Family announces the death of music icon Dolly Parton
Trailblazing country music superstar and philanthropist Dolly Parton has died. She was 80.
A multi-time Grammy winner, Parton composed an extraordinary 3,000 songs during her career, including “I Will Always Love You,” “Coat of Many Colors,” “9 to 5” and “Jolene.” She became the first country artist to chart a top 20 Billboard hit across seven consecutive decades, beginning in the 1960s. In 1999, Parton was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and two years later, the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Born in Appalachia, in eastern Tennessee, she performed on local radio as a child before setting out for Nashville to pursue her music career. She joined country singer and TV host Porter Wagoner as a popular performing duo from the late 1960s until 1974, when she devoted herself fully to her solo career.
In the 1980s, she appeared in the comedy movie “9 to 5,” alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. She composed the film’s main theme song and wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway adaptation. She produced other projects for the screen, including the 2015 TV movie “Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors” about her upbringing.
Her other passions included Dollywood, the theme park in eastern Tennessee she opened in 1986, and promoting children’s literacy. Her Imagination Library has gifted more than 200 million books since its inception in 1995.
In a 2020 interview with PBS News Hour’s Judy Woodruff, Parton reflected on entering the later stages of her life. “Some good things about getting older is that you can look back on your life and see what you have accomplished and see what you can do to help other people on their journey, which is what I’m doing right now,” Parton said. “I want to live young. I want to think young. I want to do young. I want to always be important. I want to be useful. And, as I have often said, I would much rather wear out than to rust out.”
Tap the link in our bio for more on Dolly’s life and legacy.
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