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Photo by LEON NEAL /AFP via Getty ImagesCountry music legend Dolly Parton, who grew up poor in Tennessee and became a household name with hits like Jolene and Coat of Many Colors, has died at age 80, her family said Tuesday.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an Accountor“Dolly has lived in the light and is in the arms of Jesus,” her nephew said in a video on social media.He said the multiple award-winning artist had “opened doors for generations of singers, songwriters, musicians, and dreamers from every walk of life.”The family did not give a cause of death but the singer had spoken about her recent ill health.In May, Parton had announced the cancellation of a series of Las Vegas concerts, citing ongoing health concerns. In videos posted to her social media accounts she said that while treatment for an unspecified illness was going well, she was not ready to be performing on stage.Back in 2008 at age 62, Dolly Parton released a single proclaiming she was “just a backwoods Barbie, too much makeup, too much hair.”Get a dash of perspective along with the trending news of the day in a very readable format.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of NP Posted will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againIn her six decades recording and defining country music, she was so much more.The American singer-songwriter, actress, businesswoman and philanthropist didn’t seem to mind being mistaken for a ditzy blonde all too eager to play up her looks, after growing up poor in rural Tennessee.But Parton, who died Tuesday at age 80, was an immense and gifted talent who started writing serious music, what she called “sad-ass songs” about heartbreak and tragedy, at the tender age of 10. Singer, songwriter and actress Dolly Parton performs with a guitar, 1976. Photo by David Redfern /RedfernsBy her own reckoning, she has penned 3,000 tunes in all, including enduring country standards like 1973’s Jolene and the iconic ballad I Will Always Love You, which became an international smash for Whitney Houston.The “queen of country music” released 49 studio albums and more than 100 compilation and collaboration albums over a decades-long career that saw her sell more than 100 million records and top the charts more than any woman in the genre.At the height of her fame, she reached number one on the pop charts too, with songs like Islands in the Stream, and starred in Hollywood blockbusters 9 to 5, for which she sang the insuppressible title track, and Steel Magnolias.Dolly essentially wrote the book on how a woman can rule the airwaves in a male-dominated industry, ultimately becoming an American treasure whose songs were covered by the likes of Shania Twain, Sinead O’Connor and the White Stripes.Her eye-popping hourglass figure, gravity-defying hairdos and wigs, and take-me-on-a-hayride appeal were unavoidable parts of her persona.But she did not sweep sexism aside so much as defiantly play against it using her own rules, capitalizing on her homespun endearment and business savvy to rack up one of the largest fortunes of any American stage performer. And she embraced the flash and glitter that came with stardom.“I love makeup, I love clothes, and I got the personality that can pull it off,” Parton told National Public Radio in 2001. And Parton rarely went out of her way to knock down constant rumours about possible dalliances with other men, despite her low-key marriage to Carl Dean, who remained well out of the spotlight after their 1966 wedding. He died last year.“I didn’t say I was dead, I said I was married,” she grinned to late night TV host Jay Leno in 2002 when he asked whether she enjoyed her on-screen scenes with leading men like Sylvester Stallone.Parton said she was “serious-minded about my work, but I knew how to enjoy men. Being a girl always served me well.” Kennedy Center Honors recipients, from left, Zubin Mehta, Steven Spielberg, Dolly Parton, Smokey Robinson and Andrew Lloyd Webber in Washington, DC, on Dec. 2, 2006. Photo by LESLIE E. KOSSOFF /AFP via Getty ImagesHer pulchritude was unavoidable, but her songcraft was proof that Dolly was more than eye candy.“She may lead with the boobs but she has the talent to back it all up,” Rolling Stone magazine editor David Wild once said.Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on Jan. 19, 1946 in Sevierville, Tenn., the fourth of 12 children who grew up dirt poor in the family’s small shack in the Great Smoky Mountains.The platinum blonde was a quick musical study. As a child, she sang her first songs to chickens outside the cabin. In 1959, she made her debut on the Grand Ole Opry’s stage at age 13.She mastered the guitar but it was her soprano voice, with its cracked vibrato that fluttered through so many of her songs and would occasionally shrink to a wounded whisper, that critics hailed as a dose of mountain purity.The day after graduating from high school, Parton struck out for the country music capital Nashville.By 1967 at age 21, she was among the most recognized figures in American music, having joined Porter Wagoner’s syndicated country music television show that broadcast her voice and face into millions of U.S. homes.Occasionally her songs were mawkish or unimaginative. But in 1971, she released the spare and gorgeous Coat of Many Colors, her archetypal, Bible-themed track about her mother overcoming poverty.She eventually released 26 number one country hits, winning 10 Grammys and 13 Academy of Country Music awards.But it was her ballad I Will Always Love You, the delicate homage she wrote for Wagoner during their 1973 professional split, that would grow into a global phenomenon. Houston recorded the song for the 1992 movie The Bodyguard, and it became one of the best-selling singles of all time.Elvis Presley had wanted to record it as well, but The King required half the publishing rights to anything he recorded. Parton, who owned all her publishing rights, turned him down.Parton opened her own theme park, Dollywood, in 1986 in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. It has grown into one of the most successful branding efforts in U.S. entertainment history, drawing millions of visitors per year.Her work ethic was astonishing. Parton launched publishing and music production companies, a radio station and restaurants. She co-wrote a best-selling novel with author James Patterson. Her Instagram page, with 8.6 million followers, became an online phenomenon, and at age 75 she unveiled a new fragrance, Dolly.In 2020, the ally to the marginalized gave $1 million to Vanderbilt University, which helped develop Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine. Her literacy program has donated some 100 million books to needy kids worldwide.And her collaborations were relentless, including her work with actress Jennifer Aniston on the 2018 movie Dumpling, for which Parton wrote the soundtrack.It was all stunning vindication for someone who was once introduced on television as “one of the prettiest, singin’est, songwritin’est little blondes in country music.”Parton never had children, telling one interviewer she expected her songs “to support me when I’m old.”She earned a Kennedy Center Honor in 2006, one of the nation’s highest accolades in the arts world. But in 2021, she revealed she had declined the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Donald Trump, saying she did not wish to travel to Washington during the coronavirus pandemic.“It’d be nice but I’m not sure that I even deserve it,” she told NBC. “But it’s a nice compliment for people to think that I might deserve it.”She was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in November 2022, despite initially turning it down.Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our newsletters here. Join the Conversation This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.