Dolly Parton, the irrepressible singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur who penned chart-toppers such as “9 to 5” and turned her namesake Tennessee theme park Dollywood into one of the world’s top amusement destinations, died Tuesday. She was 80.
Parton died peacefully in Nashville, a rep announced.
She revealed in September that she was postponing a set of Las Vegas concerts to deal with “some health challenges.” THR reported days later that she would miss the Governors Awards, where she was to receive the prestigious Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in November, and she canceled scheduled Las Vegas residency dates for September in May. In the past few months, she put on a brave front, telling her fans that she was OK.
Her husband of nearly 58 years, businessman Carl Dean, died at age 82 on March 3, 2025.
The country music icon rose from an impoverished childhood in a one-room mountain cabin (shared with 11 brothers and sisters) to decades of global superstardom with hit songs, movies, eye-popping costumes and a joy of living few live entertainers could match.
