Dolly Parton, the Queen of Country who wrote and performed hit songs spanning six decades, has died at the age of 80.
She passed away on Tuesday morning at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville after being admitted on Friday with autoimmune and kidney problems, according to TMZ.
Her nephew and head of security, Bryan Seaver, confirmed her death in an Instagram video. "This video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago before I fully absorbed it as a future reality," he said.
Parton's family traveled to Nashville upon hearing she was hospitalized, though not all arrived before she died.
Seaver praised his aunt for having "lived in the light" and said she was now "in the arms of Jesus," alongside her parents, her late husband Carl Thomas Dean, and "countless others who have watched her and longed to meet her in the heavens."
Recalling touring with Parton in the 1980s, Seaver said she "opened doors not just for me but for her entire family to reach the potential we didn't even know was possible."
He described her as "a farmer, just like her daddy," noting that her father farmed soil while she "farmed songs and happiness."
"Dolly called me and said she wants to rest in a beautiful bed of plush cotton because after a life of wearing heavy rhinestones, she finally deserves to be comfortable and have some rest," Seaver said.
Family sources said a private service for close friends and relatives will take place in Nashville in the next few days.
In an interview published by People four days before she died, Parton said she still had "so many things I want to achieve" and intended to keep "working as long as I can to see everything come to life."
She told the magazine she had been dealing with "some health issues that I just didn't pay attention to when I was watching over Carl." Parton's final Instagram post was uploaded on August 12.
A Smoky Mountain childhood
Born on January 19, 1946, in Pittman Center, Tennessee, to her mother Avie Lee and her father, Parton was the fourth of 12 children.
She and her siblings, Willadeene, David Wilburn, Coy Denver, Bobby Lee, Stella Mae, Cassie Nan, Randel Huston "Randy," Larry Gerald, twins Estel Floyd and Freida Estelle, and Rachel Ann, grew up in the Great Smoky Mountains without gas, electricity or running water, sleeping on straw beds.
Parton sang on local radio and television in East Tennessee as a child before releasing her debut single, Puppy Love, at age 13. She released her debut album, Hello, I'm Dolly, in 1967.
She told NPR in 2008 that her 1973 classic Jolene was inspired by a local bank teller who flirted with her husband.
"She got this terrible crush on my husband. And he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention," Parton said. "It was kinda like a running joke between us, when I was saying: 'Hell, you're spending a lot of time at the bank. I don't believe we've got that kind of money.'"
She later told the Glastonbury Festival, where she performed on the main Pyramid stage in 2014, that she wrote the song when Dean "was spending a little more time with Jolene than I thought he should be," adding: "I put a stop to that. I got rid of that redhead woman in a hurry."
Elvis and I Will Always Love You
Parton's 1974 song I Will Always Love You, which topped the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 1974 and again in 1982, was written as she ended her professional partnership with mentor Porter Wagoner to start a solo career.
Parton refused to allow Elvis Presley to record the song after his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, demanded half the publishing rights.
"Elvis loved the song. In fact, I talked to Priscilla not very long ago. She said: 'You know, Elvis sang that song to me when we were walking down the courthouse steps when we got divorced,'" Parton told BBC Radio 2 in 2023.
She said Presley was ready to record it and she had been invited to the studio, but Parker called the night before to demand the rights. Parton refused, calling it "the most important copyright in my whole publishing company."
The deal collapsed, leaving Parton "heartbroken," but her decision paid off when Whitney Houston's 1992 recording for The Bodyguard became an international hit and drove the soundtrack to 18 times platinum.
Parton also wrote and recorded the hit 9 to 5 for the 1980 comedy film, starring alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. She wrote the song on set, clicking her nails to make the beat. The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and over her lifetime Parton won 11 Grammy Awards and three Emmy Awards.
A 60 year marriage
Parton lost her husband in March 2025, when Dean died at the age of 82. The couple, who never had children but helped raise several of her younger siblings in Nashville, were married just two months short of 59 years.
In a tribute at the time, she said words could not "do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years."
The couple met at a Nashville laundromat in 1964 when Parton was 18, and married in 1966 in Ringgold, Georgia. They renewed their vows in 2016 at their Nashville home.
