Dolly Parton's Death Announced
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Dolly Parton, the singer-songwriter whose six-decade career made her one of the most recognizable figures in American music, has died, according to an announcement posted Tuesday to her official Instagram account. She was 80.
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NewsweekCountry music trailblazer Dolly Parton, whose songwriting, voice, and larger‑than‑life persona shaped American culture for more than six decades, has died at 80, her nephew announced in an Instagram video.
The Guardian CultureDolly Parton, one of the greatest singer-songwriters in country music who was also much cherished for her philanthropy, has died aged 80.
Vanity FairDolly Parton, the singer, composer, actress, philanthropist, advocate, and amusement park impresario, has died, her nephew Bryan Seaver confirmed on Tuesday, August 25. She was 80 years old.
Fox News EntertainmentDolly Parton has died. She was 80. Her nephew revealed the news in an Aug. 25 Instagram video. The news comes after Parton spent months battling an unknown health issue.
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Parton was born in poverty in a one-room cabin in Tennessee, the fourth child to a mother who would have 12 children by the age of 35, and a father who was a farmer and construction worker. One of her best-loved songs, Coat of Many Colours, was about her mother creating patchwork clothes; Parton’s first guitar was cobbled together from a mandolin with bass guitar strings. Her first proper guitar was given to her aged eight by her uncle, and she went from singing in church, to appearing on local television aged 10, to cutting her first record aged 13.
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Vanity FairParton, whose accolades included 11 Grammy awards, an Emmy, the Oscars’ Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, and recognition from sources as diverse as Ms. Magazine and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, was born in 1946 in the small community of Pittman Center, Tennessee, near the Great Smoky Mountains. The family soon moved to a one-bedroom cabin in the nearby town of Locust Ridge, a dwelling that figures proudly in Parton’s rags-to-riches lore. She was one of 12 children; Parton’s father worked as a sharecropper and tobacco planter, and her mother entertained the large family with Appalachian stories and music.
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In 1977, Parton began producing her own recordings, beginning with the album New Harvest…First Gathering, which saw her incorporating more pop elements into her sound. She became a mainstay on television specials throughout the late 1977s, flashing her winning smile and sharp wit, oftentimes punching back at “just jokin’” barbs about her appearance. No one was quicker to make cracks about her own bustline than Dolly Parton.
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The Guardian CultureIn the mid 1970s Parton broadened her sound, embracing pop-rock arrangements on songs such as 1977’s Light of a Clear Blue Morning – its accompanying album New Harvest … First Gathering was her first entry in the pop album chart. Later that year its follow-up Here You Come Again reached the Top 20 and was her first million-selling LP, powered in part by its hit title track, which also won Parton the first of her 10 Grammy awards.
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1980 was a peak in her success, with three back-to-back country No 1s, including 9 to 5, taken from the film of the same name which Parton starred in alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin, earning her an Oscar nomination for best original song. Parton would later write songs for a stage musical version of 9 to 5, in 2008.
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Vanity FairIn 1980 Parton co-starred in the feminist comedy 9 to 5 with Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda, and also recorded its theme song. A monumental success, the song remains so ingrained in American culture that many people still quote from it without even realizing it. The song won two Grammys in the country categories, but lost song of the year to “Bette Davis Eyes”—which is a good song, but come on.
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The following year, Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt joined forces to release Trio, a platinum-selling album of (mostly) cover songs, which also won Parton her fourth Grammy Award. Her 1989 album White Limozeen included the hit “Why’d You Come in Here Lookin’ Like That” and a bluegrass cover of REO Speedwagon’s “Time for Me to Fly,” closing out a monumental decade.
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The Guardian CultureA landmark Parton album came in 1987 with Trio, an exquisitely harmonised, springwater-clear collaboration with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt, earning Parton her only nomination for album of the year at the Grammys. Another all-star trio recording came in 1993, with Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn on the album Honky-Tonk Angels, followed by a reunion with Harris and Ronstadt from Trio II in 1999, featuring a Grammy-winning cover of Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush.
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Alongside her music and acting, Parton was an astute businesswoman and philanthropist. She founded the film and TV production company Sandollar, with former manager Sandy Gallin, which went on to produce hits such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Father of the Bride film series. In 1986, she took a stake in the Silver Dollar City theme park in Tennessee and renamed it Dollywood, doubling its size over the next two decades, and a Dollywood-branded spa, cabin complex, theatre-restaurant concept and waterpark have since been opened.
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Washington Times CultureBeyond music, Ms. Parton built a business empire anchored by Dollywood, the Tennessee theme park near her childhood home in Sevierville, and her Imagination Library, a children’s literacy charity that has distributed millions of free books worldwide. The family, in its statement, asked that donations be made to the Imagination Library in lieu of flowers.
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Independent claims that didn't surface elsewhere in our corpus. Treat as supplementary — not corroborated across outlets.
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01 National Review Culture Thank You, Lord, for Dolly Parton On behalf of a grateful nation.
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02 Newsweek Four months before Dolly Parton died, pollsters asked Americans what they thought of some of the most famous people on Earth.
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03 NYT Arts Dolly Parton: Hear 15 Essential Songs The singer-songwriter rose from poverty to become a chart-topping performer whose earnest character allowed her to span genres.
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04 Vanity Fair Seaver, revealed the news in a video posted across Parton’s platforms: “My name is Brin Seaver, son of Cassie Parton, and I’m representing the Parton and Owens family today announcing the passing of my aunt, Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean, Sister, Sis and Granny to one generation and Gigi to the next,” he says. “This video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago, before I fully absorbed it as a future reality. As her head of security for more than two decades, a role my father Larry held before me, I have imagined the heaviness of this moment but haven’t truly felt it til now.”
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05 The Guardian Culture That year she appeared at the Grand Ole Opry, the concert hall in Nashville at the centre of country music, and her performance was introduced by Johnny Cash. “I’ve always believed things would go well, and I dreamed that they would even before I was in high school,” she later said. “I always wanted to be a star. It just seemed natural to me.”
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