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See the full story · 32 sourcesDolly Parton performing in Nashville in 2025. Jason Kempin/Getty Images
Dolly Parton, the beloved American country music legend, has died at age 80.
Her nephew, Bryan Seaver, shared the news on Parton's Instagram; no cause was given.
Parton topped the Billboard country music charts 25 times and is in the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Dolly Parton — the beloved, award-winning icon of American country music — has died. She was 80.
Parton's nephew, Bryan Seaver, announced the news on Parton's Instagram on August 25.
"My name is Bryan Seaver, son of Cassie Parton, and I'm representing the Parton and Owens family today, announcing the passing of my aunt, Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean. Sister, Sis, and Granny to one generation and Gigi to the next," Seaver says in the video.
"This video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago, before I fully absorbed it as a future reality," he continues. "As her head of security for more than two decades, a role my father Larry held before me, I have imagined the heaviness of this moment but haven't truly felt it 'til now."
No cause of death was given. Concerns over Parton's health arose in September 2025, after the singer postponed and later canceled her Las Vegas residency. The news prompted Parton to share a video a month later to reassure her fans. "I want you to know I'm OK. I've got some problems ... nothing major," she said, adding, "I ain't dead yet."
On August 21, Parton shared a health update with People , telling the magazine she was dealing with some "health issues."
"Even though I'm still healin', I'm 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."
The legendary singer-songwriter, famed for her towering hair and razor-sharp wit, topped the Billboard country music charts with 25 of her songs and won 11 Grammys, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, 10 Country Music Association Awards, and four People's Choice Awards.
She also holds a place in the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Throughout her life, Parton became a successful businesswoman, actor, philanthropist, and even theme-park owner as she rose to superstardom not just as a country artist but also as a humanitarian and LGBTQ+ advocate.
Parton began giving live performances at age 6
Dolly Parton circa 1955 in Tennessee. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Parton was born in 1946 in a one-room cabin in Pittman Center, Tennessee. She was the fourth of 12 kids and grew up to the sound of Smoky Mountain folklore sung by her mother, Avie Lee Parton.
She often credited her mother and aunt for her musical abilities and her father, Robert Lee Parton, for her business savvy, which she wrote about in her book "Songteller: My Life in Lyrics." Parton described her family as "dirt poor" in a 2002 CNN interview .
"Although we had no money, I was rich as I could be," Parton would sing in her hit song "Coat of Many Colors," inspired by a coat her mother once made from scraps of fabric.
Parton began singing in her church at age 6. She taught herself how to play guitar on a homemade version of the instrument at 7 and got her first real guitar by 8.
Public performances continued throughout Parton's childhood, culminating in a live show at the Grand Ole Opry at the age of 13, where she met Johnny Cash for the first time.
Parton moved to Nashville the day after she graduated from high school in 1964. On her very first day, she met a young man named Carl Dean at a laundromat. Parton told The New York Times in 1976 that Dean asked her out on a date and she declined, but she invited him to come by while she babysat her nephew.
"He came up every day that week, and we sat out on the porch. I wouldn't even take him in the house," she recalled. "Then my aunt got a day off, and she could keep the kid, and that was my first chance to go anywhere with Carl, and he drove me straight to his folks' house and introduced me to his mother and daddy. 'Cause he said he knew right the minute he saw me that that's the one he wanted."
Two years later, they were married.
Parton's stint on 'The Porter Wagoner Show' shot her to stardom
Parton and Porter Wagoner perform onstage circa 1967. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Parton quickly signed with Combine Publishing and teamed up with her uncle — country singer and songwriter Bill Owens — to produce multiple chart-topping singles.
Her career really took off in the late 1960s, when Parton joined "The Porter Wagoner Show." The collaboration led to a string of chart-topping singles with Wagoner, who convinced RCA Victor to sign Parton in 1967.
Parton finally hit the top of the charts as a solo artist with her single "Joshua" in 1971. Her success continued with songs like "Coat of Many Colors" and "Touch Your Woman."
In 1973, Parton earned one of the biggest hits of her career with the song "Jolene," inspired by a bank teller who had a crush on her husband.
The album cover for "Jolene" by Dolly Parton, which was released in 1974. Donaldson Collection/Getty Images
Parton penned the song the same night she wrote "I Will Always Love You, " which became a mega-hit when the late Whitney Houston covered it for the soundtrack to the 1992 film "The Bodyguard."
"When I wrote those songs, I remember just sitting in the corner of this couch by this fireplace that was in the first house that Carl and I ever owned," Parton told Business Insider in 2022. "There was just something about that fireplace, the coziness, and that corner. The one corner of the couch where I was always sitting with my feet up, writing and singing my songs."
Parton tried her hand at the world of pop music
Dolly Parton attends the 19th Annual Grammy Awards on February 19, 1977. Ron Galella/Getty Images
In 1976, Pa...
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