Dolly Parton has died at 80. The American singer, songwriter, actress and entrepreneur died on August 25 in Nashville, Tennessee. The news was announced on her official website: the statement reports that she died “peacefully”, without indicating the cause of death. Just a year earlier, in March 2025, she had lost Carl Dean, the man with whom she had shared nearly sixty years of marriage.
With Dolly Parton, one of the most recognizable figures of American popular culture disappears. A woman capable of starting from a very poor house in Appalachia and becoming a world star, selling over 100 million records, winning 11 Grammys and simultaneously building a career in cinema, a multi-million dollar business and one of the largest private programs promoting reading for children.
From Tennessee Poverty to Success
Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on January 19, 1946 in Locust Ridge, Tennessee, the fourth of twelve children. The family lived on very little and music was part of everyday life: his mother sang, his grandfather was a preacher who played the violin. That childhood would, years later, become material for some of his most famous songs. In Coat of Many Colors for example, he talked about the coat his mother sewed from pieces of fabric and the teasing he suffered at school.
Parton began performing as a child and moved to Nashville as soon as she finished school. The turning point came at the end of the sixties with the Porter Wagoner Show. For seven years she formed one of the most popular couples in American country music with Wagoner, before deciding to walk alone.
From that professional separation was born one of the most famous songs in the history of music. In 1973 Dolly wrote I Will Always Love You as a farewell to Wagoner. Almost twenty years later Whitney Houston would turn the song into a global success thanks to the film The Bodyguard. But the song, and more importantly the copyright, remained Parton’s. Even Elvis Presley had thought about recording it: Dolly gave up when the singer’s manager asked her to give up half of the publishing rights. A decision that over the years would prove to be extraordinarily far-sighted.
From “Jolene” to “9 to 5”
Then they arrived Jolene, 9 to 5, Here You Come Again and dozens of other successes. Parton succeeded in something that was not at all obvious at the time: going beyond the confines of country music without abandoning it.
His career has over 100 million records sold worldwide, 11 Grammys and thousands of songs written. Jolene, Coat of Many Colors And I Will Always Love You have entered the canon of American music. Parton has been inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
By the 1980s she had also become a Hollywood star. The movie 9 to 5in Italy From 9 to 5… all day longturned her into a known face far beyond country audiences. They followed, among others, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas And Steel Magnolias.
Yet Dolly Parton had built part of her success precisely by playing with the image that others had of her: platinum blonde hair, dresses full of rhinestones, very high heels, flashy make-up and a self-irony that transformed the stereotype of the “ditzy blonde” into its opposite. Behind that image there was one of the authors and entrepreneurs most attentive to her rights and the management of her brand in the American music industry.
Dollywood and the millions of books given to children
His name has also become a business. Dollywood was born in Tennessee, the Pigeon Forge amusement park that helped transform the Great Smoky Mountains area into an international tourist destination.
But perhaps Dolly Parton’s most surprising legacy is away from the stages. In 1995 he founded the Imagination Library, inspired by his father, who had never learned to read and write. The project began by giving a book to children in his home county every month. It later expanded to the United States and then to Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland, distributing millions of books for free every month to children up to five years old.
During the pandemic, Parton also donated one million dollars to Vanderbilt University for coronavirus research: that funding also contributed to the studies that led to the development of the Moderna vaccine.
Dolly Parton’s latest project
Dolly Parton had never shown any particular interest in retirement. He was still working on new projects in 2026. A few days before his death his website celebrated 82 new recording certifications obtained around the world. In July it was also announced the arrival on Broadway of Dolly: A True Original Musicalthe autobiographical show written together with Maria S. Schlatter and built on her songs.
The musical will go on. After the singer’s death, producers confirmed that previews will begin on December 7, 2026 at the St. James Theater in New York and that the official premiere will be on January 19, 2027: the day Dolly Parton would have turned 81. It was, they explained, his wish.