US country music legend Dolly Parton, who grew up poor in Tennessee and became a household name with hits like “Jolene” and “Coat of Many Colors,” has died at age 80, her family said Tuesday.
“Dolly has lived in the light and is in the arms of Jesus,” her nephew said in a video on social media.
He said the multiple award-winning artist had “opened doors for generations of singers, songwriters, musicians, and dreamers from every walk of life.”
The family did not give a cause of death but the singer had spoken about her recent ill health. Her husband Carl Dean died last year.
In May, Parton had announced the cancellation of a series of Las Vegas concerts, citing ongoing health concerns. In videos posted to her social media accounts she said that while treatment for an unspecified illness was going well, she was not ready to be performing on stage.
Parton was prolific in a career spanning six decades during which she penned some 3,000 tunes, including the iconic ballad “I Will Always Love You,” which became an international smash for Whitney Houston.
Releasing 49 studio albums and more than 100 compilation and collaboration albums, she earned the title of “queen of country music.”
“By her example, we believed that anything was possible. She never saw a door she couldn’t open, and the doors she opened made and changed history,” her nephew Bryan Seaver said.
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