Breaking! Dolly Parton, Queen of Country Music dies at 80
By Jones Kobnam
The celebrated Queen of Country Music and humanitarian heroine, Dolly Parton has died at the age of 80 years.
Dolly Parton, who rose from humble beginnings to the greatest heights of American music and became one of the country’s most philanthropic, unifying and beloved stars, died Tuesday at her home in Nashville, according to a family statement.
According to a statement attributed to her nephew Bryan Seaver, Parton died “peacefully.” The statement added that a small, private service will be held for her close family.
Parton had been open about health issues in the last 2 years, especially after her husband Carl Dean died in March 2025.
It was learnt that she postponed/canceled her Las Vegas residency in 2025-2026 citing “health challenges”.
Born the fourth of 12 children in 1946 in Locust Ridge, Tennessee, Parton arrived in Nashville the day after high school graduation with $100 and a guitar. By 1967 she was a regular on The Porter Wagoner Show, but it was her songwriting that cemented her legacy.
“Jolene.” “Coat of Many Colors.” “I Will Always Love You.” She wrote the latter two on the same day in 1973. “I Will Always Love You” later became one of the best-selling singles of all time after Whitney Houston’s version.
Beyond music, Parton built Dollywood in 1986, turning her childhood region into an economic engine. After the 2016 Sevier County wildfires, she launched the My People Fund, personally handing $1,000 checks to families. Her Imagination Library, started in 1995, now mails more than 2 million free books monthly to children in five countries.
On screen she starred in 9 to 5 and Steel Magnolias, and off stage she became a rare unifying figure — funding COVID-19 research at Vanderbilt, receiving a $100 million Courage and Civility Award from Jeff Bezos, and earning 11 Grammys and a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction.
She leaves behind six decades of songs, a theme park, and a literacy program that will outlive her. The girl from a one-room cabin brought the mountains to the world — and gave it all back.
