Dolly Parton dies at 80

Country music icon Dolly Parton has died at the age of 80.

Her family posted a statement from her nephew, Bryan Seaver, on her social media accounts. He said she died peacefully on Aug. 25 in Nashville.

Parton had rarely been seen in person in recent months, citing her health and issues that she had not dealt with before the death of her husband Carl Dean last year, The New York Times reported.

She had to cancel a six-show residency for Las Vegas’ Caesars Palace last December due to her health, according to Variety.

“As many of you know, I have been dealing with some health challenges, and my doctors tell me that I must have a few procedures,” she wrote as part of the announcement. “As I joked with them, it must be time for my 100,000-mile check-up, although it’s not the usual trip to see my plastic surgeon! In all seriousness, given this, I am not going to be able to rehearse and put together the show that I want you to see, and the show that you deserve to see.

The New York Times said she was “in a class by herself” and “quintessentially, a uniter of people.”

Variety called Parton the “Queen of Country Music.”

The publication shared her official obituary: “A rhinestone life that shone bright enough for the world to see, Dolly will forever stand as an inspiration not only through her timeless music and prolific songwriting, but also her wit, warmth, and kindness that made us all feel like family. Dolly Parton’s legacy is one of love, compassion, and resilience. With a seven-decade career, she inspired multiple generations of artists and fans with her music and an unwavering commitment to making the world a better place. Her songs will continue to resonate with people of all ages, and her philanthropic work will have a lasting impact.”

Despite her health issues, she had been working on her biographical Broadway show, “Dolly: An Original Musical,” a traveling concert called “Dolly Parton’s Threads: My Songs in Symphony,” and opening her Tennessean Travel Stop.

Parton had a “bigger-than-life personality and rags-to-riches career,” Variety reported.

She was born in a one-room cabin in Tennessee on Jan. 19, 1946. She was the fourth of 12 children in a family she called “dirt poor” with a father who did not know how to read, CNN reported.

Parton got her first guitar from her uncle as a child and began playing at 7 years old. She also started writing her own music then.

“Mama was fascinated with how I could rhyme and write songs about stuff I’d never lived,” Parton said, according to CNN, “but I’d hear them talk.”

She moved to Nashville after high school to launch her music career, meeting the man who would become her long-time husband outside a laundromat.

“I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for me),” she wrote. “He seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about.”

She signed her first record deal in 1965 and married Dean in 1966, a marriage that lasted until his death last year.

Just two years after her record deal, she became a regular on “The Porter Wagoner Show.”

She had her first No. 1 hit with “Joshua” in 1971.

After seven years being Wagoner’s “pretty little girl,” she struck out on her own thanks to her hit “I Will Always Love You.”

She wrote more than 3,000 songs, including “Coat of Many Colors,” a song that pays tribute to her mother, who made their family’s clothes; “Jolene” and “9 to 5.”

She released 49 albums and won 11 Grammys, with crossover hits that made it to not only the country charts but also the pop charts.

But her legacy was not just through music. She gave back to the community she grew up in and so much further than rural Tennessee.

She launched her “Imagination Library” to promote literacy and has gifted more than 300 million books to children globally. Every month, more than 3 million books are sent to children every month.

Action News Jax told you in 2022 about when a Clay County student named Rosie got to sing with Parton on "The Kelly Clarkson Show."

Before the sing-along, Rosie’s mom Liz got to share with Parton how her Imagination Library program helped Rosie to learn to read and write in Braille.

Check back for more on this developing story.

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