Add The California Post on Google Fans of Dolly Parton swarmed Hollywood Boulevard on Tuesday, turning her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame into a tear-soaked shrine after news of the country music legend’s death at age 80.
Mourners laid bouquets of flowers, handwritten letters and lit candles at the site while bursting into emotional sing-alongs of her hit songs “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You.”
Parton received her first star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1984 and became the first female artist of the 21st century — and one of very few performers in history — to be honored with multiple stars on the famous stretch.
She famously joked in 2018 about the second star: “I like to do things in pairs, if you know what I mean!”
Parton’s family announced the devastating news of her passing in a video posted to social media Tuesday.
“I am representing the Parton and Owens family today, announcing the passing of my Aunt Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean,” Dolly’s nephew Bryan Seaver said.
While an official cause of death remains under wraps, TMZ reported Parton was rushed to Nashville’s Vanderbilt University Medical Center on Friday, quietly battling severe autoimmune and kidney complications.
In her home state of Tennessee, fans swarmed a bronze statue of Parton in her hometown of Sevierville. In Nashville, a sea of flowers covered her star at Music City Walk of Fame Park.
Inside the Country Music Hall of Fame, a single vase of flowers was quietly placed beside her bronze plaque as the American and state flags outside drooped at half-staff in Parton’s honor.
Parton was born in 1946 in a rural household with 11 siblings and no running water, saying over the years that she grew up “dirt poor” and had to scrape by with her family.
Despite those early struggles, her mother saw her genius coming. Parton wrote her first song at age 5, hit local airwaves by 10, and stunned the Grand Ole Opry at 13.
Her breakthrough 1967 singles “Dumb Blonde” and “Something Fishy” proved Parton’s power at just 21 — and by the early 1970s, hits like “Coat of Many Colors” cemented her status as America’s country queen.
