Country music icon Dolly Parton died in Nashville, Tenn., on Tuesday at the age of 80.
Her death was announced in a video by her nephew, Bryan Seaver.
“I am representing the Parton and Owens family today, announcing the passing of my Aunt Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean. Sister, sis, Aunt Granny to one generation and Gigi to the next. This video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago, before I fully absorbed it as a future reality,” Seaver began.
“As her head of security for more than two decades, a role my father Larry held before me, I have imagined the heaviness of this moment, but haven’t truly felt it until now. It is an honour, an honour that is mixed with absolute pride and great sadness. But sadness lies with us, not with Dolly.”
Seaver said that Parton lived “in the light” and is now “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.”
“I first went on the road with Dolly as a kid, getting a taste of the road life in the early 1980s. Dolly opened doors, not just for me, but for her entire family to reach the potential we didn’t even know was possible. Dolly also opened doors for generations of singers, songwriters, musicians and dreamers from every walk of life and across every continent,” he said.
“By her example, we believed that anything was possible. She never saw a door she couldn’t open and the doors she opened made and changed history,” Seaver said. “My family and I have shared a lifetime of beautiful memories with Dolly, but so have you.”
“Our family and the team she has entrusted with her legacy will work diligently to ensure her spirit will live with us forever,” Seaver said.
“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,” he said, adding, “Rest in peace, Aunt Dolly.”
Parton wrote hundreds of songs, including classics like Jolene, Coat of Many Colors and I Will Always Love You, that totalled more than 100 million worldwide sales and more than one billion online streams. Parton, who plucked bejewelled banjos, guitars and dulcimers with her long fingernails during performances, was a generous philanthropist and successful businesswoman whose projects included a theme park in the Smoky Mountain foothills near her birthplace.
Her career was forever influenced by her upbringing as one of 12 children born into what she called a “dirt poor” Tennessee family. She started her education non-profit, the Imagination Library, to send free books to children in Tennessee because her father, who quit school to work on the farm, struggled to learn to read.
Parton’s first musical performances were in church, where her grandfather was a preacher. By age 10, she was learning guitar and singing on local television shows. At 13, she appeared at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, where Johnny Cash introduced her as “a little girl here from up in East Tennessee.”
Parton released her huge hit in 1974, I Will Always Love You, that helped her win the Country Music Association’s female vocalist of the year back-to-back in 1975 and 1976. She famously turned down Elvis Presley, who wanted to record it, because she would not share publishing rights.
Decades later, Whitney Houston’s version of I Will Always Love You became a smash for the soundtrack of her 1992 film The Bodyguard and broke sales records. Houston won a Grammy for her performance in 1994, presented to her by Parton.
In her first major film role, Parton played alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin as office workers who rebel against their tyrannical boss in 9 to 5.
The stage adaptation 9 to 5: The Musical debuted in 2009, and DOLLY: A True Original Musical had been set to open in December 2026.
In May, Parton shared a health update after cancelling her Las Vegas residency amid ongoing health issues.
In an Instagram reel, Parton wrote in the caption, “Thank you for standing by me and showing me so much love and support over the past year. I’ve still got some healing to do, but I am on my way! See you soon.”
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In the video shared to her Instagram page, Parton said, “I have some good news and a little bad news. But the good news is I’m responding really well to meds and treatments and I’m improving every day.”
“Now, the bad news is, it’s going to take me a little while before I’m up to stage-performance level, because some of the meds and treatments make me a little bit swimmy-headed, as my grandma used to say. And of course, I can’t be dizzy carrying around banjos, guitars, and such on five-inch heels, and you know that I’m going to be wearing them,” Parton said.
Parton told her fans to think of her as “an old classic car that once restored, can be better than ever.”
Last November, Parton shared a health update after missing the Hall of Fame ceremony for her theme park, Dollywood.
“Well, hey there, it’s Dolly,” Parton began. “And I sure wish I could be with you in person today, but you probably heard that I’ve been dealing with a few health challenges this fall, and my doctors told me to take it easy for just a little while.”
Parton said she was “truly sorry” she couldn’t be in attendance but she still wanted to take the chance to thank everyone for the “incredible honour,” including Jack and Peter Herschend, her partners who co-own the Dollywood theme park.
Earlier last year, Parton postponed her first Las Vegas residency in 32 years due to “health challenges.”
