Dolly Parton, the singer, songwriter, actor and philanthropist who became one of America’s most beloved entertainers, died on Tuesday in Nashville, her family said. She was 80 years old.
Her publicist, Marcel Pariseau, said that the country music icon had been “bravely facing a brief battle with cancer,” and that she was “surrounded by loved ones” while receiving medical care at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center.
Parton wrote hundreds of songs over a 60-year career, including two of the most recognized songs of the 20th Century, “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You.”
She was renowned for her self-deprecating wit, down-to-earth authenticity and extensive philanthropy, most notably the Imagination Library, the literacy project she set up in 1995 that has gifted more than 300 million books to young children around the world.
“Our beloved Dolly Parton spent her life and career bringing joy, laughter, hope and integrity into everything she touched,” Pariseau’s statement said, reported by People. “Her unmatched generosity reached the lives of countless people whom she would never meet, yet she was always there to offer a helping hand.”
“Whether it be the hundreds of millions of books donated through her invaluable Imagination Library or funding research that helped create a lifesaving vaccine used around the world, Dolly’s unconditional love for all people was the guiding force for her lasting impact.”
In a video statement shared to Instagram on Tuesday, Parton’s nephew Bryan Seaver — the son of Cassie Parton and Parton’s head of security for more than two decades — shared the news that Parton had died. He said the video announcement was something that his aunt asked him to do “years ago.”
“It is an honor, an honor that is mixed with absolute pride and great sadness. But sadness lies with us, not with Dolly. 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,” he said.
Seaver reflected on her legacy, which included opening doors for “generations of singers, songwriters, musicians, and dreamers from every walk of life and across every continent” and changing history.
“She has always been on your television, your record player, your CD, and on your phone playlist, becoming an extended part of your family, whether you liked it or not. Our family and the team she has entrusted with her legacy will work diligently to ensure her spirit will live with us forever,” he continued.
“Dolly was a farmer, just like her daddy. He farmed the soil. 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 wearing heavy rhinestones, she finally deserves to be comfortable and have some rest.”
According to a post on Parton’s Instagram account, “a small, private service will be held for immediate family” at the singer’s request. “In lieu of flowers the family asks for donations to be made to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library at www.imaginationlibrary.com.”
President Trump on Tuesday afternoon said on social media that Parton’s death “is a true loss for millions of people. There has never been anyone like her, and never will. In her honor, I am lowering the American flag throughout the United States for a one week period beginning tonight at 6:00PM. Rest in Peace, Dolly! The World loves you.”
Parton’s death comes after she announced in May 2026 that she was canceling her Las Vegas residency, which was set to begin in September after already being postponed nine months. She cited unspecified health issues but told the public, via Instagram video, that she was “responding really well to meds and treatments” and “improving every day.”
Known as the Queen of Country, Parton built a successful career that spanned decades, during which she became one of the most honored female country performers of all time. She received 10 Grammy Awards, plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a Primetime Emmy Award, and she holds the record for a female artist with 25 No. 1s on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.
Parton was the fourth of 12 children born to Avie Lee Caroline Owens and Robert Lee Parton Sr., on Jan. 19, 1946, and grew up in Locust Ridge, Tenn. She often credited her uncle Bill Owens for encouraging her to pursue music after buying her a guitar and getting her a role on a television variety show in Knoxville when she was 10.
After graduating from high school in 1964, Parton moved to Nashville to pursue a career in music. She met her husband, Carl Dean, on her first day in the city, at a laundromat. The two would wed in 1966 and stay married until his death on March 3, 2025.
Parton’s big break came in 1967 when Porter Wagoner asked her to replace his duet partner, Norma Jean, on the syndicated TV series The Porter Wagoner Show. The Country Music Hall of Fame credits Parton’s “hourglass figure, outrageous outfits, and angelic voice” for why she performed so well as Wagoner’s cohost.
Dolly Parton in 2024.
(AP Photo/Jonathan Short)
Parton signed with RCA Records as both a solo artist and Wagoner’s partner, and her first solo No. 1 hit was “Joshua” in 1971, which led to the success of “Jolene,” “Love Is Like a Butterfly” and “I Will Always Love You” in 1974. The latter song, which she wrote in honor of Wagoner after she left his show earlier that year, would go on to become a No. 1 pop hit when Whitney Houston covered it in 1992 for The Bodyguard soundtrack.
Parton herself crossed over to the pop charts with her recording of “Here You Come Again” in 1977. Her song “9 to 5” was the title song of the film of the same name and marked Parton’s film debut in 1980, starring alongside Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda. The song won two Grammys and was Oscar-nominated. She starred in a number of films, including The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas with Burt Reynolds in 1982 and Steel Magnolias with Sally Field and Julia Roberts in 1989.
She also opened Dollywood — a theme park that became a significant tourist attraction and helped fund her nonprofit Dollywood Foundation, which supports local schools and scholarship programs — in East Tennessee in 1986. The foundation launched Imagination Library in 1995, and the program now mails millions of free books to children in multiple countries.
Parton was philanthropic in many ways. After the 2016 Sevier County wildfires, the My People Fund raised and distributed more than $12 million. Parton also donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, connected to COVID-19 vaccine research.
Parton would go back to her roots and record several bluegrass albums throughout the early 2000s, after being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999. She founded her own label, Dolly Records, in 2007 and wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway adaptation of 9 to 5, earning her a Tony Award nomination in 2009.
The honors continued throughout her life. The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award came in 2011, after a Kennedy Center Honors award in 2006. In 2022, she was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and in 2025 won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
In later years, Parton dealt with health issues that forced her to pull out of public events. She didn’t attend a Dollywood event in September 2025, after being diagnosed with an infection related to a kidney stone. Later that month, she announced she had to postpone her Las Vegas residency over “health challenges.” In May 2026, she canceled the residency, slated for September 2026, citing undisclosed health issues and treatment that left her unable to perform.
Parton never had children of her own but is survived by several siblings and nieces and nephews. In 2014, she spoke to People about her relationship with her siblings and their kids. “I grew up in a big old family with eight kids younger than me and several of my brothers and sisters came to live with me early on in my life,” she said at the time. “I’ve loved their kids just like they’re my grandkids, and now I’ve got great-grand-kids!”
She added: “I often think, it just wasn’t meant for me to have kids so everybody’s kids can be mine.”