Dolly Parton, Queen of Country Music, Dies at 80
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- Dolly Parton died Aug. 25 at age 80, with the announcement delivered on her official Instagram by her nephew Bryan Seaver on behalf of the Parton family.
- Parton cancelled a six-show December residency at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on Sept. 28, 2025, citing health challenges and procedures, and also pulled out of remotely accepting the Motion Picture Academy's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
- Parton stayed creatively active into her final year, participating in the premiere of the autobiographical "Dolly: An Original Musical" at Belmont University's Fisher Center in July–August and in the Nashville world premiere of "Dolly Parton's Threads: My Songs in Symphony" in March.
- Parton notched 25 No. 1 country singles — many self-penned, making her one of the first major female country stars to write much of her own material — plus seven Grammys, and joined the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1986, and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001.
- Parton was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022 after initially resisting the honor, and released her final album "Rockstar" in 2023, a duet-heavy set that claimed the rock mantle she had once spurned.
- "I Will Always Love You", which Parton wrote as a 1974 farewell to duet partner Porter Wagoner and famously refused to give up the publishing rights on, became one of the best-selling songs ever when Whitney Houston's 1992 "The Bodyguard" soundtrack version spent 14 weeks at No. 1 and sold 4 million copies.
- Dollywood, Parton's Pigeon Forge, Tenn., theme park, sits near her childhood home in rural Sevierville, where she was born Jan. 19, 1946, the fourth of 12 children in a poverty-stricken farming family whose hardships inspired her signature song "Coat of Many Colors."
Why it matters: Parton's death ends a six-decade run that crossed country songwriting, pop stardom, film, TV production, and Broadway-bound theater — a portfolio anchored by 25 No. 1 country singles, seven Grammys, and the 45-million-selling "Bodyguard" soundtrack. Her exit leaves unfinished business in Nashville, where the "Dolly: An Original Musical" pre-Broadway run points to a 2026 New York opening now she will not see.
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