Dolly Parton the country music icon whose soaring vibrato vocals, poignant songwriting and sparkling costumes defined her rise from a log cabin in the Tennessee mountains to the height of stardom and acclaim, has died. She was 80 years old.
Parton died peacefully Tuesday in Nashville, Tennessee, her publicist said in a statement.
She wrote hundreds of songs, including classics like “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors” and “I Will Always Love You,” that totaled more than 100 million worldwide sales and more than 1 billion online streams. Parton, who plucked bejeweled banjos, guitar and dulcimers with her long fingernails during performances, was a generous philanthropist and successful business woman.Her career was forever influenced by her upbringing as one of 12 children born into what she called a “dirt poor” Tennessee family.
