Dolly Parton, Country Music Legend and Philanthropist, Dies at 80

Dolly Parton, the singer, songwriter, actor and philanthropist whose voice and generosity shaped country music for more than half a century, has died at 80. Her family confirmed her death on Tuesday, August 25, in a statement shared through her official channels. No cause of death was given.

Word of her passing was shared through a video posted to Parton’s official Instagram account by her nephew, Bryan Seaver. “A rhinestone life that shone bright enough for the world to see,” the family said, “Dolly will forever stand as an inspiration not only through her timeless music and prolific songwriting, but also her wit, warmth and kindness.” At Dolly’s request, a small, private service will be held for immediate family only, and the family has asked fans wishing to pay tribute to do so through her official @DollyParton accounts or at dollyparton.com. In lieu of flowers, they’re directing donations to Parton’s Imagination Library, the childhood literacy nonprofit she founded in 1995 that has since put more than 300 million free books into the hands of children around the world.

Parton was born in 1946 in the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee, one of twelve children, and got her start singing on local radio and television as a child. She joined The Porter Wagoner Show in the 1960s before launching her solo career in the 1970s, writing and recording two of the most enduring songs in American music along the way, Jolene and I Will Always Love You, the latter written about her decision to leave Wagoner’s show and later reborn as a generation-defining hit when Whitney Houston recorded it for The Bodyguard in 1992.

Her catalog stretched well beyond those two songs, from 9 to 5, written for the 1980 film of the same name, to Coat of Many Colors, drawn from her own childhood, to Islands in the Stream, her duet with Kenny Rogers, and the Trio albums she made with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris. Over a seven-decade career, Parton logged 25 number-one hits on the Billboard country chart, a record for a female artist, and won 11 Grammy Awards from 54 nominations, along with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022, after first asking to be left off the ballot because she felt she hadn’t yet earned it, before accepting the honor and later releasing a rock album, Rockstar, in that same spirit. In 2024, Billboard named her the greatest country artist of all time.

Parton’s reach went well beyond the recording studio. She starred alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin in 9 to 5 in 1980 and later helped adapt the film into a stage musical, and she opened Dollywood, her Tennessee theme park, in 1986, growing it into one of the state’s largest employers and tourist attractions. She was as well known for her humor and business sense as for her voice, often joking that it costs a lot of money to look this cheap, and colleagues across Nashville and Hollywood regularly pointed to her as one of the industry’s sharpest operators as well as one of its kindest people.

Parton’s husband of nearly 60 years, Carl Dean, died last year at 82, and she had spoken openly about health struggles of her own that she said she set aside while caring for him. Just four days before she died, she told People she was still working through those issues but had no plans to slow down. “Even though I’m still healin’,” she said, “I’m still workin’!” She was also preceded in death by her parents, Avie Lee and Robert Lee Parton Sr., and is survived by her large extended family, including many nieces and nephews, and by generations of fans and fellow artists who grew up on her music, among them her goddaughter, Miley Cyrus.

Parton often said she hoped to be remembered simply as someone who did some good in the world. From the Smoky Mountains to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, by any measure, she did.