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Icon Dolly Parton Dies at 80 of Cancer 08/26 06:06
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Dolly Parton, the country music icon whose soaring
vibrato vocals, poignant songwriting and sparkling costumes defined her rise
from a log cabin in the Tennessee mountains to the height of stardom and
acclaim, has died in Nashville. She was 80 years old.
"After bravely facing a brief battle with cancer, Dolly departed her Earthly
life today at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center surrounded by loved ones,"
her publicist, Marcel Pariseau, said in a statement Tuesday.
Known for her curvy physique, massive blond wigs and skin-tight outfits that
served her self-deprecating wit, she was among the most beloved personalities
in music and beyond -- the rare celebrity whose appeal transcended generations,
geography and politics.
She wrote hundreds of songs, including classics like "Jolene," "Coat of Many
Colors" and "I Will Always Love You," that totaled more than 100 million
worldwide sales and more than 1 billion online streams. Parton, who plucked
bejeweled banjos, guitar 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 nonprofit, 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 on the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, where
Johnny Cash introduced her as "a little girl here from up in East Tennessee."
With a suitcase of songs, she followed her uncle, Bill Owens, also a
songwriter, to Nashville after graduating high school in 1964. Fred Foster, who
produced Roy Orbison, Willie Nelson and more, saw her potential and got her
songs cut by other artists, as well as recording and releasing Parton singing
her own material. By the mid-1970s, Parton was a Nashville queen.
A key collaboration launched Parton to fame
Parton's partnership with Porter Wagoner, a pencil-thin pompadoured star
with flashy rhinestone outfits, was key to her career. She honed her acting
skills on his syndicated TV show and he advocated for her to get a record deal
at RCA. Their first duet, "The Last Thing On My Mind," was released in 1967,
the same year she started her own publishing company.
While their duets were often big radio hits, Parton's solo singles didn't
chart as high at first. With Wagoner as a co-producer, she began to adjust her
country warble to a more polished, pop-leaning style.
She got her first No. 1 solo single with "Joshua," and reached the Top 5
with the ballad "Coat of Many Colors," about how her mother sewed together
scraps of clothes to make a coat Parton wore "so proudly" even as her peers
mocked her for being poor. The song, with its Biblical references and ode to
maternal love, was later made into a children's book and a TV movie.
In 1973, she had the hit that made her career -- "Jolene," a country music
standard with its steady, churning rhythm and Parton's repeated delivery of the
title as she pleads for the woman not to steal her man.
The song topped the country charts, crossing over to pop and later being
released internationally, opening up new audiences for Parton. "Jolene" is one
of her most covered compositions, including by Miley Cyrus (Parton's
goddaughter), Olivia Newton-John and The White Stripes.
She left Wagoner's show in 1974, amid reports of squabbling between the two,
although they continued to record together and Wagoner stayed her producer for
years after that. But the relationship turned litigious when Wagoner sued her
in 1979 for millions in management fees and royalties.
A push into pop music brought her first Grammy
She followed "Jolene" with a huge hit in 1974, "I Will Always Love You," an
ode and farewell to Wagoner 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.
"Here You Come Again," a pop crossover hit and one of the few she didn't
write, further established Parton as a multi-genre entertainer and brought her
first Grammy Award in 1979.
"A lot of people thought I had totally lost my mind," she told The
Associated Press in 1979 of changing her singing style. "But I had no fear of
change. I expected success, but I was braced for failure. I didn't care if
people thought I was wrong. In my own heart, I knew I was doing the right
thing."
Parton's other crossover hits included the title song from "9 to 5," the
1980 comedy starring Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin; and her duet with
longtime friend Kenny Rogers, "Islands in the Stream," written by brothers
Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees. In 1987, she collaborated with
Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris on the million-selling "Trio" album.
Rhinestones and wicked humor helped her cut a unique figure
For millions of fans, she was simply "Dolly," a mixture of Southern charm,
humor and glamour. But she was also considered a feminist role model for
holding the reins of her own career, writing her own songs, owning her content
and looking after her finances in an entertainment world dominated by men.
