WASHINGTON: Country music star Dolly Parton passed away on Tuesday, her family said in a statement. She was 80.
The irrepressible singer, songwriter and actress captured the public’s imagination for nearly six decades through her charisma, heartfelt lyrics and business acumen.
Dolly Parton was around six when she wrote her first song: Little Tiny Tasseltop, an ode to her corncob doll with corn-silk hair. Her mother stored it preciously in a shoebox.
“I loved that little doll,” Parton wrote decades later. “I expressed myself and my feelings through writing – I’m sure what I was thinking was, ‘Well, Tasseltop has to have a song about her’.”
Parton never stopped making music after that. She won 11 Grammy awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award.
With classic songs including Coat of Many Colours, Jolene and I Will Always Love You, she became one of the best-selling female artists of all time, with over 100 million records sold.
Parton’s wholesome personality, combined with her towering blond hairdos, flamboyant costumes and giddy delight at holding centre stage, endeared her to Americans of all backgrounds and helped introduce country music to international audiences.
Over the years Parton hosted a TV variety show, starred in movies, and even created a theme park, Dollywood, a popular tourist spot in her home state of Tennessee.
But the quality that gave her enduring star power was her ability to connect with people. Coming from a self-described “dirt-poor” family, Parton often stood in as a symbol of the working-class American and regularly threw her name and money behind causes she believed in.
It was this ability to stay true to her roots, combined with her drive to work hard and her non-partisanship, that fuelled her appeal among conservatives and liberals in a politically polarised America.
Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on Jan 19, 1946, in Pittman Center, Tennessee, and grew up in a one-room cabin in nearby Locust Ridge. One of 12 children of tobacco farmer Robert Lee Parton, her difficult childhood gave credibility to her often personal songs trilled in a distinctive soprano.
Her mother, Avie Lee, would sing songs from England, Ireland and Wales that told a story. “Mama had this haunting voice, and Lord you would feel it,” Parton wrote in her 2020 book Dolly Parton, Songteller, co-authored with Robert K. Oermann.
Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2026
