'SHE WAS THE BEST OF AMERICA'
Dolly Parton celebrates the 40-year anniversary of Dollywood's opening during an event at the park in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., on May 2, 2025.
People visit the star of Dolly Parton on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles on Tuesday after it was announced that the country music icon had died at age 80.
Host Dolly Parton has the other stars join her during her hand-clapping country anthem to starts the CMA Awards show at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tenn., on Oct. 10, 1988.
DOLLY PARTON | 1946-2026
Irrepressible country music singer, songwriter and actress Dolly Parton, whose charisma, heartfelt lyrics and business acumen captured the public's imagination for nearly six decades, died on Tuesday at age 80, her family said in a statement.
No cause of death was disclosed, but her publicist said she died peacefully in Nashville. Days earlier, she told People magazine she was dealing with unspecified health issues but planned to keep working.
"By her example, we believed anything was possible," her nephew, Bryan Seaver, said in a video message. "She never saw a door she couldn't open, and the doors she opened made and changed history."
With a successful career spanning almost 60 years, she was a legend in the music industry, known for hits-turnedclassics such as "Jolene," "I Will Always Love You," "9 to 5" and "Coat of Many Colors."
She was also a film star, appearing in films such as "9 to 5," "Steel Magnolias" and "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas."
In recent decades, she was known just as much for her prolific philanthropy, including her Imagination Library, which has sent more than 330 million books to more than 3 million children.
"Dolly Parton did all the good she could, for all the people she could, for as long as she ever could," former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote on social media. "She was the best of America. Dolly, we'll miss your great heart."
Parton released 49 solo studio albums and earned 25 No. 1 hits on the Billboard's U.S. Hot Country Songs chart, the most of any female country artist. Her first album "Hello, I'm Dolly," was released in 1967. "Rockstar," her latest album, was released in 2023 and went No. 1.
"When I die, I hope I just go to sleep one night, dreaming of show business and never waking up," Parton said at Dollywood in 1998.
Health concerns prevented Parton from attending an announcement about Dollywood's newest ride in September, and later prompted a delay of her planned Las Vegas residency.
Parton's husband of nearly 60 years, Carl Dean, died last year at age 82. The couple married in 1966 and had no children.
Smoky Mountain girl with lasting legacy
Parton was born in 1946 in Locust Ridge, Tennessee, the fourth of Avie Lee and Robert Lee Parton's 12 children. Avie Lee filled the family's two-room home with music by singing hymns, folk songs and traditional mountain music.
By 6 years old, Dolly was singing in her grandfather the Rev. Jake Owens' church.
Parton caught the bus to Nashville the day after she graduated from Sevier County High School in 1964 to chase her country music dreams. Her big break came after joining "The Porter Wagoner Show" in 1967.
Her musical gifts and bubbly personality made her a global icon, and she proudly carried her love for East Tennessee and the Great Smoky Mountains wherever she went.
"Dolly Parton was one of ours," said U.S. Rep. Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn. "No matter how big her star got, she never stopped being one of us.
"Her music, her generosity, and her love for these mountains will outlast every one of us."
Parton's love story
An 18-year-old Parton met Dean in 1964 on the very first day she moved to Nashville. She was leaving the Wishy Washy Laundromat when 21-year-old Dean waved and spoke to her. Their love story began.
The couple began dating, but because her record label didn't want her married, the couple secretly wed in Ringgold, Georgia, in 1966 to keep their nuptials out of Nashville papers.
"He's a good man, and we've had a good life and he's been a good husband," Parton told the Knoxville News Sentinel in 2024.
The couple had been together for over 60 years before Dean's death on March 3, 2025. He had been creative inspiration and a vital support system for Parton throughout her career.
"I will always love him, and I miss him," Parton said at Dollywood nearly two weeks after losing Dean.
Shining light that will never dim
The prolific singer-songwriter was known for her generosity. She donated millions of dollars for college scholarships through her Dollywood Foundation, to support people affected by natural disasters and to promote childhood literacy. She donated $1 million for the research that helped to create the Moderna vaccine for COVID-19 during the pandemic.
After Hurricane Helene caused devastating floods in East Tennessee in 2024, Parton donated $1 million to assist the storm's flood victims, a gift matched with another $1 million from her East Tennessee businesses and the Dollywood Foundation.
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library was one of her proudest philanthropic efforts. Each month, the book gifting program mails free books to children from birth to age 5, regardless of their family's income. The program has given away almost 330 million books to children worldwide since its launch in 1995.
Parton was named the 2025 recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, an honorary Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Governors Awards, "for her unwavering dedication to charitable efforts."
"I try to do as much good as I can in the area that I've been confined to, and if I'm a light, I hope so, because I ask God to let me shine," Parton told the Knoxville News Sentinel in 2023. "Let me do and say things that would be uplifting."
Parton earned 11 Grammy wins (including the lifetime achievement award) with 54 nominations, an Emmy with four nominations, two Oscar nominations and a Tony nomination, as well as 13 Academy of Country Music Awards and 10 Country Music Awards.
Parton also received the Kennedy Center honor in 2006 and the National Medal of Arts in 2005, and she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
"Thank you, Lord, for Dolly," fellow country music star Reba McEntire wrote on social media. "She's gonna have a blast in heaven singing all her favorite songs with all her family and friends who have gone on before her."
Reuters reporters contributed to this report.
