American country music legend Dolly Parton, whose career spanned more than six decades across music, film, business and philanthropy, has died at the age of 80 after spending four days in hospital in Nashville, Tennessee.
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Parton was admitted to hospital on Friday, August 21, 2026, and died on Tuesday, August 25, according to accounts contained in statements from her family and reports surrounding her death. She reportedly died at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.
Her nephew, Bryan Seaver, announced the singer’s death on behalf of the Parton and Owens families, describing the announcement as a responsibility Parton herself had asked him to undertake years earlier.
Seaver, who said he had served as Parton’s head of security for more than two decades, described the moment as one filled with both pride and profound sadness.
According to him, the family believed Parton had died peacefully and was reunited with her late husband, Carl Thomas Dean, as well as other family members who had died before her.
Parton’s death came after a period in which she had publicly acknowledged experiencing health difficulties.
In an interview published on August 21 the same day she was reportedly admitted to hospital the singer said she had been dealing with health problems which she had previously neglected while caring for her husband.
“I am dealing with some health issues that I just didn’t pay attention to when I was watching over Carl,” she said.
Dean, her husband of nearly six decades, died in March 2025 at the age of 82.
Parton nevertheless insisted at the time that she remained committed to her work despite the health challenges, saying she was still recovering and had several projects she hoped to complete.
A week before that interview, the singer had been unable to attend the opening of a new attraction at her Dollywood theme park after her doctor advised her against travelling.
Parton joined the event virtually and disclosed that she had been experiencing episodes of dizziness and dehydration.
“My Nashville doctor clipped my wings,” she joked while explaining why she had remained in Nashville instead of travelling to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
Her final reported public appearance had been on June 24, 2026, during the opening of Dolly’s Tennessean Travel Stop in Cornersville.
At the event, she spoke enthusiastically about creating a welcoming stop for travellers, families and truck drivers, reflecting the continued expansion of her business interests shortly before her death.
Born in Tennessee and raised in the Smoky Mountains, Parton rose from humble beginnings to become one of the most recognisable performers in American entertainment.
Her connection to music began extraordinarily early.
At just 13 years old, she appeared at the Grand Ole Opry in 1959 after being introduced on stage by country music legend Johnny Cash.
That appearance helped begin a career that would eventually make her a Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, actress, entrepreneur and global cultural figure.
Parton became known worldwide for songs including “Jolene,” “I Will Always Love You,” “9 to 5,” “Coat of Many Colors,” “Here You Come Again,” “Islands in the Stream,” “Why’d You Come in Here Lookin’ Like That” and “Two Doors Down.”
“Jolene,” released in 1973, became one of her defining songs, while she wrote and originally released “I Will Always Love You” in 1974, almost two decades before Whitney Houston’s hugely successful version introduced the composition to another generation.
Her 1980 song “9 to 5,” written for the film of the same name, also became a major crossover hit and one of the signature records of her career.
Her influence extended beyond music.
Parton established herself as a successful actress with roles in several films, including the 1989 drama “Steel Magnolias,” in which she starred alongside Sally Field, Julia Roberts, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis and Daryl Hannah.
Following her death, Roberts and Field were among the Hollywood personalities who paid tribute to her.
Field described Parton as someone she deeply loved and said there would never be another person quite like her, while Roberts remembered her as a joyful individual whose friendship she treasured.
Tributes also poured in from across the music industry.
Country singer George Strait, musician Sheryl Crow, Keith Urban, Pink, Trace Adkins and John Rich were among performers who publicly mourned her death and reflected on her influence.
Crow described Parton as a compassionate person whose impact extended far beyond music, while Strait said she had profoundly affected people across the world.
Beyond entertainment, Parton built an extensive philanthropic legacy.
Her best-known charitable initiative, the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, had distributed more than 332 million free books to children by the time of her death.
Founded in 1995 in Sevier County, Tennessee, where Parton was raised, the programme provides free books every month to children from birth until the age of five.
It expanded nationally in the United States and later into other countries.
Parton also supported medical research and communities affected by natural disasters, including wildfires.
Her business legacy included Dollywood, the Tennessee theme park opened in 1986 which grew into one of the state’s major tourist destinations.
Following her death, Dollywood Parks & Resorts President Eugene Naughton said the organisation would continue carrying forward Parton’s vision and commitment to the region where she grew up.
The park became an important part of Parton’s legacy, combining entertainment with the culture, food, crafts and music of East Tennessee.
US President Donald Trump also announced that American flags would be lowered to half-staff for one week in honour of the singer.
Trump described Parton as one of the greatest country singers and said her death represented a major loss to millions of people.
His order came as tributes continued across America and around the world.
Flowers were also placed at Parton’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, where the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce described her as a once-in-a-generation talent whose music, movies, generosity and personality touched millions.
Parton’s family has said her funeral will be small and private, in accordance with her wishes, with attendance limited to immediate relatives.
The family encouraged fans to celebrate her life through tributes online and requested that those wishing to honour her consider donating to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library instead of sending flowers.
Her nephew also revealed that Parton had expressed a personal wish to be laid to rest in a bed of soft cotton, contrasting the simplicity of that request with the rhinestone-heavy fashion that became part of her public image throughout her career.
Even after her death, new Dolly Parton music could potentially emerge.
The singer had previously disclosed that she had written hundreds, possibly thousands, of unreleased songs and deliberately recorded material in ways that could allow future producers to build arrangements around her vocals.
She had also placed a previously unheard song in a vault at Dollywood with instructions for its eventual release years later.
Parton leaves behind a legacy extending far beyond country music — from some of America’s most enduring songs to films, businesses, charitable programmes and an international literacy initiative that placed hundreds of millions of books in the hands of children.
While the precise medical cause of her death remained undisclosed as of Tuesday, her passing at 80 brought to an end one of the most influential careers in modern American entertainment.
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