Country music icon Dolly Parton has died in Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 80. Her publicist, Marcel Pariseau, said she died on Tuesday, August 25, at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center after a brief battle with cancer, surrounded by loved ones.
Her nephew, Bryan Seaver, first announced her death in a video statement, saying she had asked him years earlier to deliver the news himself.
Parton had spoken publicly about ongoing health issues in the months before her death, including dizziness and dehydration, and had cancelled a Las Vegas residency and its rescheduled dates while undergoing treatment.
From a Tennessee cabin to Nashville
Parton was one of 12 children born into a family she described as “dirt poor” in the Tennessee mountains. Her first performances were in the church where her grandfather preached, and she was playing guitar and singing on local television by age 10. At 13, she appeared on the Grand Ole Opry, where Johnny Cash introduced her to the audience.
She moved to Nashville after graduating high school in 1964, following her uncle and fellow songwriter, Bill Owens. Producer Fred Foster helped place her songs with other artists and began recording her own material, and by the mid-1970s she was established as one of Nashville’s leading stars.
Career-defining partnership and biggest hits
Her partnership with singer Porter Wagoner was central to her rise. She appeared on his television show, and he helped her secure a deal with RCA Records; their first duet was released in 1967, the same year she launched her own publishing company.
With Wagoner producing, her sound shifted from country toward a more polished, pop-leaning style.
She had her first number one solo single with “Joshua” and a Top 5 hit with “Coat of Many Colors,” a song about a coat her mother sewed from scraps of fabric.
In 1973 she released “Jolene,” one of her most enduring and most-covered songs, followed a year later by “I Will Always Love You,” written as a farewell to Wagoner after she left his show amid reported tension between the two. Wagoner later sued her over management fees and royalties, though they continued to record together for years.
Her other major hits included “Here You Come Again,” which brought her first Grammy Award in 1979; the theme song to “9 to 5,” the 1980 film in which she starred alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin; and “Islands in the Stream,” a duet with Kenny Rogers. In 1987, she released the million-selling album “Trio” with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris.
Film, television and books
Parton’s role in “9 to 5” led to further film work, including “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” and “Steel Magnolias.” She later appeared alongside her goddaughter, Miley Cyrus, on “Hannah Montana,” and adapted her music for various television specials and streaming projects.
She was also an author, writing the memoir “Dolly” and co-writing the novel “Run, Rose, Run” with James Patterson. A stage adaptation, “9 to 5: The Musical,” debuted in 2009, and a new production, “DOLLY: A True Original Musical,” is scheduled to open on January 19, 2027, which would have been her 81st birthday.
Philanthropy, marriage and legacy
Parton founded the Imagination Library, which sends free books to children, and built the Dollywood theme park and its foundation in East Tennessee. She also set up a relief fund after a 2016 wildfire in the Smoky Mountains. She married Carl Dean in the mid-1960s; they remained married until his death in 2025 at 82.
Parton received a Grammy lifetime achievement award, was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022, and received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 2025.
She had 55 Grammy nominations and 10 wins, the third-most of any woman in the award’s history, behind Beyoncé and Taylor Swift.
Following her death, tributes came in from musicians and politicians, and flags at the White House were lowered to half-staff on President Donald Trump‘s order.
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