Country music legend Dolly Parton, who rose from a humble Tennessee log cabin to global stardom through her distinct vibrato, evocative songwriting, and memorable costumes, has died at the age of 80.
Parton died peacefully on Tuesday in Nashville, Tennessee, according to a statement from her publicist. No cause of death has been released.
Celebrated for her rich songwriting, her curvy physique, massive blonde wigs, and sharp, self-deprecating humor, she was among the most beloved personalities in music and beyond – a rare figure whose appeal crossed political, geographical, and generational divides.
Over her career, Parton authored hundreds of tracks, including famed hits such as “Jolene”, “Coat of Many Colors” and “I Will Always Love You”, generating over 100 million sales globally and more than 1 billion online streams. An accomplished businesswoman and generous philanthropist, she plucked bejeweled banjos, guitars, and dulcimers onstage with her long fingernails, and launched a theme park in the Smoky Mountain foothills near her birthplace.
open image in galleryParton’s life and career remained deeply rooted in her background as one of 12 children born into a family she described as “dirt poor.” Driven by her father’s struggles to learn to read after leaving school to work on the farm, she established the educational nonprofit Imagination Library to deliver free books to children in Tennessee.
Here are a collection of Parton’s best quotes:
On Songwriting
“My songs are like my children – I expect them to support me when I’m old.”
“I look totally artificial, but I am totally real, as a writer, as a professional, as a human being. A rhinestone shines just as good as a diamond.”
On her appearance
“I describe my look as a blend of Mother Goose, Cinderella and the local hooker!”
“I don’t like to be like everybody else. I’ve often made the statement that I would never stoop so low as to be fashionable. That’s the easiest thing in the world to do.”
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“People say how you stay looking so young? I say, well, good lighting, good doctors, and good makeup.”
“I’m not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I’m not dumb – and I’m not blonde either.”
“It costs a lot of money to look this cheap.”
“I make jokes about it, but it’s the truth that I kind of patterned my look after the town tramp. I didn’t know what she was, just this woman who was blond and piled her hair up, wore high heels and tight skirts, and, boy, she was the prettiest thing I’d ever seen. Momma used to say, ‘Aw, she’s just trash’, and I thought, ‘That’s what I want to be when I grow up. Trash.’”
“People always ask me how long it takes to do my hair. I don’t know, I’m never there.”
“I am a self-made woman, and I have the doctor bills to prove it.”
open image in galleryOn life
“Happiness is your commitment to appreciating all that is good in life.”
“A positive attitude and a sense of humor go together like biscuits and gravy.”
“Don’t get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.”
“I never tried quitting, and I never quit trying.”
“If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.”
“My weaknesses have always been food and men – in that order.”
“Anyone who says you can’t take it with you has never seen me pack.”
“’If I hadn’t been a woman, I’d have been a drag queen.”
On receiving her honorary doctorate in 2009
“Just think, I am Dr Dolly! So when people say something about ‘Double-D,’ they will be thinking of something entirely different.”
open image in galleryOn her legacy
“My weaknesses have always been food and men—in that order.”
“Anyone who says you can’t take it with you has never seen me pack.”
“My grandpa used to say, when I got famous, he said, ‘Well, she came out crying in the key of D.’ I think we all did.”
“I hope that a lot of my songs may last that long. And I hope I’ll be remembered as somebody that tried to do some good in the world and left, you know, a few good things.”
“I don’t think about my life in terms of ‘superstar.’ I’m just a workin’ girl. I always say — and it’s the truth — that I am a workhorse that looks like a show horse. But I gotta keep it all up and I enjoy all of it. My husband always said, ‘If anybody was ever born to be a star, it’s you.’”