Dolly Parton dead at 80; Country music star dies from cancer after final hospitalization just days from passing away amid ongoing health woes & shelved comeback tour as icon leaves behind legacy.
Famed country singer, Dolly Parton passed away at the age of 80 on Tuesday in Nashville, Tennessee.
The loss comes after the country star enduring a year of heartbreak with the loss of her beloved husband and brother while also dealing with her own health problems and a hospital admission just four days earlier.
According to PEOPLE, Parton was admitted to the hospital on Friday, Aug. 21. The country music icon — who lived outside Nashville, Tenn. — died there four days later, on Tuesday, Aug. 25, her family announced.
Country music star passes away after brief battle with cancer
It is unclear why Parton was hospitalized, but TMZ reported that she was admitted to Vanderbilt University Cancer Center with kidney and autoimmune issues.
Read a release from Parton’s nephew, Brian Seaver: ‘Our beloved Dolly Parton spent her life and career bringing joy, laughter, hope and integrity into everything she touched.’
Parton had recently canceled multiple engagements, including the opening of a new ride at her theme park, and updated fans Friday to apologize for her absence, saying she was ‘dealing with some health issues that I just didn’t pay attention to when I was watching over Carl,’ she said in reference to her late husband Carl Dean.
The entertainer best known for her iconic bouffant and heartfelt ballads and songs of grit and triump had been dealing with ongoing health issues for more than a year. The enigmatic country singer who had sought to retake the stage was forced to abandon a planned comeback last year after dominating the country music scene for over six decades.
Promised Las Vegas residency postponed yet again…
Parton’s agents said that she had been forced to cancel a string of shows due to ‘health struggles,’ the nytimes reported.
Parton’s Las Vegas residency – her first in 32 years – was initially postponed in September due to ‘health challenges,’ with six shows planned at Caesars Palace later moved before being officially canceled in May this year.
At the time, Parton revealed ‘responding well’ to treatment after her immune and digestive systems had, as she put it, ‘got all out of whack’ in recent years.
At the time, the Queen of Country, best known for her hits Jolene and 9 to 5, reassured fans: ‘Don’t worry about me quittin’ the business because God hasn’t said anything about stopping yet,’ she said.
‘But I believe he is telling me to slow down right now so I can be ready for more big adventures with all of you.’
Rumors about her own death
She also missed a Dollywood announcement due to kidney stone complications, telling fans she had an infection and was advised not to travel.
The following month, she downplayed rumors about her death with trademark humor, posting: ‘There are just a lot of rumors flying around. But I figured if you heard it from me, you’d know that I was OK.’
She added: ‘I’m not ready to die yet. I don’t think God is through with me. And I ain’t done working.’
But there were more clues that Parton’s health concerns were now beginning to dominate, with the star telling fans in a video posted online on Aug. 14 that her doctor in Nashville told her she shouldn’t travel.
‘I’ve told you before, all my fans, that I’ve had a few little health issues and sometimes I get a little dizzy and I get dehydrated,’ she said.
Rags to riches ascent of country music star
In an interview which aired just four days before she died, Parton also said she still had ‘so many things I want to achieve’.
Compounding Parton’s struggles were the deaths of her husband, Carl Dean, at the age of 82 in March last year, and her sibling, just last month, also aged 82.
Dean was barely by Parton’s side physically, often staying home for the hitmaker’s many milestones over the years due to his disdain for the industry.
Nevertheless, Parton credited him as her grounding force, and often traded the carpet for their quiet weekends at home with homemade breakfast, always pancakes or waffles.
‘I met my husband before I became a star,’ she once said, ‘and he doesn’t care about any of it.’
Parton was struggling with his death as she experienced several milestones without him this year, for the first time since she was 18. The couple met at a Nashville laundromat in 1964 when she was just a teenager.
Life of make-believe slowly coming undone as iconic legend lives on
When Parton posted a video letting fans know about her decision to cancel her Vegas residency in May, it was clear that Dean’s death was still at the forefront of her mind.
Parton then suffered the loss of her brother, Coy ‘Denver’ Parton, on July 23 this year.
The singer had 11 siblings, including Denver, who was a crane operator with two daughters and a grandson, according to his obituary.
Denver’s sister, musician Stella Parton, told People magazine in a statement last month: ‘My brother Denver was a deeply private person.
‘I appreciate the kind messages and expressions of condolences on behalf of my nieces Chris and Jennifer, and the rest of my family.’
Noted the nytimes: ‘From her hardscrabble beginnings to glittering stardom, Ms. Parton’s life was the stuff of make-believe. With her voluptuous figure, sparkly stage costumes and blond bouffant wigs, she was likened by the writer Chet Flippo to the Big Rock Candy Mountain, the Depression-era symbol of abundance. Her songs spoke to millions, confronting privation and loss even as they radiated possibility and hope.’
As Parton grappled with her own mortality and impending death, the larger than life star and icon to millions shone a hopeful beacon to millions, the enigmatic star once again battled her own heavy weight and personal woes to reckon with and to sign about out… forever touching a galaxy of millions.
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