Parton was open to making fun of herself; when she hosted "Saturday Night
Live" in 1989 she told the writers that her only restrictions were she wouldn't
curse and she wouldn't make fun of Jesus. She regularly joked about her breasts
or her dumb blonde appearance, but with a wink that she was the one controlling
the laughs. In the memoir "My Life So Far," Fonda remembered Parton's way with
a wisecrack, "usually high raunch," and a laugh that was "somewhere between a
girl's giggle, an explosive shriek, and a cascade of little bells."
After her gown split down the front when she won CMA's entertainer of the
year in 1978, Parton quipped: "My Daddy said that's what I got for putting 50
pounds of mud in a five-pound bag."
Throughout her career, she embraced a glamorous style, often wearing custom
curve-hugging rhinestone dresses and bodysuits even if they drew tsk-tsks from
others in the industry. Her look was always a part of her larger musical
business plan.
"I knew my songs were good even if I had been ugly as sin," she told the AP
in 2014. "So I thought, 'Well, I would have probably chose to look this way
even if I had been a waitress.' I mean, this is my look. I mean, I like a lot
of makeup. I like a lot of hair. I like flashy clothes. I like to show it off.
But that's just who I am."
She married Carl Dean, an asphalt paving contractor, in the mid-1960s; they
were together until his death in 2025 at the age of 82. Though rarely seen in
public, he was an influence on her career. She told NPR that she wrote "Jolene"
about a flirty bank teller who seemed to take an interest in Dean.
'9 to 5' took her to Hollywood, and then Broadway
In her first major film role, Parton played alongside Fonda and Tomlin as
office workers who rebel against their tyrannical boss in "9 to 5." Critic
Roger Ebert called her a "natural-born movie star" and the title song earned
her two Grammy Awards and a ranking of 78 on the American Film Institute's list
of top 100 movie songs. Starring roles in "The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas"
and "Steel Magnolias" followed.
"I never thought of myself as a movie star," she told AP's Bob Thomas in
1979. "I knew I'd be a star, but as a singer or as a writer of songs or books
or poetry. I wanted to be a famous performer and wear flashy clothes, but
singing in movies was not one of my ambitions. My family lived in the mountains
and we didn't see movies."
Her love affair with TV and film continued for decades, with appearances
alongside Cyrus on "Hannah Montana" and adaptations of her music for Christmas
specials, films and streaming series. She also became an author, her books
ranging from the memoir "Dolly" to a bestselling novel co-authored by James
Patterson, "Run, Rose, Run."
The stage adaptation "9 to 5: The Musical" debuted in 2009, and "DOLLY: A
True Original Musical" is set to open Jan. 19, 2027, on what would have been
her 81st birthday.
She presided over a United States of Dolly
Beyond her music, Parton's most lasting legacy might be her generosity and
broad appeal.
When a deadly wildfire swept through the Smokies in 2016, she held an
all-star telethon and set up a foundation that sent monthly checks to residents
whose homes were damaged or destroyed.
She opened up her Dollywood theme park in East Tennessee, a major economic
driver in Appalachia that draws tourists from around the country, and
established the Dollywood Foundation. She wrote books and memoirs, was inducted
into the Country Music Hall of Fame and was given a lifetime achievement award
by the Recording Academy. She was selected for the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian
Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2025.
With 55 Grammy nominations and 10 wins, Parton is the third-most nominated
woman in Grammy history, only behind Beyonc and Taylor Swift.
Parton spanned social and political divides, through multiple generations of
fans, urban and rural and in between. In tumultuous election years, it wasn't
uncommon to see "Dolly for President" shirts. But she was strict in not voicing
her own political beliefs, often turning aside questions about presidents,
candidates, policies and other controversies.
"I don't do politics," Parton told host Jad Abumrad on his hit podcast
"Dolly Parton's America."
"I have too many fans on both sides of the fence. Of course, I have my
opinion about everything, but I learned years ago to keep your mouth shut about
things."
When the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation sent out a ballot in 2022 with
her name on it, though she said she felt she hadn't earned it, the voters
answered with a "Hello, Dolly." Parton showed up to the induction ceremony,
performed and then put out a rock album.
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