Country music legend Dolly Parton dies aged ۸۰ – latest updates

Her death comes days after Dolly Parton shared an update on her health last Friday, acknowledging her recent decline after the death of her husband of almost ۶۰ years, Carl Dean, in March last year.

“As I’ve shared in video messages throughout the past year, I am dealing with some health issues that I just didn’t pay attention to when I was watching over Carl. You know, this isn’t the first time I’ve had to manage something like this. Back in the early ’۸۰s, I was down for several months with female issues, and I was struggling with my weight at the time too, so it’s not like I haven’t been through hard times with my health,” Parton told PEOPLE.

She added: “But I think because we live in a ۲۴/۷ world with social media, everything gets magnified in ways it wasn’t years ago. I used to joke that I was the Queen of the Tabloids, but now I guess I can say I’m the Queen of Social Media AI! Seriously, though, even though I’m still healin’, I’m still workin’! You know me – as I’ve often said – I’ve dreamed myself into a corner and I still have so many things I want to achieve, so I’m gonna keep on working as long as I can to see everything come to life.”

Dolly Parton was born in poverty in a one-room cabin in Tennessee, the fourth child to a mother who would have ۱۲ children by the age of ۳۵, and a father who was a farmer and construction worker. One of her best-loved songs, Coat of Many Colours, was about her mother creating patchwork clothes; Parton’s first guitar was cobbled together from a mandolin with bass guitar strings. Her first proper guitar was given to her aged eight by her uncle, and she went from singing in church, to appearing on local television aged ۱۰, to cutting her first record aged ۱۳. That year she appeared at the Grand Ole Opry, the concert hall in Nashville at the centre of country music, and her performance was introduced by Johnny Cash. She later said:

I’ve always believed things would go well, and I dreamed that they would even before I was in high school. I always wanted to be a star. It just seemed natural to me.

After graduating high school in ۱۹۶۴ she moved to Nashville and started out as a songwriter rather than performer. The following year she was signed as an artist and initially moulded as a pop singer, without success; after she was allowed to switch to country, she scored back-to-back hits and released her debut album Hello, I’m Dolly. In ۱۹۶۶ she married Carl Dean – who died in ۲۰۲۵, with the couple renewing their vows in ۲۰۱۶ to mark ۵۰ years together.

Beginning in ۱۹۶۷, a duet partnership with country singer and TV personality Porter Wagoner helped her star continue to ascend, and she had her first country No ۱ in ۱۹۷۱ with the song Joshua.

Jolene, her unforgettably raw and desperate plea to a rival lover, was released in ۱۹۷۳ and became her first UK success, reaching No ۷. I Will Always Love You, written to Wagoner as a farewell after their creative partnership, was a country No ۱ in ۱۹۷۴ and again via a re-recorded version in ۱۹۸۲, and would go on to be a huge pop success when revived by Whitney Houston for the soundtrack of The Bodyguard in ۱۹۹۲: it is still the bestselling single of all time by a woman, with an estimated ۲۰m sales.

In the mid ۱۹۷۰s Parton broadened her sound, embracing pop-rock arrangements on songs such as ۱۹۷۷’s Light of a Clear Blue Morning – its accompanying album New Harvest … First Gathering was her first entry in the pop album chart. Later that year its follow-up Here You Come Again reached the Top ۲۰ and was her first million-selling LP, powered in part by its hit title track, which also won Parton the first of her ۱۰ Grammy awards.

۱۹۸۰ was a peak in her success, with three back-to-back country No ۱s, including ۹ to ۵, taken from the film of the same name which Parton starred in alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, earning her an Oscar nomination for best original song. Parton would later write songs for a stage musical version of ۹ to ۵, in ۲۰۰۸.

Another classic single came in ۱۹۸۳: Islands in the Stream, a duet with Kenny Rogers, which topped the US pop charts, and a Christmas album with Rogers in ۱۹۸۴ went two times platinum. There were more notable film roles in the ۱۹۸۰s, too, opposite Burt Reynolds in the The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Sylvester Stallone in Rhinestone, and an all-star female ensemble in Steel Magnolias.