“As many of you know, I’ve been dealing with some health challenges, and my doctors tell me that I must have a few procedures. As I joked with them, it must be time for my 100,000-mile check-up, although it’s not the usual trip to see my plastic surgeon!” she wrote in the announcement shared on Instagram.
Parton also told her fans that “lately everybody thinks that I am sicker than I am” in another health update shared in October.
“I’ve got some problems, as I’ve mentioned,” Parton said. “Back when my husband Carl was very sick — that was for a long time — and then when he passed, I didn’t take care of myself, so I let a lot of things go that I should have been taking care of. So anyway, when I got around to it, the doctor said, ‘We need to take care of this. We need to take care of that.’”
She noted that it’s “nothing major,” but she did have to “cancel some things so I could be closer to home” and closer to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, “where I’m kind of having a few treatments here and there, but I wanted you to know that I’m not dying.”
This came after Parton’s sister Freida Parton shared an update after she asked fans to pray for her sister’s recovery after the singer postponed her upcoming Las Vegas residency due to health issues.
“I want to clear something up,” Freida, 69, wrote in a Facebook post. “I didn’t mean to scare anyone or make it sound so serious when asking for prayers for Dolly.”
Freida said that Parton has “been a little under the weather, and I simply asked for prayers because I believe so strongly in the power of prayer.”
“It was nothing more than a little sister asking for prayers for her big sister. Thank you all for lifting her up. Your love truly makes a difference,” she added.
Parton went on to address the rumours and told fans, “lately everybody thinks that I am sicker than I am.”
She also joked about an AI photo circulating online that showed her on her “deathbed” with Reba McEntire by her side.
“Did you see that AI picture of Reba and me? Oh, lordy! I mean, they had Reba at my deathbed, and we both look like we need to be buried. I thought, oh, my Lord. But if I was really dying, I don’t think Reba would be the one at my deathbed. She might come visit me earlier,” she added.
With 55 Grammy nominations and 10 wins, Parton is the third-most nominated woman in Grammy history, behind only Beyoncé and Taylor Swift.
The unexpected news of Parton’s death was met with shock around the world.
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum CEO Kyle Young shared a statement about the passing of the superstar, who was inducted into the hall in 1999.
“Dolly Parton’s legacy is not celebrity, but humanity,” Young said, calling her a “champion of equality and literacy.”
“She was a picture of dignity, even when dressed outrageously. Anyone who seeks to be more like Dolly is on the right track, but they’ll never get to the finish line. She came from poverty to become the most important native of Tennessee. She shared her fortunes for the good of all of us, and shared her soul in every note she sang,” Young added.
Country singer Kacey Musgrave took to X, writing, “The world feels a lot less sparkly all of a sudden. So glad she’s with her Carl Dean. No one talk to me today.”
Dionne Warwick said her heart is heavy from the news that Parton has died.
“The Heavenly Father has made the decision to bring another of his children to him. Dolly a true child of God is in the best hands now,” Warwick said in a statement Tuesday.
“I will certainly miss her laugher, jokes and her being. Rest well and in total peace my friend.”
“One of one. We must make more,” actor Pedro Pascal wrote in an Instagram post.
Octavia Spencer called Parton “a gift to the world.”
“Your voice, your philanthropic heart, and warmth made us a feel seen and that the world was a pretty decent place,” Spencer continued. “We miss you.”
Actor Jamie Lee Curtis took to Instagram, writing, “They say don’t meet your heroes. They were wrong about her. Her bravery to know that she was more than they thought she was and that she needed to break away and move on into new work and new possibilities led her to write I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU, as her way of thanking and loving, but moving on. She is a great example for us all.”
Euphoria actor Colman Domingo took to X, writing, “Dolly taught us that you can be anything and do anything and to do it with kindness. What a light. We are all grateful that we lived in a time of Dolly Parton. We will always love her.”
Country singer Reba McEntire paid tribute to Parton on X, sharing photos and writing, “Well, I just got the news that my buddy Dolly passed onto the higher and greater side. Dolly, thank you for all the wonderful things you did for us here on earth. Your love, your music and you gave so much with your huge huge heart.”
“There will never ever be another you. We will remember and cherish every memory and every note you ever played and sang. Thank you, Lord, for Dolly. She’s gonna have a blast in heaven singing all her favorite songs with all her family and friends who have gone on before her,” McEntire continued.
“I’ll never forget the first time I met you and I’ll never forget our last conversation. I hold it with love in my heart. I will always love you,” McEntire’s post concluded.
— with files from The Associated Press