Dolly Parton, the “Queen of Country Music,” a philanthropist supporting a diverse array of projects and causes and Dollywood’s Dreamer-in-Chief, has died, according to her social media accounts. The East Tennessee native was 80 years old.
Dollywood President Eugene Naughton confirmed the star's death to Knox News. She died Aug. 25, he said.
"Sadness lies with us. Not with Dolly. Dolly has lived in the light and is in the arms of Jesus," said Bryan Seaver, son of Cassie Parton, in a social media video announcing Parton's passing.
"By her example, we believed that anything was possible. She never saw a door she couldn't open, and the doors she opened made and changed history."
With a successful career spanning nearly 60 years, she was a legend in the
music industry, known for hits-turned-classics such as “Jolene,” “I Will Always Love You,” “9 to 5” and “Coat of Many Colors.” She was also a film star, appearing in films such as “9 to 5,” “Steel Magnolias” and “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.”
Parton released 49 solo studio albums and earned 25 No. 1 hits on the Billboard’s U.S. Hot Country Songs chart, the most of any female country artist. Her first album “Hello, I’m Dolly,” was released in 1967. “Rockstar,” her latest album, was released in 2023 and went No. 1.
“When I die, I hope I just go to sleep one night, dreaming of show business and never waking up,” Parton said at Dollywood in 1998.
Health concerns prevented Parton from attending an announcement about Dollywood's newest ridein September, and later prompted the delay of her planned Las Vegas residency until 2026.
She challenged herself creatively in music, film and stage and often collaborated with other artists. And she branched out of the entertainment industry to build a business empire that included theme parks, hotels, branded Duncan Hines baking kits, fragrances, beauty products, wines, apparel, merchandise and other business ventures.
“I've always had fun (in my career),” Parton told Knox News in 2025. “I've had a lot of hard times, but you have to go through all those things. But I always enjoyed my work.”
“I'm pretty independent. I can do what I please,” she continued. “I love being able to have that freedom. I think freedom is a great word for everybody, anybody, in anything you do. Just having the freedom to work and the freedom to express yourself the way you want to. To do what you want to, go where you want to.”
Parton’s husband of nearly 60 years Carl Dead died in 2025 at age 82. The couple married in 1966 and had no children.
A Smoky Mountain girl with a lasting legacy
Parton was born in 1946 in Locust Ridge in Sevier County to Avie Lee and Robert Lee Parton. She was fourth of 12 children in total. Avie Lee filled the family's two-room East Tennessee home with music by singing hymns, folk songs and traditional mountain music. By 6 years old, Dolly was singing in her grandfather Rev. Jake Owens’ church.
Parton caught the bus to Nashville the day after she graduated from Sevier County High School in 1964 to chase her country music dreams. Her big break came after joining “The Porter Wagoner Show” in 1967. Her musical gifts and bubbly personality made her a global icon, and she proudly carried her love for East Tennessee and the Great Smoky Mountains wherever she went.
“I’m the only person that ever left the Smoky Mountains and took them with her,” Parton joked as only she could during a 2023 Knox News interview. “But seriously, I love these mountains. I'm so proud to be a Tennessee girl, and I'm proud to be a Smoky Mountain girl.”
Her love for the Smokies is reflected in Dollywood. The popular theme park opened in Pigeon Forge in 1986 and now sees around 2.5 million guests annually. Dollywood’s direct annual economic impact to the state is $1.8 billion, according to a 2021 Tennessee Department of Transportation study. Creating more than 23,000 jobs in the region, it’s Sevier County’s biggest employer.
“I'm just proud to be part of this whole (Smokies region business) community. And Dollywood is a shining star, certainly to me, but evidently to a lot of other people, too,” Parton said during the theme park’s 40th season opening. “I'm just happy to be part of that (business) growth.”
Parton's beloved Smokies were reflected in the theme park that shared her name in the various rides, foods and other offerings, including the newest ride, NightFlight Expedition, an innovative indoor experience designed to embrace nighttime in the Great Smoky Mountains.
Dollywood originally opened in 1961 as Rebel Railroad. It became Goldrush Junction in 1970 and was Silver Dollar City by 1976. Attendance more than doubled to 1.3 million when Parton joined forces with brothers Jack and Pete Herschend and transformed the park into Dollywood. The park has grown ever since.
Parton made regular appearances at the park to help reveal new attractions, film projects and attend other events. The Dollywood Company also operates two resorts in the area, DreamMore Resort and Spa (2015) and HeartSong Lodge and Resort (2023).
“Even after I'm gone, we'll still grow. We'll still be going,” she said of Dollywood’s legacy. “We have a great, great team and we have a lot of dreamers, a lot of doers. We just dream and think, what do we want? We don't want things that’s just going to last a season or two…we want things to be lasting.”
The greatest ‘I Will Always Love You’ love story
An 18-year-old Dolly Parton met Carl Dean in 1964 on the very first day she moved to Nashville. She was leaving the Wishy Washy Laundromat when 21-year-old Dean waved and spoke to her. Their love story began.
The couple began dating, but because her record label didn’t want her married, the couple secretly wed in Ringgold, Georgia, in 1966 to keep their nuptials out of Nashville papers.
“He's a good man, and we've had a good life and he's been a good husband,” Parton told Knox News in 2024.
Dean died a year later. The couple had been together for over 60 years. He had been creative inspiration and a vital support system for Parton throughout her career.
“I will always love him, and I miss him,” Parton said at Dollywood nearly two weeks after losing Dean. "It's a hole in my heart, you know, but we'll fill that up with good stuff and he'll still always be with me," she later added in an interview with Knox News.
A shining light that will never dim
The prolific singer-songwriter was known for her generosity. She donated millions of dollars for college scholarships through her Dollywood Foundation, to support people affected by natural disasters and to promote childhood literacy. She donated $1 million for the research that helped to create the Moderna vaccine for COVID-19 during the 2020 global pandemic.
After Hurricane Helene caused devastating floods in East Tennessee in 2024, Parton donated $1 million to assist Helene flood victims, a gift matched with another $1 million from her East Tennessee businesses and the Dollywood Foundation.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library was one of her proudest philanthropic efforts. Each month, the book gifting program mails free books to children from birth to age five, regardless of matter their family’s income.
Parton was named the 2025 recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, an honorary Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Governors Awards, “for her unwavering dedication to charitable efforts."
Parton had no children, but she was a mother figure to children around the world. The free program has given nearly 200 million books to children worldwide since its launch in 1995.
“I try to do as much good as I can in the area that I've been confined to, and if I'm a light, I hope so, because I ask God to let me shine. Let me do and say things that would be uplifting,” Parton told Knox News in 2023.
Throughout her legendary career, Parton earned 11 Grammy wins (including the lifetime achievement award) with 54 nominations, an Emmy with four nominations, two Oscar nominations and a Tony nomination, as well as 13 Academy of Country Music Awards and 10 Country Music Awards.
Parton also received the Kennedy Center honor in 2006 and the National Medal of Arts in 2005, and she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Devarrick Turner is a trending news reporter. Email devarrick.turner@knoxnews.com. On X, formerly known as Twitter @dturner1208.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Dolly Parton, the queen of country music, has died
