Jamaicans too will miss the internationally beloved Dolly Parton
(FILES) US country music singer Dolly Parton performs on the Pyramid Stage, on the final day of the Glastonbury Festival of Music and Performing Arts on Worthy Farm in Somerset, southwest England, on June 29, 2014. Legendary US singer-songwriter and country music legend Dolly Parton has died at the age of 80, her family announced on August 25, 2026. (Photo by LEON NEAL / AFP)
ALTHOUGH superstar singer-songwriter Ms Dolly Parton — who died from cancer Tuesday, aged 80 — never performed live in Jamaica, there must be few Jamaican adults who never heard of her or enjoyed her music.
The name Dolly Parton gained fame in Jamaica, particularly through her country songs, like Jolene and I Will Always Love You, underlining the long-standing appreciation for classic country and western music among Jamaicans.
But she will have a special place in the hearts of Jamaican music lovers who knew of her collaboration with a collective of top-tier Jamaican session musicians who rearranged her 1978 hit song Two Doors Down into a reggae-inspired track for the 2022 album Country Goes Reggae.
The Jamaican reggae musicians featured on the album include guitarist Mr Ian “Beezy” Coleman, known for his extensive work with Messrs Ziggy and Damian Marley as well as The Fugees; bassist Mr Devon Bradshaw recognised for his work with Burning Spear; and trombonist Mr Henry “Matic” Tenue, associated with Mr Dennis Brown, UB40, and Aswad, among others.
Country music lovers will have been drawn to her in the duo with Mr Kenny Rogers Islands In The Stream, a massive hit that received round-the-clock airplay on Jamaican radio. The triple platinum-selling song written by Messrs Barry, Maurice, and Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees, topped both the country and pop charts in 1983.
A younger cohort of Jamaicans would have been enjoying her song I Will Always Love You before knowing that she was the original singer. They could be forgiven for believing that that honour belonged to another Jamaican favourite, Ms Whitney Houston.
Ms Houston’s cover version, featured in the 1992 movie The Bodyguard, is said to have earned Ms Parton an estimated US$10 million in royalties, which she reportedly used to aid poor blacks in her Nashville, Tennessee, hometown.
Jolene and I Will Always Love You were among about 3,000 titles she published in her lifetime, hundreds of which have been recorded by other artistes. Ms Houston’s version of I Will Always Love You famously spent 14 weeks at the top of the pop chart. The song had previously been a No 1 country single twice, in versions released by Ms Parton in 1974 and 1982.
Ms Parton was inducted into both the country music and rock ‘n’ roll halls of fame, and was the top-ranking female singer on country radio from 1967 to 1993. She had a total of 25 No 1 country singles.
“From her hardscrabble beginnings to glittering stardom, Ms Parton’s life was the stuff of make-believe. With her voluptuous figure, sparkly stage costumes, and blond bouffant wigs… her songs spoke to millions, confronting privation and loss even as they radiated possibility and hope,” the New York Times newspaper wrote in its obituary of her.
Ms Parton also straddled acting, starring in hit films such as 9 to 5; The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, with Burt Reynolds; Steel Magnolias, with Julia Roberts and Shirley MacLaine; and Straight Talk with James Woods.
But she believed songwriting was her best talent, saying: “Songwriting is my way of channelling my feelings and my thoughts. Not just mine, but the things I see, the people I care about. My head would explode if I didn’t get some of that stuff out. Not everything I write is good, but it’s all good for me — like therapy.”
Rest in peace, Dolly Rebecca Parton.