Dolly Parton, Queen of Country Music, Dies at 80https://variety.com/2026/music/news/dolly-parton-dead-dies-country-music-1236842727/Singer-songwriter-actress Dolly Parton, whose glittering country music stardom was matched by her pop fame and popular parallel careers in film and TV, died on Aug. 25. She was 80 years old, with her family not releasing a cause of death, but saying she “died peacefully today in Nashville.”
The announcement came on her official Instagram, with a video from her nephew Bryan Seaver on behalf of the Parton family.
I first heard of her on the Porter Wagoner TV show, back in the 1960s. She was one of those musicians capable of and chose to be bigger than "just" her chosen preferred musical style ... and bigger/better than "just" her career.
