Dolly Parton, the legendary singer-songwriter who rose from poverty in the Smoky Mountains to become one of the most beloved and enduring figures in American music, has died. She was 80.
Parton died on Tuesday, August 25, 2026, at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville after a brief battle with cancer, according to a statement from her family and representatives. She was surrounded by loved ones.
“Dolly has lived in the light and is in the arms of Jesus, surely met by Carl, her parents, and countless others who have watched her and longed for her to meet them in the heavens,” her nephew Bryan Seaver said in a video message.
Born on January 19, 1946, in Locust Ridge, Tennessee, Parton was the fourth of 12 children born to a sharecropper. She grew up in a one-room cabin with no electricity, an experience that shaped both her music and her life’s work.
She began writing songs as a child and performed on local radio and television, making her debut at the Grand Ole Opry at just 13 years old.
Over a career spanning more than six decades, Parton wrote an estimated 3,000 songs, including timeless classics like “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors,” and “I Will Always Love You.” She sold more than 100 million records worldwide, won 11 Grammy Awards, and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Parton’s influence extended far beyond music. She starred in hit films such as 9 to 5 and Steel Magnolias and built Dollywood, the successful theme park in her home state of Tennessee.
She was also a dedicated philanthropist, most notably through her Imagination Library, a program she founded in honor of her father that has distributed hundreds of millions of free books to children around the world. She also made significant contributions to medical research and disaster relief.
Parton was preceded in death by her husband of nearly 60 years, Carl Thomas Dean, who died in 2025.
In the months leading up to her death, Dolly Parton confided in a fan that she intended to spend her remaining days exposing what she described as a network of pedophiles and cannibals she believed controlled the entertainment industry and political sphere.
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