Dolly Parton, country music legend, dies at age 80
Dolly Parton became an icon over her six-decade career as a Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, movie and TV star and theme park owner who donated millions to help others.
Updated on: August 25, 2026 / 2:12 PM EDT / CBS News
Dolly Parton, one of the most groundbreaking and successful musicians in the history of country music, with a hitmaking career that spanned six decades and launched her into TV and movie stardom, has died, her family announced Tuesday. She was 80.
Since breaking onto the country music scene with her 1967 debut "Hello, I'm Dolly," Parton never seemed to slow down, releasing nearly 50 studio albums and selling over 100 million records.
A prolific songwriter, she won 10 Grammys and earned 55 nominations.
But she treated her success with a certain modesty. In 2022, when she was nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, she tried to pull herself out of the running , saying she didn't feel that she had "earned that right." Her peers and fans vehemently disagreed .
In a 2022 interview on "CBS Mornings," she called it "an honor" to have so many loyal fans, but added that "it scares me to death sometimes. I'm always sayin' I'm not all that, I'm even not all there sometimes."