Dolly Parton has passed away

Dolly Parton has died. This has just been announced by her family. Parton has been regarded for decades as one of the most beloved and influential artists in American music history. As a singer, songwriter, actress, entrepreneur and philanthropist, she built a career that now spans more than sixty years.

Parton was the fourth of twelve children in an extremely poor farming family. She grew up in a cabin without electricity, high in the Great Smoky Mountains, where music played a central role in family life. Her mother sang and played guitar, and Dolly herself said she was already writing songs before she could read. At the age of eight, she received her first guitar from an uncle, after which she soon began writing her own songs.

As a teenager, she performed on local radio and television programmes in Knoxville, and at thirteen she made her debut at the legendary Grand Ole Opry. A day after becoming the first in her family to graduate from high school, in 1964, she packed her suitcase and left for Nashville to make her musical dream come true.

In Nashville, she married Carl Dean in 1966, to whom she would remain married until his death in 2025. Her career received a huge boost when country star Porter Wagoner invited her to his television programme in 1967. For seven years they formed a popular duo, until her own star began to overshadow his. In 1974, she embarked on a solo career, a day when, according to tradition, she wrote both ‘Jolene’ and ‘I Will Always Love You’.

Parton became one of the most successful female artists in country music, with hits such as ‘Joshua’, ‘Here You Come Again’, ‘9 to 5’ and ‘Islands in the Stream’. Her move into the world of film earned her an Oscar nomination in 1980 for the title song of ‘9 to 5’, in which she also gave a standout performance alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. In films such as ‘The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas’ and ‘Steel Magnolias’, she also showed that she could act just as well as she could sing.

Her body of work now comprises around 50 studio albums. She wrote songs that grew into classics far beyond the country genre, ‘I Will Always Love You’ became world-famous thanks to Whitney Houston’s cover version, while ‘Coat of Many Colors’ is regarded as one of the most personal and beloved songs in her repertoire.

Alongside her musical career, Parton built an impressive business empire. In 1986, she opened her theme park Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, which grew into one of the state’s most popular destinations. She is co-owner of The Dollywood Company and was involved in film and television productions through Sandollar Productions.

Parton is also widely known for her charitable work. Her Imagination Library, a programme that provides free books to children, sent out its hundred-millionth book in 2018 and was honoured at the time by the Library of Congress.

Over the years, Parton received virtually every honour the entertainment industry has to offer: eleven Grammy Awards, three Emmy Awards, multiple Golden Globes, a Tony nomination and Oscar nominations, including an honorary humanitarian Oscar in 2025. In 1999, she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and in 2006 she received a Kennedy Center Honor.

Despite her status as a living legend, Parton always remained modest about her success in interviews. She likes to describe her life story as a journey ‘from rags to rhinestones’; a nod to her impoverished childhood and the glittering outfits that made her world-famous.

Dolly Parton has turned 80.