Dolly Parton, the singer who introduced country music to audiences around the world, has died at the age of 80. Her death was announced by her nephew in a video posted to her official Instagram account.
Parton was the best-selling country music artist of all time, having sold more than 160 million albums worldwide over a career spanning roughly six decades. She also built a film career, though she always insisted she would remain, first and foremost, a country musician.
Just days before her death, on August 21, 2026, Parton spoke to PEOPLE magazine about her health, acknowledging that it had recently worsened following the death of her husband, Carl Dean, in March 2025.
She told the magazine she had mentioned in videos over the past year that she was dealing with some health problems, which she said she had simply not paid attention to while she was caring for Dean. She said it was not the first time she had faced a health setback, recalling that in the early 1980s she was sidelined for several months by gynecological problems and weight issues, and that she had been through difficult periods with her health before.
Parton said that living in a world that operates around the clock, seven days a week, with social media, meant that everything was magnified in a way it had not been in the past. She said she used to joke that she was the Queen of the Tabloids, but could now probably say she was the Queen of Artificial Intelligence on social media. She added that although she was still recovering, she was continuing to work, saying she had dreamed herself into a corner and still had so many things she wanted to achieve, so she planned to keep working as long as she could to make it happen.
A record-breaking career
Born in 1946 in Pittman Center, Tennessee, Parton was one of 12 children. She told PEOPLE in 1977 that the family never really went hungry, though at times they did not have enough to eat. She began playing guitar and singing in her grandfather's church at the age of six, and started writing songs a year later.
Her debut album, "Hello, I'm Dolly," was released in 1967, followed by a string of major hits including "I Will Always Love You," "9 to 5" and "Jolene."
From homemade clothes to a glamorous image
Although she became known for her glamorous look, Parton told PEOPLE in 2003 that as a child she had freckles and a gap between her teeth, and wore homemade clothes or hand-me-downs. She said she always wanted to be prettier, so she began grooming herself, wanting tight clothes, bold makeup, long nails and red lips, and admitted she got carried away by it all. Her striking image drew enormous attention throughout her career, and she was always the first to joke about it.
Nashville and the break with Porter Wagoner
After finishing high school, Parton moved to Nashville in 1964, where she played in clubs and wrote songs for other artists. She said her songs got her out of the mountains and took her everywhere she wanted to go. Her big break came when country star Porter Wagoner hired her as his singing partner on "The Porter Wagoner Show." Wagoner helped her secure a recording contract, though her earliest major hits were duets with him.
She once said she would always be a country musician because she was a country girl, and that her style was her soul and her emotions. She said she would tell the world things through her songs that she would not even tell her mother.
Jolene and I Will Always Love You
Parton topped the country chart for the first time in 1971 with "Joshua." "Coat of Many Colors," released the same year, reached No. 4. In 1973 she released "Jolene," which went to No. 1 on the country chart and also crossed onto the Billboard Hot 100.
Parton stopped appearing on Wagoner's television show in 1974 and wrote "I Will Always Love You" as a farewell to her longtime collaborator. She said in a 2012 interview that as she was preparing to leave, things were not going well, so she went home and the song came to her. The next morning she told Wagoner that was how she felt, and tears ran down his face.
The song reached the top of the country chart twice on its own, then became a global hit when Whitney Houston recorded it for the 1992 film "The Bodyguard." In 2015, Parton described hearing Houston's version on the radio for the first time, saying it felt universal, that it was in a film and was No. 1, and that she recalled thinking she had written that little song. She said that was when she understood her worth as a songwriter, and decided that was her gift and she would make the best of it.
Expanding beyond Nashville and into film
Parton went on to score more hits, including "Light of a Clear Blue Morning," "Here You Come Again," "Two Doors Down," "It's All Wrong, But It's All Right" and "You're the Only One."
By the late 1970s, her ambitions had outgrown Nashville, and some worried she was leaving country music behind. In 1977 she said she wanted the world to know there was much more to her, good or bad, than it had seen so far, and that all she was asking for was a chance to prove it. She said she was not abandoning Nashville, adding that roots mattered to her and that her own roots were there.
Her film career began in 1980, when she starred in "9 to 5" alongside Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda. The title song she wrote for the film became her first single to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Parton remained lifelong friends with her two co-stars and later made a guest appearance on the Netflix series "Grace and Frankie."
Over her career, Parton won 10 Grammy Awards from 55 nominations.
