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Miley Cyrus (Sthanlee Mirador\/PA)<\/p>\nMiley Cyrus has led tributes to her \u201cangel\u201d godmother Dolly Parton after the death of the country music superstar at the age of 80, following a \u201cbrief battle with cancer\u201d.<\/p>\n
Wrecking Ball singer Cyrus, 33, frequently cited the queen of country as a deeply meaningful figure in her life.<\/p>\n
Tributes from around the world have honoured country music superstar Dolly Parton, who died aged 80 following a \u201cbrief battle with cancer\u201d.<\/p>\n
She wrote on Instagram: \u201cThe feeling of losing my Aunt Dolly is beyond what feels right to share. Our most sacred moments were private and they\u2019ll stay there behind the stage, beneath the glamour & between our hearts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I know is Dolly would want me to feel it, write a song about it, and then continue on and be strong. I have an angel by my side. I always have. One of our last conversations was about music and metamorphosis.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will always love her and want to make her proud. My heart breaks for the world, her family and friends who will miss her deeply. We\u2019re in this loss together and we will see her in all of the most beautiful things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parton played Aunt Dolly on Cyrus\u2019s breakout TV show, Hannah Montana.<\/p>\n
They also performed a number of duets together including a cover of Wrecking Ball for Parton\u2019s 2023 rock album Rockstar.<\/p>\n
Miley Cyrus (Sthanlee Mirador\/PA)<\/p>\n
Cyrus join the biggest names in music, including: Elton John, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Taylor Swift and Beyonce; in detailing her impact and her legacy, as both a musician and a humanitarian.<\/p>\n
The Band of the Coldstream Guards played 9 To 5, one of her biggest hits, on the forecourt of Buckingham Palace during Changing the Guard on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, landmarks around the US were lit up pink in her honour, including the Empire State Building in New York, the Willis Tower in Chicago and the Pacific Park Ferris Wheel in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
News of Parton\u2019s death was announced by her family on Tuesday night, and her\u00a0publicist, Marcel Pariseau, said: \u201cAfter bravely facing a brief battle with cancer, Dolly departed her earthly life today at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Centre surrounded by loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n
The singer was best known for her genre-defining hits including 9 To 5, I Will Always Love You and Jolene.<\/p>\n
Dolly Parton will be remembered for her legacy of \u201cgreat music that people will treasure forever\u201d, Andy Burnham has said.<\/p>\n
The statement continued: \u201cOur beloved Dolly Parton spent her life and career bringing joy, laughter, hope and integrity into everything she touched. Her unmatched generosity reached the lives of countless people whom she would never meet, yet she was always there to offer a helping hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether it be the hundreds of millions of books donated through her invaluable Imagination Library or funding research that helped create a lifesaving vaccine used around the world, Dolly\u2019s unconditional love for all people was the guiding force for her lasting impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
The type of cancer was not disclosed.<\/p>\n
Parton\u2019s death was announced late on Tuesday via an Instagram video by her nephew, Bryan Seaver, who also served as the singer\u2019s head of security.<\/p>\n
He said it was \u201can honour that is mixed with absolute pride and great sadness\u201d to share the news of her death, adding: \u201cBut sadness lies with us, not with Dolly.<\/p>\n
\u201cDolly has lived in the light and is in the arms of Jesus, surely met by Carl, her parents and countless others who have watched her and longed to meet her in the heavens.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parton\u2019s husband Carl Dean died last year aged 82.<\/p>\n
Flags will be lowered throughout America in Parton\u2019s honour, US President Donald Trump announced, posting on Truth Social \u201cthere has never been anyone like her\u201d.<\/p>\n
Jane Fonda, who starred in the film 9 To 5 with Parton and was a lifelong friend, said she was \u201cdevastated\u201d, adding: \u201cI know that millions are mourning and I want to say this \u2013 more than anyone I have ever known, Dolly will always be with us because she was so present, so powerful, so generous and playful that she is woven into all our lives and hearts forever.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have our memories of her, her songs, Dollywood, \u20189 to 5\u2019, the millions of books she got into the hands of children, all the iconic images that bring her to us.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd they are all blessings. Let\u2019s be grateful for all that she has left us to ease our sadness now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elton John said he was \u201cshocked and devastated\u201d to hear of her death, adding she was \u201ca giant of an artist \u2013 unique and irreplaceable, with the kindest heart\u201d.<\/p>\n
