Dolly Parton, US country music legend who sang hits like ‘Jolene’ and ‘I Will Always Love You’, has died at the age of 80.
Parton’s family confirmed her death in a video on social media on Tuesday.
“I am representing the Parton and Owen family today to announce the passing of my aunt Dolly Rebecca Parton,” Bryan Seaver, Parton’s nephew, announced in the video posted on her Instagram page.
The family did not give a cause of death, but the singer, in May, had cancelled a series of Las Vegas concerts due to ongoing health concerns.
In the final video of herself posted on her Instagram page, Parton had said that treatment was going well for an unspecified illness.
Parton, uncontestably regarded as the “queen of country music”, had a legendary career which spanned across six decades. She sold more than 100 million records worldwide. She wrote at least 3,000 songs, including global hits like ‘Jolene’ and ‘I Will Always Love You’. The latter became an even bigger international smash after Whitney Houston released her version in 1992.
Parton was the fourth of 12 children from a poor farming family sharing a one-bedroom cabin in rural Tennessee, US.
Her early musical influences were her mother’s folk songs and her aunt, who played the guitar and wrote songs.
She started singing at age six in the local church where her grandfather was the pastor.
Some of Dolly Parton’s hits:
