Country Music icon Dolly Parton died after a short battle with cancer. She was 80.

Dolly Parton/Instagram

Country music icon Dolly Parton has died at 80, after reportedly suffering a brief battle with cancer. Her nephew Bryan Seaver shared the news of her death on Instagram.

Dolly started her career as a child actress before moving to Nashville to pursue country music. She became one of the biggest stars in the genre.

During her career, sold over 100 million records worldwide. One of the biggest songs she created was “I Will Always Love You" which was remade by Whitney Houston. Whitney's rendition sold over 40 million copies worldwide.

The icon shared that she invested the song's royalties from the remake back into the Black community in Nashville, Tennessee, by purchasing a large office complex, which was converted into a strip mall in a Black section of town.

During her legendary career, she won 10 competitive Grammy Awards and received a 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award. Parton earned nine CMA Awards in addition to being honored with CMA’s Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016, according to the Country Music Association. She was also inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999, and in 2021, she was awarded the CMA Foundation Humanitarian Award.

Dolly was an extremely charitable celebrity. She reportedly donated approximately 300 million books worldwide from her Imagination Library. She also funded scholarships and donated to several other charities throughout her career. She supported the Black Lives Matter movement and spoke out against police brutality, stating, "Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter? No!," in a 2020 interview with Billboard.

Her longtime husband, Carl Dean, passed away in March 2025 after nearly 60 years of marriage. The couple had no children.

CNN reports that Parton’s funeral will be private and intimate, according to her family.

To subscribe to Volume 82, click the link. To follow our Instagram, click here; for TikTok, click here!