Singer Dolly Parton dies at 80
Music legend and singer songwriter Dolly Parton has died, according to a statement from her family.
Most even casual Dolly Parton fans know that “I Will Always Love You,” Whitney Houston’s vocal skyscraper that commandeered radio in the early ‘90s, was born from Parton.
But the iconic multihyphenate, who died Aug. 25 at the age of 80, was the pen behind numerous songs in other artists’ oeuvres, including Kenny Rogers – her “Islands in the Stream” duets partner – and goddaughter Miley Cyrus.
Parton’s list of accomplishments, whether as a singer, actress or philanthropist, are formidable. But she was, first and foremost, a prolific songwriter and storyteller, and one who earned 25 No. 1 hits on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, the most of any female country artist.
But let’s tip our rhinestone-encrusted hats to a few tunes she shared with others.
Hank Williams Jr., ‘I’m in No Condition’ (1967)
As she did with many of her songs recorded by other artists, Parton still included her version of the midtempo song on her 1967 album, “Hello, I’m Dolly.” But Williams Jr. embodied the wistful melancholy in the song accented by mournful pedal steel guitar, especially when he sings her words, “I don’t have a smile that I can give to you.”
Tina Turner, ‘There’ll Always Be Music’ (1974)
When Turner bolted for a solo career, she left the R&B/soul sounds performed with husband Ike for a country-tinged detour. Her 1974 debut album, “Tina Turns the Country On!” included a piano ballad from Parton, “There’ll Always Be Music.” The album including the piano ballad would be nominated for a Grammy Award the following year.
Emmylou Harris, ‘To Daddy’ (1977)
Years before Harris would team with Parton and Linda Ronstadt for their acclaimed “Trio” project, she put her angelic voice to this heartwrenching ballad sung from the perspective of a teen watching her parents’ marriage crumble. The song became a Top 5 hit for Harris, included on her 1978 “Quarter Moon in Cent Town” album, and Parton, who drew lyrical inspiration from watching her own mother, put it on her 1995 compilation, “The Essential Dolly Parton, Vol. 1.”
Kenny Rogers, ‘The Stranger’ (1984)
A hint of ‘80s gloss coated this country weeper about a son meeting his long-lost father following the death of his mother (“It was me and mamma that you left behind … You’re just a stranger”). Rogers and Parton possessed a heady creative connection – they released their “Once Upon a Christmas” album that same year – as this song sounds tailormade for Rogers’ warm rasp.
Whitney Houston, ‘I Will Always Love You’ (1992)
It’s the song that wouldn’t stop giving for Parton. She hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart twice with the pensive ballad, first in 1974 and again in 1984 after she rerecorded it for “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” soundtrack. But the simple love song, rearranged from country twanger to soulful soar by producer David Foster for “The Bodyguard” soundtrack, became Houston’s hallmark song. Where Parton wrote it as a farewell to then-business partner Porter Wagoner, Houston’s multi-octave rendition was steeped in melancholy, owing to the plot of the 1992 film when her fictional singer Rachel Marron must sever a relationship with her bodyguard, played by Kevin Costner. According to Forbes, Parton earned more than $10 million in royalties from the song in the 1990s.
Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton, ‘Rainbowland,’ 2017
The song starts with a message from Parton to her goddaughter – a wistful sound following Parton’s death – before the two delve into the toe-tapper with an uplifting message about making a difference: “We are rainbows me and you … together we can, start living in a Rainbowland.” The sprightly song gained national attention in 2023 when a Wisconsin school banned elementary students from singing it because “it could be perceived as controversial,” they said, citing the connection between rainbows and the LGBTQ community, which Cyrus and Parton actively supported.