Dolly Parton, queen of country music, dies at 80

Dolly Parton was around six when she wrote her first song: “Little Tiny Tasseltop,” an ode to her corncob doll with corn-silk hair.

Her mother stored it preciously in a shoebox.

“I loved that little doll,” Parton wrote decades later.

“I expressed myself and my feelings through writing – I’m sure what I was thinking was, ‘Well, Tasseltop has to have a song about her.'” Parton never stopped making music after that.

The irrepressible country music singer, songwriter and actress whose charisma, heartfelt lyrics and business acumen captured the public’s imagination for nearly six decades, died on Tuesday aged 80, her family said in a statement.

She won 11 Grammy awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award.