Dolly Parton, the Queen of Country singing icon with a personality as bold as her signature blond coif and rhinestone-encrusted outfits, has died. She was 80 years old.

The announcement came on her official Instagram, with a video from her nephew Bryan Seaver on behalf of the Parton family.

Per the family’s 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.

In mid-August. she said she would not be able to make it to a Dollywood appearance and was suffering from dehydration and dizziness, writing My Nashville doctor has kinda clipped my wings, saying, You ain’t traveling this week.

Parton’s health issues had become headlines in the fall of 2025, when she announced that she would not be able to follow through on a six-show December residency at Las Vegas’ Caesars Palace that had been announced as a long-awaited return to the concert stage.

Parton’s health had become a further subject of concern on Sept. 30 when she announced that she would not be participating in the Motion Picture Academy’s Governors Awards in November to accept the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. It had been understood that Parton would accept the award remotely, but Parton ultimately ruled even that out.

Parton’s biggest public moment in recent years had been her induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022. She first said she did not want the honor when her name appeared on the ballot that year, saying she was not a true rocker, but she relented under enthusiastic pressure. Parton subsequently released what turned out to be her final album, Rockstar, in 2023, doing duets with top stars and claiming the rock mantle she had resisted.

Many of her 25 No. 1 country singles were self-penned; after her predecessor Loretta Lynn, she was one of the first major female stars of the genre to write much of her own hit material.

Her pop stardom began to fade in the mid-80s, but she continued to flex her country bona fides on two well-received Trio albums with Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt and three striking bluegrass collections issued by the indie country label Sugar Hill Records.

Parton’s bigger-than-life personality and rags-to-riches career were celebrated in her own theme park, Dollywood, located in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., not far from her childhood home in rural Sevierville.

A 1999 inductee in the Country Music Hall of Fame, she also joined the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001. She was a National Medal of Arts honoree in 2005 and a Kennedy Center Honors recipient in 2006.

In 2008, Parton inaugurated her own independent imprint, Dolly Records; four of the singer’s first five album releases on the label hit the country top five, and 2016’s Pure & Simple became her first No. 1 country album in 15 years.

In later years, Parton and her charitable Dollywood Foundation were active in charitable work encouraging literacy and combating the spread of HIV and AIDS.

Active in film and TV into the late decades of her career, Parton was also a regular fixture on talk TV, where she poked fun on the dais at her own penchant for extensive cosmetic surgery, regularly employing the punch line, It takes a lot of money to look this cheap.

Parton was preceded in death by her husband, Carl Dean, whose death at age 82 was announced in March of 2025.