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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Dolly Parton, the singer, songwriter, actor, entrepreneur and philanthropist who rose from poverty in the Tennessee mountains to become a global cultural icon, died Tuesday in Nashville. She was 80.

Parton’s family announced her death in a video posted to her official social media accounts. Her nephew Bryan Seaver, who also served as her longtime head of security, delivered the news on behalf of the Parton and Owens families. A cause of death has not been disclosed.

Seaver described his aunt as someone who “farmed songs and happiness.” He said Parton had planned the message years earlier and wanted her family to assure fans that she had found peace.

Parton had faced health challenges in recent years and postponed several appearances, including a planned Las Vegas residency. Her husband of nearly 60 years, Carl Dean, died in March 2025.

From Locust Ridge to Nashville

Dolly Rebecca Parton was born Jan. 19, 1946, in Locust Ridge, Tennessee, near the Great Smoky Mountains. She was the fourth of 12 children raised by Robert Lee Parton and Avie Lee Owens Parton.

The family lived in a small cabin without many modern conveniences. Her father worked as a sharecropper, farmer and construction worker, while her mother filled the home with Appalachian ballads, folklore and religious music.

Parton began singing in church and writing songs as a child. Her uncle, Bill Owens, helped her enter the music business and took her to perform on local radio and television programs.

She appeared at the Grand Ole Opry as a teenager. The day after graduating from high school in 1964, she left East Tennessee for Nashville with her belongings packed in bags.

Parton met Dean outside a laundromat on her first day in Nashville. They married in 1966 and remained together until his death, although Dean rarely appeared publicly with his famous wife.

A songwriter before everything else

Parton’s national breakthrough came in 1967 when Porter Wagoner invited her to join his television program. Their duets became country hits, but Parton increasingly wanted control over her solo career.

When she left Wagoner’s show in 1974, she wrote “I Will Always Love You” as a farewell. Parton’s recording reached No. 1 on the country chart, and she later took it back to the top with a new version.

Whitney Houston transformed the song into a global pop phenomenon in 1992. Parton retained the publishing rights after previously refusing an offer that would have required her to surrender half of them.

Her catalog also included “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors,” “Here You Come Again,” “Two Doors Down,” “The Bargain Store” and “My Tennessee Mountain Home.” She wrote more than 3,000 songs during a career that stretched across seven decades.

Parton crossed into pop music without abandoning her country roots. Her 1980 song “9 to 5” became an anthem for working women and reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100.

She also starred alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin in the movie of the same name. Other film roles followed in “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” “Steel Magnolias” and “Straight Talk.”

Her 1983 duet “Islands in the Stream” with Kenny Rogers became another crossover hit. The two maintained a close friendship and musical partnership for decades.

Rhinestones backed by business instincts

Parton turned her carefully constructed public image into one of entertainment’s most recognizable brands. She openly joked about her wigs, cosmetic surgery and rhinestone-covered wardrobe while maintaining tight control over her music and business interests.

In 1986, she joined the Herschend family to transform a Tennessee attraction into Dollywood. The theme park grew into one of Tennessee’s most visited destinations and a major employer in the region where Parton grew up.

The park also allowed Parton to invest directly in the economy of the Smoky Mountains. Its success expanded into resorts, entertainment venues and other attractions.

Parton sold more than 100 million records worldwide. The Recording Academy lists 10 competitive Grammy wins and 55 nominations, and it honored her with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

She entered the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted her in 2022 after she initially questioned whether she belonged among rock artists.

A literacy program became a global legacy

Parton’s most lasting work may exist outside music. She created the Imagination Library in 1995 to give free books to young children in her home county.

The program honored her father, who could not read or write. Parton frequently said he took greater pride in the literacy program than in her entertainment awards.

The Imagination Library eventually expanded across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland. By the end of 2025, it had distributed more than 304 million books since its founding.

Registered children receive one age-appropriate book each month from birth until age 5 at no cost to their families. The program mailed more than 40 million books during 2025 alone.

Parton also helped families displaced by wildfires in East Tennessee and donated to hospitals, schools and disaster-relief efforts. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she gave $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center research that contributed to development of the Moderna vaccine.

Her philanthropy rarely arrived with political conditions or lengthy speeches. Parton built programs that placed money, books and resources directly into communities.

A figure who crossed cultural divides

Parton’s appeal reached far beyond country music. Working women embraced “9 to 5,” queer audiences celebrated her message of self-acceptance and generations of children knew her as the woman who mailed books to their homes.

She usually avoided partisan politics and resisted attempts to claim her for one political side. Her music instead centered poor families, women seeking independence, faith, heartbreak and people struggling to be seen.

Parton built that connection without hiding where she came from. Her Appalachian accent remained as recognizable as her voice, and the poverty of her childhood became material for songs rather than a past she tried to erase.

Her family’s announcement ended with words tied to the song that became her most enduring composition: “She will always love you.”

Parton leaves behind thousands of songs, a business empire rooted in her home state and a literacy program that will continue delivering books to millions of children. Her death closes one of the most remarkable careers in American entertainment, but the life she built will remain visible far beyond the stage.

The USA Herald sends sincere condolences to the family, friends and fans.