August 25, 2026
Randy Sartin/USA Today via Reuters Connect
Dolly Parton, who died Tuesday at the age of 80, sings to the crowd at a Tennessee Volunteers and Georgia Bulldogs game in 2023.
Fans around the world are mourning the passing of country star Dolly Parton.
The singer-songwriter behind such hits as "9 to 5" and "I Will Always Love You" has died at the age of 80, her family said in a statement Tuesday. Parton left behind a catalog of over 3,000 songs composed over 70 years and a legacy of philanthropy. The musician's Imagination Library provided 300 million free books to children across the country, while her $1 million donation to Vanderbilt University Medical Center helped fund Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine.
She was also known for her sunny, self-effacing personality, exhibited on countless TV appearances and the occasional film. "It costs a lot of money to look this cheap," Parton famously quipped.
The last time Philly audiences saw her was June 15, 2016, during a stop on her Pure & Simple Tour. Over the course of the evening, Parton sang 28 songs in the open air of the Highmark Mann Center for the Performing Arts. "Jolene" and "Coat of Many Colors" naturally made the cut, but so did covers like "Blowin' in the Wind" and "Great Balls of Fire."
For her encore, the musical icon returned to the stage to croon "I Will Always Love You." But the last song she sang for Philly was her 2002 single "Hello God," off her 39th studio album "Halos & Horns." The mournful but ultimately hopeful plea is an especially fitting sendoff for Parton who, as her nephew Bryan Seaver put it, "lived in the light." Listen below:
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