Latest / Spoken News / American singer-songwriter and actress Dolly Parton dies at the age of 80.
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Welcome to Spoken News, where Wikipedia excerpts are read verbatim
- 0:04by a computer. American singer-songwriter and actress Dolly Parton dies
- 0:09at the age of 80. Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean was
- 0:13an American singer-songwriter, actress, and businesswoman dubbed the Queen of Country.
- 0:18One of the most honored country performers in history, she
- 0:21won 11 Grammy Awards, three Emmy Awards, two Academy Awards,
- 0:26six Golden Globe Awards, and a Tony Award. She was
- 0:30also known for her cultural influence and philanthropy through Dollywood
- 0:34and the Dollywood Foundation. Parton wrote her first song at
- 0:37the age of six, began performing regularly on television at
- 0:41the age of 10, and made her first recording at
- 0:43the age of 11. She became a professional songwriter at
- 0:47the age of 16, and after writing hits for other artists,
- 0:51she released her debut album, Hello, I'm Dolly, beginning a
- 0:54career spanning nearly 60 years and 49 studio albums. Parton
- 0:59composed more than 3,000 songs, including I Will Always Love You, Jolene,
- 1:04Code of Many Colors, and 9 to 5. As an actress,
- 1:09she starred in 9 to 5 and The Best Little
- 1:11Whorehouse in Texas, earning Golden Globe nominations for both, as
- 1:15well as Rhinestone, Steel Magnolias, Straight Talk, and Joyful Noise.
- 1:19On television, she portrayed Aunt Dolly in the teen sitcom
- 1:23Hannah Montana. hosted Saturday Night Live in 1989, and guest
- 1:27starred in Reba and Grace and Frankie. She starred in
- 1:30and produced the Netflix musical film Christmas on the Square,
- 1:34which earned her the Primetime Emmy Award. On stage, she
- 1:37wrote the score for the Broadway musical 9 to 5,
- 1:40for which she was nominated for the Tony Award. Her
- 1:43life will be depicted in the Broadway musical, starting in
- 1:46December 2026. With estimated sales exceeding 100 million records, Parton
- 1:52is one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
- 1:55Her music includes Recording Industry Association of America Certified Gold, Platinum,
- 2:00and Multi-Platinum Awards. 25 of her singles reached number one
- 2:04on the Billboard Country Music Charts, tied with Reba McEntire
- 2:07for the most, by a female artist. She had 44
- 2:11career top 10 country albums, a record for any artist,
- 2:15and 110 career-charted singles over 40 years. Her 49th and
- 2:19final solo studio album, Rockstar, became her highest-charting Billboard 200 album,
- 2:25peaking at No. 3. She was honored with the National
- 2:28Medal of Arts in 2004, the Kennedy Center Honor in 2006,
- 2:33and the Jean Herschelt Humanitarian Award in 2025. That's it
- 2:38for now. See the episode notes for sources and licensing.
- 2:42Thank you.