Tennessee’s Dolly Parton dies at 80 after a life of music and giving

Dolly Parton, the personification of Tennessee music, died Tuesday at age 80 after decades of entertaining the world.

Parton’s nephew, Bryan Seaver, delivered the news of her death in a video for the family, sparking mourning from her birthplace of Locust Ridge in the mountains of East Tennessee across the state to Nashville, where she found fame, and around the world, where her name brought people happiness in her deeds and passion for life.

“Sadness lies with us, but not with Dolly. Dolly has lived in the light, and is in the arms of Jesus, surely met by (husband) Carl, her parents and countless others who have watched her and longed for her to meet them in the heavens,” said Seaver, who led her security detail for a decade.

Parton opened doors for generations of singers and songwriters from all walks of life, giving people hope that “anything was possible,” Seaver said. “She never saw a door she couldn’t open, and the doors she opened made and changed history.”

The daughter of a sharecropper and farmer, Parton asked that she be buried in a field of cotton, he said, “because after a life wearing heavy rhinestones, she finally deserves to be comfortable and have some rest.”

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee called her “Tennessee’s favorite daughter” after learning of her death.

“Dolly Parton was one of a kind, who loved people, her work, her family, and her Lord. Tennessee has forever been changed — enhanced — by her, and will never be quite the same without Dolly,” Lee said in a statement.

Through her business network, Parton has an estimated net worth of $650 million and used her considerable wealth for philanthropic causes. 

“I’m kind of addicted to the feeling of giving,” she told People magazine in 2021, “knowing that I’m doing something good for someone else.”

The Dollywood Foundation created Dolly’s Imagination Library in 1995, which donates some 10 million books to children each year to bolster literacy.

“They call me the Book Lady,” she said in a 2006 interview with The Washington Post.

She started The Buddy Program in the 1990s, offering $500 to Sevier County middle school students to stay in school and graduate in Tennessee, eventually lowering the dropout rate. The foundation also offers $15,000 scholarships annually to five Sevier County High School seniors “who have a dream they wish to pursue and who can successfully communicate their plan and commitment to realize their dreams.”

Parton raised $12.5 million to help the victims of a 2016 wildfire in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park that devastated cities such as Gatlinburg and $1 million in response to Hurricane Helene in the East Tennessee mountains. She also gave $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center during the COVID-19 pandemic to support development of the Moderna vaccine and filmed herself receiving a shot to encourage people to get vaccinated.

Parton received the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2022 for years of charitable work, which included putting together a team to help her support favorite causes, such as the Imagination Library.

Early this year, officials renamed the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital in her honor after she made a donation described as “generational and transformational.”

The fourth of 12 children, the country music icon debuted on the Grand Ole Opry at age 13 after growing up singing in church. 

She moved to Nashville and broke in with Porter Wagoner on his show in the 1960s, then went out on her own and recorded hits such as “Joshua,” “Jolene,” “I Will Always Love You,” “Here You Come Again,” “9 to 5,” and “Islands in the Stream.” Her songwriting skills and unmistakable voice enabled her to win 10 Grammys and earn a place in the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999.

Parton starred in movies such as “9 to 5,” “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” and “Steel Magnolias” before opening Dollywood theme park in Sevierville, which led to the creation of a network of theme parks.

Early in her career, Parton’s appearance caught people’s attention, but she also displayed a business acumen that led her to an RCA contract and the decision to protect the publishing rights to her song catalogue, allowing her to collect millions of dollars in royalties over the years.

Parton opened Dollywood in 1986, saying in her biography, “I always thought that if I made it big or got successful at what I had started out to do, I wanted to come back to my part of the country and do something great, something that would bring a lot of jobs into this area.”

The Dollywood Company has multiple parks, including Dollywood’s Splash Country, Dolly Parton’s Stampede, the Dream More Resort and Spa, and her 50% share of the company was believed to be worth $165 million, Forbes reported in 2021.

In addition to the Country Music Hall of Fame, Parton was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022, an honor she turned down at first because she didn’t think she “earned that right” but then relented after finding out that musicians outside the rock genre received the recognition.

Parton was a member of the Grand Ole Opry for more than half a century and Time magazine named her to its list of 100 most influential people five years ago.