Dolly Parton, the country music icon who performed in Philadelphia six times and championed childhood literacy in the region, died Tuesday after a brief battle with cancer. She was 80.<\/p>\n
Her family announced the death. Parton\u2019s ties to Philadelphia stretched back more than four decades. These ties included arena concerts at the Spectrum and a 2022 visit to the Wilmington Library to promote her Imagination Library program, which now mails free books to thousands of children in the area.<\/p>\n
From the Spectrum stage with Kenny Rogers<\/p>\n
Parton first played Philadelphia on Aug. 28, 1985, at the Spectrum as part of her Real Love Tour. She shared the bill with Kenny Rogers and Mac Davis, with Sawyer Brown as the opening act. Tickets cost $15 to $17.50, roughly $50 in today\u2019s dollars.<\/p>\n
By then she had already written \u201cJolene\u201d and \u201cI Will Always Love You\u201d and starred in the film \u201c9 to 5.\u201d On the tour, she and Rogers performed duets including \u201cIslands in the Stream,\u201d \u201cWe\u2019ve Got Tonight\u201d and \u201cReal Love.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe flirted with each other for thirty years and it was much more electric. I think once you consummate a relationship like that it loses something,\u201d Rogers told Dan Rather in 2014 for AXS TV. \u201cSo we did some massive flirting in front of the nation, but there was never anything more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n
She returned to the Spectrum, by then renamed the Wachovia Spectrum, on Nov. 18, 2004, for her Hello, I\u2019m Dolly Tour. The Philadelphia Inquirer\u2019s Dan DeLuca reported that she joked onstage, \u201cIf I was to pull a Janet Jackson tonight, I\u2019d take out everybody in the first three rows.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tour combined her country, pop and bluegrass styles. Parton told the Washington Post at the time: \u201cSome liked the country, some liked the pop, some liked the big production, some loved the bluegrass and the more simple sound. So I decided to combine all the things that I\u2019ve done through the years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bluegrass, covers and a 2005 return<\/p>\n
Parton was back in Philadelphia on Aug. 20, 2005, for the Vintage Tour. She played her classic hits and experimented with covers of songs she admired, including \u201cMe and Bobby McGee,\u201d \u201cTurn, Turn, Turn\u201d and \u201cBlowin\u2019 in the Wind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Variety\u2019s David Rooney wrote of the tour: \u201cThe expansiveness and joy of her stage personality and the genuine warmth she brings to the down-home recollections peppered through the show make Parton an irresistible performer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s most singular is her gift for being all things to all people, connecting equally with the die-hard country fans and the massive crowd of gay boys who had resurrected their Madonna Western-wear to come see a camp icon.\u201d<\/p>\n
World Cafe, XTU and the Philadelphia airwaves<\/p>\n
Parton\u2019s Philadelphia visits were not limited to concert stages. On Jan. 23, 2001, she sat down with former World Cafe host David Dye to discuss her childhood, her 38th album \u201cLittle Sparrow\u201d and the inspirations behind her biggest hits.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the kinda music I think, if I can sing at all, I sing the best, \u2019cause it\u2019s the music of my soul, of my childhood and of my heart,\u201d she said of her bluegrass roots. \u201cI had to get rich so I could afford to sing like I\u2019m poor again.\u201d<\/p>\n
In November 2007, she stopped by 92.5 XTU, Philadelphia\u2019s country music station, for a 30-minute conversation ahead of her appearance at the Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York the next morning. She spoke about her role as Miley Cyrus\u2019 godmother and her inability to sing \u201cI Will Always Love You\u201d during Porter Wagoner\u2019s funeral.<\/p>\n
A last concert days after the Pulse shooting<\/p>\n
Parton\u2019s final Philadelphia concert took place June 15, 2016, at the Mann Center on her Pure & Simple Tour. The show came just days after the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando.<\/p>\n