The news of Dolly Parton’s death has been met with widespread heartbreak, after the country music icon died at 80 following a “brief battle” with cancer. Everyone from Taylor Swift and Beyoncé to Eminem and Linda Ronstadt have paid tribute to Parton, describing her as “the gift that kept on giving” and saying her legacy would be “an everlasting one”. Meanwhile, Paul McCartney also remembered Parton, saying her songwriting, singing, and philanthropy were “unrivaled in the world of country music”.
Parton’s nephew Bryan Seaver announced the news of her death on behalf of the family saying: “Dolly has lived in the light and is in the arms of Jesus.” Her representative later confirmed that she had died at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville, surrounded by loved ones. US president Donald Trump ordered flags to fly at half-staff in the US to honour Parton, writing: “This is a true loss for millions of people. There has never been anyone like her, and never will.” Author and former HarperCollins editor Elissa Altman, who worked on Dolly Parton’s 1994 autobiography Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business, has shared a personal account of working with the singer in the mid-1990s.
The book became a New York Times bestseller and offered Parton’s account of her childhood, career, marriage, and rise to fame. Altman wrote on Substack that during the year or so they worked together, she came to see Parton as “a brilliant businesswoman who took enormous care of the people around her”, saying she treated staff at her production company, Inca Hoots Productions, “like family”. She also remembered the lighter moments, including asking Parton how she managed to play guitar with her famously long fingernails.
Parton’s answer: “Bar chords! Like Richie Havens!” When HarperCollins produced two leather-bound copies of the autobiography decorated with rhinestones, Parton gave one to Altman. She also left her editor with advice she has never forgotten: “Never be shy about telling people what you’ve accomplished.
If you don’t tell them, how will they ever know?” Dolly Parton’s Broadway musical will go ahead following her death, with its producers confirming that the production will open next year, as she had wanted. In a statement to Variety, the producers confirmed: “As was Dolly’s wish, the Broadway production of ‘Dolly: A True Original Musical’ will begin previews December 7 at the St. James Theatre in New York City with opening set for January 19, 2027, what would have been her 81st birthday.” When Eminem was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022, the decision received criticism considering he is a rap artist.
Dolly Parton, who was honoured that same year, wrote him a letter, declaring: “Even though I don’t know a lot about rap music, I’ve come to know that you are the very best at it.” Eminem, calling Parton a “superstar in every sense”, posted the letter in the wake of the country music legend’s death. It read: “I hope what I have to say will not seem weird or strange to you but I have always felt some unexplained connection to you like I know you somehow. I had hoped to meet you at the show but you know how nuts those things are.
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