looking for a Dolly Parton jigsaw… or teapot… or a lunchbox, you know who to contact.
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