Dolly Parton, an entertainer and philanthropist with a nearly seven-decade career, has died. Her team confirmed the news in a statement. “A rhinestone life that shone bright enough for the world to see, Dolly will forever stand as an inspiration not only through her timeless music and prolific songwriting, but also her wit, warmth, and kindness that made us all feel like family,” it reads. “Dolly Parton’s legacy is one of love, compassion, and resilience.” A cause of death was not shared, but Parton said last week that she was experiencing “hard times with [her] health.” She was 80 years old.
Across music, film, television, and giving, Parton was an American icon. Parton got her start performing as a child before penning hits like “Jolene,” “I Will Always Love You,” “9 To 5,” and countless others. In the 1980s, she courted a new audience with roles in films like 9 To 5 and Steel Magnolias. As a personality, she was among the most recognizable figures in popular culture, serving as the face of the Dollywood theme park in Tennessee. Parton was also well-known and admired for her charitable giving, particularly her work with the Imagination Library, which provided free books to children every month up until their fifth birthdays.
Born in a one-room cabin on the banks of the Little Pigeon River in Tennessee, Parton was one of 12 children. Her humble beginnings were frequently referenced in her music, and she was passionate about music from a young age. She recalled performing for “my brothers and sisters and chickens and the dogs with a tin can as a make-believe microphone” in a 2010 interview with Performing Songwriter. Of course, it wouldn’t take long before she began performing for bigger audiences. Her first singing job came on the Farm And Home Hour when she was ten years old. “It’s funny, I was on TV before we owned one,” she said.
By the time she was 20, Parton had established herself as a successful Nashville songwriter. She released her first full-length album, Hello, I’m Dolly, in 1967, the same year she reached a wider audience with a regular recurring spot on The Porter Wagoner Show. For years, her biggest successes were the duets she released with Wagoner. However, she eventually decided to strike out on her own, telling People last year, “I couldn’t be Porter’s girl singer forever because God had a bigger purpose for me, and I had bigger dreams of my own.”
Her biggest solo hit at the time came in 1973 with “Jolene,” a song that has since been recorded by a number of artists and frequently considered among the greatest songs ever written. Years later, a story circulated that Parton wrote “Jolene” the same day she wrote another of the greatest songs of all time: “I Will Always Love You.” However, Parton clarified that she had merely written the two classics within a matter of days. Written originally about Parton’s professional break with Wagoner, Whitney Houston’s 1992 recording of the track went on to become one of the best-selling singles of all time; Parton later recalled having to pull her car over the first time she heard it because she was so overwhelmed with emotion.
In the second half of the 1970s, Parton began to reach a broader audience. Her 1977 album Here You Come Again sold one million copies. She performed televised specials with Cher and Carol Burnett, earning an Emmy nomination for the former. In 1979, she won her first Grammy Award; she would eventually earn 11 out of 54 nominations. But her biggest crossover moment yet would come in 1980 when she made her film debut opposite Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda in 9 To 5. Following the lives of three underappreciated female office workers who conspire to get revenge on their chauvinistic boss, the film has since become a comedy and feminist classic. Casting Parton was Fonda’s idea, who noted that the “humanity” in Parton’s music made her believe that she could act. The title track from the film became Parton’s first number one hit on the pop charts and won two Grammys.
By the 1980s, Parton was a cemented cultural icon. The decade was her most prolific in terms of film acting; she went on to appear in The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, Rhinestone, and Steel Magnolias in the remaining years of the decade. In 1986, she lent her name and energy to Dollywood, a theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee that has since been rated among the best in the world. She also released eight albums in the remainder of the decade, and while her film career slowed in the following decade, her musical output did not.
In the 1990s, Parton focused further on her charity work and business, becoming, usually lovingly, caricatured in popular culture, exposing a younger generation to her work. Indeed, younger millennials and older zoomers are fairly likely to have learned about her from an appearance on Reba or Hannah Montana as from “Jolene.” (Parton was Miley Cyrus’ godmother.) Or perhaps they know her from the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, which she founded in 1995 as part of the Dollywood Foundation to provide free books to children up to age five. By 2026, the library had sent books to an estimated 120 million children around the world, and sends about 3 million free books per month. In 2020, it was also revealed that Parton had donated $1 million to vaccine research that ultimately helped yield the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
Even after her death, Parton has new work on the horizon. Later this year, Dolly: A True Original Musical will premiere on Broadway, bringing her life story to the stage. Last year, Parton released Star Of The Show, about her career performing on stage. “I’m at that point in my life where I just want to be able to do good things that can be carried on,” she said at the time. “I’m proud of my legacy so far, and I hope to just continue to do things that might be of use to other people.” There is no doubt that her work, both on stage and behind the scenes, will continue to help people for decades to come. Fans are encouraged to leave messages at dollyparton.com or make donations to the Imagination Library.
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