Dolly Parton, the country music icon whose soaring vibrato vocals, poignant songwriting and sparkling costumes defined her rise from a log cabin in the Tennessee mountains to the height of stardom and acclaim, has died in Nashville. She was 80.
‘After bravely facing a brief battle with cancer, Dolly departed her Earthly life today at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center surrounded by loved ones,’ her publicist, Marcel Pariseau, said in a statement Tuesday.
Known for her curvy physique, massive blond wigs and skin-tight outfits that served her self-deprecating wit, she was among the most beloved personalities in music and beyond-the rare celebrity whose appeal transcended generations, geography and politics.
She wrote hundreds of songs, including classics like ‘Jolene,’ ‘Coat of Many Colors’ and ‘I Will Always Love You,’ that totaled more than 100 million worldwide sales and more than 1 billion online streams. Parton, who plucked bejeweled banjos, guitars and dulcimers with her long fingernails during performances, was a generous philanthropist and successful businesswoman whose projects included a theme park in the Smoky Mountain foothills near her birthplace.
Her career was forever influenced by her upbringing as one of 12 children born into what she called a ‘dirt poor’ Tennessee family. She started her education nonprofit, Imagination Library, to send free books to children in Tennessee because her father, who quit school to work on the farm, struggled to learn to read.
For millions of fans, she was simply ‘Dolly,’ a mixture of Southern charm, humor and glamour. But she was also considered a feminist role model for holding the reins of her own career, writing her own songs, owning her content and looking after her finances in an entertainment world dominated by men.
Parton was open to making fun of herself; when she hosted Saturday Night Live in 1989 she told the writers that her only restrictions were she wouldn’t curse and she wouldn’t make fun of Jesus. She regularly joked about her breasts or her dumb blonde appearance, but with a wink that she was the one controlling the laughs. In the memoir My Life So Far, actress Jane Fonda, Parton’s costar in the seminal hit 9 to 5, remembered Parton’s way with a wisecrack, ‘usually high raunch,’ and a laugh that was ‘somewhere between a girl’s giggle, an explosive shriek, and a cascade of little bells.’
With 55 Grammy nominations and 10 wins, Parton is the third-most nominated woman in Grammy history, only behind Beyoncé and Taylor Swift.
Parton spanned social and political divides, through multiple generations of fans, urban and rural and in between. In tumultuous election years, it wasn’t uncommon to see ‘Dolly for President’ shirts. But she was strict in not voicing her own political beliefs, often turning aside questions about presidents, candidates, policies and other controversies.
‘I don’t do politics,’ Parton told host Jad Abumrad on his hit podcast Dolly Parton’s America.
‘I have too many fans on both sides of the fence. Of course, I have my opinion about everything, but I learned years ago to keep your mouth shut about things.’
When the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation sent out a ballot in 2022 with her name on it, though, she said she felt she hadn’t earned it, the voters answered with a ‘Hello, Dolly.’ Parton showed up to the induction ceremony, performed and then put out a rock album.