Queen of country music, songwriter and actress, Dolly Parton whose charisma and business acumen captivated audiences for nearly six decades, has died aged 80.
Her family announced on Tuesday that she passed away peacefully in Nashville. However, no cause of death was given, though her publicist said she died peacefully and according to reports she had been battling cancer.
Parton wrote her first song, “Little Tiny Tasseltop,” at about age six and never stopped. She rose to fame on “The Porter Wagoner Show” in the 1960s before launching a solo career that produced classics including “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colours” and “I Will Always Love You.”
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The latter, later covered by Whitney Houston, helped make her one of the best-selling female artists of all time with more than 100 million records sold. She won 11 Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award, and was inducted into both the Country Music and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame.
Her popularity was rooted in both her music and her persona. Parton’s distinctive soprano, towering blonde hairdos, flamboyant costumes and self-deprecating humour endeared her to audiences across backgrounds and helped take country music to international listeners.
Beyond records, she hosted a television variety show, starred in films such as “9 to 5” and “Steel Magnolias”, and built Dollywood, the theme park in her home state of Tennessee that became a major tourist attraction.
She was also widely admired for her philanthropy and connection to working-class roots. Parton donated $1 million to vaccine research at Vanderbilt University during the COVID-19 pandemic and ran the Imagination Library, a literacy programme that has distributed books to preschool children in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland.
Born Dolly Rebecca Parton on 19 January 1946 in Pittman Center, Tennessee, she grew up in a one-room cabin as one of 12 children. She wrote an estimated 3,000 songs and often said her legacy would be her songwriting. “At the end of the day, I hope that I will be remembered as a good songwriter,” she wrote.