"I walked outside there was this good-looking man that drove by the wishy-washy laundromat. And he pulled over to the side. So, we started talking and we married two years later," Parton recalled in a 2023 Channel 5 documentary.
Despite her immense fame, Dean stayed out of the spotlight and rarely attended her events.
Parton told Bunnie XO's Dumb Blonde podcast in 2024 that Dean attended a 1967 awards show where she won song of the year, but the "homebody" told her afterward: "I wish you the best, but don't ever ask me to go to another one of these damn things because I ain't going."
She said they used humor to avoid conflict, noting: "He's quiet and I'm loud, and we're funny. We never fought back and forth."
Health challenges
Despite continuing to make public appearances in recent years, including at the Blockchain Creative Labs' Dollyverse Event at SXSW in Austin, Texas, in March 2022, Parton's health began to decline.
In September 2025, she postponed her Las Vegas residency, originally set for December 4 to December 13 at the Colosseum Theater at Caesars Palace, to September 2026 due to "health challenges."
"As many of you know, I have been dealing with some health challenges, and my doctors tell me that I must have a few procedures," she wrote on Instagram, joking that it was time for a "100,000-mile check-up" and not her "usual trip to see my plastic surgeon."
"Don't worry about me quittin' the business because God hasn't said anything about stopping yet," she added. "But, I believe He is telling me to slow down right now so I can be ready for more big adventures with all of you."
The following month, her sister Freida sparked concern by asking fans on Facebook to be "prayer warriors" because Parton had not "been feeling her best lately."
Freida later clarified that she had not meant to cause panic, and Parton posted a video from an ad shoot for the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville assuring fans: "Do I look sick to you? I want you to know that I'm okay!"
Tributes pour in
Parton's death prompted an outpouring of grief from the entertainment world. Country singer Maren Morris posted a video of herself singing with Parton, writing: "There will never be another. @dollyparton was who we could all agree on. She was and is such a light."
Reba McEntire wrote: "Well, I just got the news that my buddy Dolly passed onto the higher and greater side," adding that Parton would "have a blast in heaven singing all her favorite songs with all her family and friends."
"Dolly is gone and my heart is so broken," wrote Lauren Sanchez, wife of Jeff Bezos. She highlighted Parton's work mailing free books to children for 30 years in honor of her father, who could not read.
Kacey Musgraves, who covered Here You Come Again with Katy Perry and Parton at the 2019 Grammy Awards, wrote on X that "the world feels a lot less sparkly all of a sudden." Her 9 to 5 co-star Lily Tomlin simply posted a black-and-white photo of them with the caption: "No words..."
Blake Shelton, who worked with Parton and his wife Gwen Stefani on The Voice, said she was "the EXACT person that you think she is," describing her as "like being with the funnest, most loving, most caring and closest member of your family."
Sarah Jessica Parker called her "one of the greatest this country ever produced," and Khloe Kardashian remembered her as "a once-in-a-lifetime soul." Happy Days star Henry Winkler wrote: "What a sad day for America what a sad day for the world what a sad day for the pardon family."
Jamie Lee Curtis shared a photo of them meeting, writing: "They say don't meet your heroes. They were wrong about her." Keke Palmer posted that she was "devastated," prompting a string of heart emojis in replies from Kerry Washington.
Actors Pedro Pascal and Brooke Shields also posted tributes, along with musicians Barbra Streisand, Paris Hilton, and Mick Jagger. Hilton remembered Parton as a "true icon," while Streisand called her "a true force of nature."
"One of my fondest memories with @dollyparton: Having a hoot and a holler while wearing Bob Mackie gowns on her show Dolly," wrote Oprah Winfrey. "She brought the light, and we are all better because she was here."
Sally Field posted a behind-the-scenes photo of her and Parton with their co-stars Olympia Dukakis, Shirley MacLaine, and Julia Roberts on the set of their 1989 dramedy Steel Magnolias, writing: "If there are truly angels on earth, then we have just lost one." Johnny Knoxville recalled being so starstruck when he saw her at Yamashiro restaurant in Hollywood 20 years ago that he froze and never spoke to her.
