Goodbye, Dolly

Dolly Parton — singer, songwriter, actress, entrepreneur, philanthropist and cultural icon — has passed away at age 80. Her death was announced by her nephew on Tuesday.

She was one of the most recognizable people in America, after a career that spanned nearly seventy years.

From her first appearance at age 13 at the Grand Ole Opry (where she was introduced by Johnny Cash) until shortly before her death, she was actively performing. He hits included “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors,” “Hard Candy Christmas,” and “9 to 5” — the theme to the 1980 movie that marked her first appearance on the big screen. That role turned her into an icon for working women, which was only reinforced by 1989’s “Steel Magnolias.”

Her influence went far beyond music. In 1995, she founded the Imagination Library, which has donated more than 300 million books to children worldwide.

In December, 2025, Governor Kay Ivey marked the occasion of two million free books being given by the Imagination Library to children in Alabama, across all 67 Counties.

RIP Dolly Parton, January 19, 1946 — August 25, 2026.