A landmark Parton album came in ۱۹۸۷ with Trio, an exquisitely harmonised, springwater-clear collaboration with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt, earning Parton her only nomination for album of the year at the Grammys. Another all-star trio recording came in ۱۹۹۳, with Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn on the album Honky-Tonk Angels, followed by a reunion with Harris and Ronstadt from Trio II in ۱۹۹۹, featuring a Grammy-winning cover of Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush.

The turn of the century brought a trilogy of acclaimed bluegrass albums, and Parton would release nine more LPs, the most recent being Rockstar in ۲۰۲۳. She was courted by a younger generation of stars, appearing with country artists such as Brad Paisley as well as pop singers such as Kesha, and her goddaughter Miley Cyrus. There were fewer acting roles, but she lent her voice to animated film Gnomeo and Juliet in ۲۰۱۱ and the following year appeared alongside Queen Latifah and more in musical film Joyful Noise.

Ben Beaumont-Thomas

Dolly Parton, one of the greatest singer-songwriters in country music who was also much cherished for her philanthropy, has died aged ۸۰.

So gifted that she wrote two of the ۲۰th century’s greatest songs – Jolene and I Will Always Love You – in a single day, Parton’s songwriting was characterised by its vivid storytelling, emotional acuity and melodic strength, all sung with strident clarity. From an eventual catalogue of hundreds of songs, she scored a record ۲۵ US country No ۱ singles and ۴۷ albums in the country Top ۱۰. She crossed over into the pop charts with ۹ to ۵, a US No ۱ in ۱۹۸۰; balanced her music career with acclaimed acting, twice earning Golden Globe nominations for her roles; and her Imagination Library literacy scheme donated more than ۱۵۰m books to children.

This was all done with considerable panache, rhinestoned glamour and towering hairdos, with her immortal assertion regarding her appearance – “it takes a lot of money to look this cheap” – the most quoted example of Parton’s ready wit.

Beneath the wig and rhinestones, Dolly Parton was the genius behind strings of classic songs from Jolene to I Will Always Love You that continue to inspire new artists, writes Guardian music critic Alexis Petridis. You can read his tribute here.

Country ⁠music ​legend ⁠Dolly Parton ⁠has ​died at the age of ۸۰, ‌her ‌family has announced.

In a video posted to Parton’s X account ۱۵ minutes ago, her nephew Bryan Seaver announced the death of his aunt, for whom he acted as head of security.

This video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago, before I fully absorbed it as a future reality.

As her head of security for more than two decades, a role my father, Larry, held before me. I have imagined the heaviness of this moment but haven’t truly felt it until now. It is an honor, an honor that is mixed with absolute pride and great sadness.

But sadness lies with us, not with Dolly. Dolly has lived in the light and is in the arms of Jesus, surely met by Carl, her parents, and countless others who have watched her and longed for her to meet them in the heavens.

I first went on the road with Dolly as a kid, getting a taste of the road life in the early ۱۹۸۰s. Dolly opened doors not just for me, but for her entire family to reach the potential we didn’t even know was possible. Dolly also opened doors for generations of singers, songwriters, musicians, and dreamers from every walk of life and across every continent. By her example, we believed that anything was possible. She never saw a door she couldn’t open, and the doors she opened made and changed history.

My family and I have shared a lifetime of beautiful memories with Dolly, but so have you. She has always been on your television, your record player, your CD, and on your phone playlist becoming an extended part of your family, whether you liked it or not. Our family and the team she has entrusted with her legacy will work diligently to ensure her spirit will live with us for ever.

Dolly was a farmer, just like her daddy. He farmed the soil; she farmed songs and happiness. Dolly called me and said she wants to rest in a beautiful bed of plush cotton because after a life wearing heavy rhinestones, she finally deserves to be comfortable and have some rest.

Rest in peace, Aunt Dolly, Aunt Granny. Gigi. May God bless Dolly Parton and may God bless you all. She will always love you.