“Queen of country music”: US singer Dolly Parton dies at the age of 80

Parton’s nephew and security chief Bryan Seaver confirmed her death on Tuesday with a video on Parton’s Instagram channel. “Dolly has lived in the light and is now in the arms of Jesus,” he said. Nothing was initially known about the cause of death. At Parton’s request, a small memorial service will take place with the closest family circle, it was said. Fans are invited to commemorate her on social media.

Parton’s long-time husband Carl Dean died in March 2025 at the age of 82. “Words cannot do justice to the love we have shared for over 60 years,” Dolly Parton wrote at the time. She had a total of eleven siblings, seven of whom have already died. Parton never had children. But she was the godmother of the singer and actress Miley Cyrus.

Written around 3000 songs

Parton was also highly regarded in musical circles because she was not only a singer, but also a prolific songwriter. According to her own information, she wrote around 3,000 songs. The income made her, who came from a poor background, into a wealthy woman. Successful ventures such as the Dollywood theme park in Tennessee increased their wealth.

Parton was once introduced disparagingly on television as “one of the prettiest, most singing little blondes in country music.” She herself played on the image of the dumb blonde, but over the course of a career spanning over 60 years, she defied the pervasive sexism in a male-dominated industry by following her own rules. For example, she retained all rights to the songs she wrote.

Parton topped the country charts with 26 songs and was awarded ten Grammys and ten Country Academy awards, and two of her songs received Oscar nominations. Parton was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999, and then into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame in 2022. The once renowned Kennedy Center cultural center in Washington honored her in 2006 for her life’s work.

Parton also stood out from the conservative country scene for her commitment to queer rights. The extent of her popularity was shown when she attracted an audience of around 180,000 listeners at the rock festival in Glastonbury, England in 2014.

During the corona pandemic, Parton had a decisive influence on the development of Moderna’s vaccine. At an early stage of development, she donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University in Nashville. She later waited her turn for a vaccination. She doesn’t want to give the impression of pushing her way forward.

Trump flies US flags at half-mast

“It costs a lot of money to look so cheap,” is a quote attributed to the always self-deprecating Parton, who was open about her cosmetic surgery. This is precisely why British researchers named the world’s first cloned sheep Dolly in 1996. The donor cells came from an udder.

US President Donald Trump called Parton “one of the greatest country singers ever” in a post on TruthSocial. Her death is a “true loss for millions of people.” Trump ordered US flags to be flown at half-mast for a week. “There never was anyone like her and there never will be anyone like her again,” Trump wrote.

It was only in May that Parton canceled a series of concerts in Las Vegas planned for September for health reasons. The performances in the casino city in the US state of Nevada were supposed to take place last year. Back then, the singer had already postponed the show to 2026 due to illness. The star said at the time that her immune and digestive systems had become imbalanced in recent years and she suffered from kidney stones.

But on her 80th birthday in January, Parton told People magazine: “Look at what I’ve done in 80 years. I feel like I’m just getting started.”