Dolly Parton Dies At 80

Legendary singer-songwriter Dolly Parton has died at 80. The country icon’s nephew Bryan Seaver made the announcement in a video posted to Parton’s Instagram account. In a statement obtained by CNN, her family wrote that Parton passed “peacefully” on Aug. 25 at her home in Nashville.

“I’m representing the Parton and Owens family today, announcing the passing of my aunt, Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean, Sister, Sis and Granny to one generation and Gigi to the next,” Seaver said. “This video announcement is something Dolly asked of me years ago, before I fully absorbed it as a future reality. As her head of security for more than two decades, a role my father Larry held before me, I have imagined the heaviness of this moment but haven’t truly felt it until now.”

Seaver went on to pay tribute to his aunt, saying she paved the way for both her own family and “generations of singers, songwriters, musicians, and dreamers from every walk of life and across every continent.”

“I first went on the road with Dolly as a kid, getting a taste of the road life in the early 1980s,” he recalled. “Dolly opened doors not just for me but for her entire family to reach the potential we didn’t even know was possible... By her example, we believed that anything is possible. She never saw a door she couldn’t open, and the doors she opened made and changed history.”

Seaver then acknowledged Parton’s legion of fans, and made a promise to keep her legacy alive. “My family and I have shared a lifetime of beautiful memories with Dolly, but so have you,” he said. “She has always been on your television, your record player, your CD, and on your phone playlist, becoming an extended part of your family whether you liked it or not. Our family and the team she has entrusted with her legacy will work diligently to ensure her spirit will live with us forever.”

He concluded his message by revealing one of Parton’s final wishes, which came wrapped in her signature glamour and wit. “Dolly called me and said she wants to rest in a beautiful bed of plush cotton because after a life wearing heavy rhinestones, she finally deserves to be comfortable and have some rest,” he relayed, before nodding to one of her biggest hits. “She will always love you.”

Parton is one of the best-selling female country artists of all time, selling over 160 million records worldwide across an illustrious career spanning nearly six decades. She released her debut album Hello, I’m Dolly in 1967, and went on to put out nearly 50 studio albums and some of the most iconic hits in country music, including “Jolene,” “9 to 5,” and “I Will Always Love You.”

Alongside her music repertoire, Parton built an esteemed film career, starring in classics like 1980’s 9 to 5 and 1989’s Steel Magnolias. In the early 2000s, she crossed generations by appearing as Aunt Dolly on Hannah Montana opposite her goddaughter Miley Cyrus.

She parlayed her success into many businesses, opening her iconic Dollywood theme park in her hometown of Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains and publishing several best-selling books. However, her greatest impact was arguably in philanthropy, founding the Dollywood Foundation and her Imagination Library, which has gifted over 300 million books to children globally.

Over her career, Parton won 11 Grammys, an Emmy, and an honorary Oscar, and earned two Academy Award nominations plus a Tony nomination. In 2005, she received the National Medal of Arts, a year before she was awarded with Kennedy Center Honors. Parton was welcomed into the Country Hall of Fame in 1999, and over two decades later, she was finally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.