Dolly Parton, the singer-songwriter whose six-decade career made her one of the most recognizable figures in American music, has died, according to an announcement posted Tuesday to her official Instagram account. She was 80.
No cause of death was disclosed. The Grand Ole Opry legend had spoken publicly in recent weeks about ongoing health struggles. She abruptly canceled a scheduled Dollywood appearance in mid-August after her doctor advised against travel, and in an interview published Friday, she told People she had been “dealing with some health issues” she had neglected while caring for her husband, Carl Dean, before his death last year. She postponed a planned Las Vegas residency last year because of what she described as “health challenges,” then canceled the rescheduled September 2026 performances in May, saying she needed more time to recover.
“It’s not like I haven’t been through hard times with my health,” Ms. Parton said in the interview, adding that she was “still healin’” but “still workin’.”
“You know me — as I’ve often said — I’ve dreamed myself into a corner and I still have so many things I want to achieve, so I’m gonna keep on working as long as I can to see everything come to life,” she also said in the interview.
Ms. Parton was born on Jan. 19, 1946, in rural Sevier County, Tennessee, as one of 12 children. She was raised in poverty by a father who was illiterate. The family later moved to a farm on nearby Locust Ridge, the childhood home she memorialized in “My Tennessee Mountain Home.”
Ms. Parton built her career on a string of country and pop standards, including “Jolene,” “9 to 5” and “I Will Always Love You,” the latter of which became a global hit a second time when Whitney Houston recorded it for “The Bodyguard.” Her songwriting and performing career earned her induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022, along with a National Medal of Arts and Kennedy Center Honors.
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Beyond music, Ms. Parton built a business empire anchored by Dollywood, the Tennessee theme park near her childhood home in Sevierville, and her Imagination Library, a children’s literacy charity that has distributed millions of free books worldwide. The family, in its statement, asked that donations be made to the Imagination Library in lieu of flowers.
Ms. Parton was preceded in death by her husband of 59 years, Carl Dean, who died in March 2025 at 82.
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