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Dolly Parton, the country music legend whose songwriting, philanthropy and decades of outspoken support for the LGBTQ+ community made her one of the most beloved entertainers in the world, has died at 80, her family announced Tuesday.
The family confirmed her death in a video posted to Parton’s social media accounts. No cause of death has been released, and funeral or memorial arrangements have not yet been announced. This is a developing story, and additional details are expected in the coming days.
Born Jan. 19, 1946, in Sevier County, Tennessee, Parton rose from rural poverty to become one of the most decorated performers in American music. Over a six-decade career, she wrote and recorded hits including “Jolene,” “9 to 5,” “Coat of Many Colors” and “I Will Always Love You” — a song later made famous again by Whitney Houston. She won multiple Grammy Awards, received Kennedy Center Honors and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022. Beyond music, she founded the Dollywood theme park in the Great Smoky Mountains and built her Imagination Library into one of the country’s largest children’s literacy programs, distributing free books to kids around the world.
Parton was also, for generations, a gay icon — and one of country music’s most consistent LGBTQ+ allies. “I have a huge gay following, and I’m proud of them,” she told The New York Times in 2016. “Sometimes some of them look more like me than I do.” She spoke out in support of marriage equality, wrote the song “Travelin’ Thru” for the trans-themed 2005 film “Transamerica,” and repeatedly pushed back against discrimination faced by LGBTQ+ people, once saying everybody should be “treated with respect.”
That warmth extended well beyond the LGBTQ+ community — Parton was, in the truest sense, loved by all: fans across generations, genres and backgrounds saw in her the same message she preached for decades, that kindness and self-acceptance cost nothing and mean everything.
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