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Dolly Parton, the American country music icon whose soaring vocals, poignant songwriting and sparkling costumes defined her rise from a humble upbringing in the Tennessee mountains to the height of stardom and acclaim, has died in Nashville at the age of 80, her nephew Bryan Seaver announced in a video statement.
Parton passed away “after bravely facing a brief battle with cancer,” her publicist, Marcel Pariseau, said in a statement cited by AP.
Parton rose from humble beginnings to the greatest heights of American music and became one of the country’s most philanthropic, unifying and beloved stars. Tributes are pouring in from musicians and politicians, and flags at the White House were lowered to half-staff in her honor on President Donald Trump’s order.
In an interview published Friday, Parton said she had been “dealing with some health issues,” which she did not address while she was busy caring for her husband, who died just over a year ago. Parton’s funeral will be private and intimate, according to her family.
Dolly Parton donated millions of dollars for medical research to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in recent years – the same facility where she was being treated for cancer and died Tuesday.
Parton was a shrewd businesswoman who amassed an estimated $650 million fortune and maintained creative control in the cutthroat and male-dominated music industry. She presided over an entertainment empire that included the Dollywood theme park. And she was a devoted philanthropist who launched the Dollywood Foundation to provide poverty relief and fund educational programs in her native East Tennessee.
She wrote hundreds of songs, including classics like “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors” and “I Will Always Love You,” which collectively sold more than 100 million copies worldwide and generated more than 1 billion online streams.