Singer Beyonce, who covered Jolene on her 2024 album, Cowboy Carter, said Parton was the \u201cnorth star\u201d for the industry.<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cDolly, you were the barometer. The north star. Bold and brilliant. Talented and tenacious. You taught so many lessons on how to be uniquely oneself. I am grateful for your art, your heart, your generosity, your humour, your entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m honoured that I had the privilege to work with you. I will treasure that forever. Thank you for your profound impact on the world. You are an angel who has made this world a happier place because of your joyful art. You are truly one of one. Rest peacefully.\u201d<\/p>\n
Swift said a world without Dolly Parton \u201cdoesn\u2019t feel possible, real, or right\u201d.<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cBut because of the eternally generous way she spent her time on this earth and the countless lives she changed for the better, her legacy will be an everlasting one.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was truly the gift that kept on giving. Dolly gave us someone to look up to while encouraging us to be who we are as individuals. Somehow, she was able to give us her lessons about the world gently and honestly, simultaneously, and oftentimes hilariously.\u201d<\/p>\n
McCartney remembered Parton as a \u201cmagnificent star\u201d, adding: \u201cIt is hard to imagine living in a world without Dolly\u201d, while Jagger said: \u201cWe will all miss her so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Piano Man singer Billy Joel said Parton \u201ctranscended time and became one of those iconic artists who is known for just being Dolly, beyond a specific song or moment in time\u201d.<\/p>\n
Talk show host Oprah Winfrey said \u201cshe brought the light, and we are all better because she was here\u201d.<\/p>\n
The family of country singer Kenny Rogers, with whom Parton duetted on Islands In The Stream, said: \u201cIt\u2019s painstakingly hard to put into words what you meant to Kenny\u2026 and to all of us.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the two of you sang about being islands in the stream who together had found peace unknown, having real love for each other as true friends who would always stand by each other, and how you just can\u2019t make old friends, it was always as genuine as it could possibly be\u2026 coming straight from the heart and reflecting what you both felt for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rogers died in 2020.<\/p>\n
In May, Parton pulled out of a highly anticipated Las Vegas residency, which was due to begin in September.<\/p>\n
She had already postponed her six-date run at the Colosseum Theatre at Caesars Palace from December 2025 to deal with \u201chealth challenges\u201d.<\/p>\n
At Parton\u2019s request, a small, private funeral service will be held for immediate family, a statement from her family on social media said.<\/p>\n
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Dolly Parton at Heathrow Airport in 1976 to take part in the eighth International Festival of Country Music at Wembley (PA)<\/p>\n
In lieu of flowers, her family asked for donations to be made to Dolly Parton\u2019s Imagination Library.<\/p>\n
She was a savvy businesswoman with an empire that included a theme park, aptly named Dollywood, and a pioneering philanthropist.<\/p>\n
Imagination Library, a programme devoted to inspiring a love of reading in children, has given more than 300 million books to youngsters.<\/p>\n
She was also a supporter of several charities for black and LGBT+ communities, as well as the Barbara Davis Centre for Childhood Diabetes, Save the Music Foundation and the Boot Campaign.<\/p>\n
In 2020, she donated one million dollars (\u00a3733,000) to coronavirus research at Vanderbilt University, which helped fund Moderna\u2019s Covid-19 vaccine.<\/p>\n
Parton was also a prolific songwriter, who penned I Will Always Love You \u2013 one of the defining love songs of the 20th century \u2013 as a goodbye to her former creative partner, Porter Wagoner, who hired her to be his sidekick on his eponymous TV show and helped her land a record deal.<\/p>\n
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Dolly Parton performing on the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival in 2014 (PA)<\/p>\n
The song became a blockbuster hit when Whitney Houston recorded a cover for the 1992 film, The Bodyguard.<\/p>\n
Parton was born in a single-room cabin in Locust Ridge, Tennessee, in 1946, the fourth of 12 children.<\/p>\n
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