Dolly Parton: Cause Of Music Icon’s Death Revealed

Country music icon, Dolly Parton, reportedly died after a brief battle with cancer, her third cousin Brent Allen confirmed.

Naija News reports that Dolly Parton’s death was announced on Tuesday, August 25, by her nephew, Brian Seaver, in a video shared on social media.

“Dolly has lived in the light and is in the arms of Jesus,” her nephew Bryan Seaver said in a video announcing her death on social media.

Following her death, United States President Donald Trump described the passing of the 80-year-old singer as a painful loss to millions of people around the world.

Trump also directed that American flags across the United States be flown at half-staff for one week in honour of the late music icon.

“I feel like she’s one of the last of the salt of the earth. She brought people together,” Allen told AFP in Sevierville, Tennessee, the singer’s home town.

Parton had recently spoken about unspecified health challenges. Her husband Carl Dean died last year.

A small private funeral service will be held, People magazine said, citing the singer’s representatives.

Dolly Parton, the country music star who rose from grinding poverty in Tennessee to become a rhinestone-studded cultural icon with hits like “Jolene” and “9 to 5,” died at 80, her family said Tuesday.

Parton was more than a singer – she wrote 3,000 songs, acted in major Hollywood films and donated millions of dollars to charities in her home state and beyond.

She was also an accomplished businesswoman, with her interests spanning from her popular Dollywood theme park to cosmetics, pet apparel, baking mixes and even a truck stop.

Born in 1946 as one of 12 children in rural Tennessee, Parton headed for the country music capital Nashville right after graduating from high school.

By 1967, at age 21, she was among the most recognized figures in American music, having joined Porter Wagoner’s syndicated country music television show that broadcast her voice and face into millions of US homes.

During a prolific career that spanned six decades, Parton penned some 3,000 tunes.

They included “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors” and the iconic ballad “I Will Always Love You,” which became an international success for Whitney Houston.