Dolly Parton, Radiant Queen of Country Music and So Much More, Passes Away at 80 Years Old [WATCH]

Dolly Parton, the beloved singer, songwriter, actress, and entrepreneur whose music, movies, wit, and business instincts carried her from rural Tennessee to global superstardom, died Tuesday.

She was 80.

Parton died peacefully in Nashville, a representative announced.

In September, she revealed that she was postponing Las Vegas concerts while dealing with “some health challenges,” though she continued reassuring fans that she was OK.

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Her husband of nearly 58 years, businessman Carl Dean, died at age 82 on March 3, 2025. Parton and Dean never had children.

Born Dolly Rebecca Parton on Jan. 19, 1946, in Pittman Center, Tennessee, she was the fourth of 12 children of Avie Lee Owens and Robert Lee Parton. Her family lived in a one room mountain cabin before moving to farmland in nearby Locust Ridge.

Parton embraced the childhood she described as “dirt poor,” weaving her memories into songs including “Coat of Many Colors” and “In the Good Old Days (When Times Are Bad).”

She taught herself to play a homemade guitar by age 7 and received a real guitar from her uncle Bill Owens the following year.

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After performing on local radio and television, Parton appeared at the Grand Ole Opry when she was 13.

She moved permanently to Nashville in 1964, one day after graduating from Sevier County High School, and signed with Monument Records at 19.

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Her debut album, Hello, I’m Dolly, arrived in 1967 and included “Dumb Blonde” and “Something Fishy.”

Porter Wagoner soon brought her to The Porter Wagoner Show and RCA, beginning a professional partnership that produced successful duets and helped expand her audience.

Parton eventually broke through with solo songs including “Coat of Many Colors,” “Touch Your Woman” and “Jolene.”

She wrote “I Will Always Love You” as a farewell to Wagoner and performed it during her final appearance on his show in 1974.

“I just wasn’t going to take somebody else’s idea of who I was and live under their roof,” Parton told Martha Stewart during a 2024 podcast.

“I had my own identity, and I had to fight to keep it — and I’m still doing that.”

“I Will Always Love You” topped Billboard’s Country chart in 1974 before Whitney Houston recorded it for the 1992 film The Bodyguard.

Houston’s version led the Billboard Hot 100 for a record-breaking 14 weeks, while the song earned more than $10 million in pure profit for Parton.

Parton first heard Houston’s recording while driving home from her Music Row office in Nashville.

After recognizing what she was hearing, she recalled, “I just about wrecked the car.”

“Look at what a grand song she made out of that simple, heartfelt song,” Parton said of Houston.

“She took it worldwide and made it a household word. I will always be thankful to her for that.”

Parton also became a major movie presence, starring with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin in the 1980 workplace comedy 9 to 5.

She wrote its theme song between shots and created its typewriter rhythm by playing her long acrylic fingernails against one another.

She later appeared opposite Burt Reynolds in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and joined Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Sally Field and Julia Roberts in Steel Magnolias.

Her other film work included Rhinestone with Sylvester Stallone.

Music remained central throughout her career. She joined Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt for the multi-platinum 1987 album Trio, recorded and toured with Kenny Rogers, and scored a No. 1 hit with him in 1983 with “Islands in the Stream.”

Across her career, Parton received 10 competitive Grammys from 55 nominations and the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.

She wrote some 3,000 songs, and “Jolene” continued reaching new generations through covers and her 2014 Glastonbury Festival performance before some 180,000 fans.

Her business achievements included Dollywood, the 150-acre destination she co-founded and owned with Herschend Family Entertainment in Pigeon Forge.

The attraction, which includes a waterpark, hotels, and historical attractions, was named Tripadvisor’s “No. 1 U.S. theme park” in 2022, 2024 and 2025.

Parton also founded Imagination Library in 1995 to honor her father, who never learned to read or write.

The philanthropy has distributed millions of free books to young readers.

Her television work included producing Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and the remade Father of the Bride movies through Sandollar Productions.

She later created Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings for Netflix and co-wrote and starred in Christmas on the Square, which earned her an Emmy.

Survivors include her siblings, Willadeene, Coy, Robert Jr., Stella, Cassie, Freida and Rachel. At her request, a small private service will be held for immediate family, while donations in her memory can be made to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

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