Dolly Parton, queen of country music, dies at 80

Aug 25 (Reuters) - Dolly Parton was around six when she wrote her first song: "Little Tiny Tasseltop," an ode to her corncob doll with corn-silk hair. Her mother stored it preciously in a shoebox.

"I loved that little doll," Parton wrote decades later. "I expressed myself and my feelings through writing - I’m sure what I was thinking was, 'Well, Tasseltop has to have a song about her.'"

Parton never stopped making music after that. The irrepressible country music singer, songwriter and actress whose charisma, heartfelt lyrics and business acumen captured the public's imagination for nearly six decades, died on Tuesday aged 80, her family said in a statement.

No cause of death was disclosed, but her publicist said she died peacefully in Nashville. Days earlier, she told People magazine she was dealing with unspecified health issues but planned to keep working.

"By her example, we believed anything was possible," her nephew, Bryan Seaver, said in a video message. "She never saw a door she couldn't open, and the doors she opened made and changed history."

With classic songs including "Coat of Many Colors," "Jolene" and "I Will Always Love You," Parton became one of the best-selling female artists of all time, with over 100 million records sold. She won 11 Grammy awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Parton's wholesome personality, combined with her towering blond hairdos, flamboyant costumes and giddy delight at holding center stage, endeared her to Americans of all backgrounds and helped introduce country music to international audiences.

Over the years Parton hosted a TV variety show, starred in movies, and even created a theme park, Dollywood, a popular tourist spot in her home state of Tennessee - all in addition to her lauded work as a songwriter.

But the quality that gave her enduring star power was her ability to connect with people. Coming from a self-described "dirt-poor" family, Parton often stood in as a symbol of the working-class American and regularly threw her name and money behind causes she believed in.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Parton donated $1 million to vaccine research at Vanderbilt University in 2020, making her an early sponsor of Moderna's vaccine development.

She conducted a literacy program for preschool children across the United States, as well as in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland, and provided scholarships to high school students in the Tennessee county where she was born.

The county erected a life-size statue of her in front of the courthouse in thanks, though she declined another proposed statue of her in Nashville in 2021, saying, "Given all that's going on in the world, I don't think putting me on a pedestal is appropriate at this time."

It was this ability to stay true to her roots, combined with her drive to work hard and her nonpartisanship, that fueled her appeal among conservatives and liberals in a politically polarized America.

Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on January 19, 1946, in Pittman Center, Tennessee, and grew up in a one-room cabin in nearby Locust Ridge.