Dolly Parton, the singer, songwriter, actor, philanthropist and country music institution whose work crossed generations and genres, has died at 80.

Parton died Tuesday, August 25, in Nashville after a brief battle with cancer, according to a statement from her publicist reported by the Associated Press.

For R&B audiences, one part of her vast legacy carries special emotional weight: Parton wrote “I Will Always Love You,” the song Whitney Houston transformed into a worldwide phenomenon for The Bodyguard.

Their two voices approached the composition differently, but together they created one of popular music’s most powerful cross-genre legacies.

A farewell that became a standard

Parton wrote “I Will Always Love You” as a farewell to Porter Wagoner when she left his television show and professional partnership to build a career on her own terms.

Her original recording reached No. 1 on the country chart in 1974. She took it back to No. 1 with a new recording in 1982, making the song a rare country chart-topper in two different eras.

Then came Houston.

Recorded for the 1992 film The Bodyguard, Houston’s version opened with restraint before climbing toward one of the defining vocal performances of the decade. It spent 14 weeks at No. 1 and turned an already celebrated country composition into a global pop and R&B standard.

The night Dolly presented Whitney with a Grammy

The full-circle moment arrived at the 1994 Grammy Awards, when Parton presented Houston with the trophy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

Houston thanked Parton for writing the song and praised the beauty of her songwriting. The Recording Academy’s account notes that Houston’s performance also won Record of the Year, while The Bodyguard won Album of the Year.

The image of the songwriter placing the honor in the singer’s hands remains one of the ceremony’s great symbols of artistic generosity.

After Houston died in 2012, Parton said she would remain grateful and in awe of what Houston did with her song. Their connection was never a competition between originals and covers. It was a demonstration of how a composition can hold more than one truth.

Two voices, one timeless song

Parton’s version feels intimate, rooted in a personal goodbye. Houston’s recording expands that goodbye until it fills an arena. The writing is strong enough to carry both.

That is why the song has returned as audiences mourn Parton. It now carries farewells in both directions: Parton once remembered Houston through it, and listeners can now remember Parton through the performance Houston made immortal.

The supplied WWETV tribute clip brings together archival images of both women, scenes from The Bodyguard and the history of the song.

Dolly Parton’s legacy beyond the charts

Parton’s catalog included “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors,” “9 to 5,” “Here You Come Again” and “Islands in the Stream.” Her screen career ranged from 9 to 5 to Steel Magnolias, while Dollywood became both a tourism landmark and an economic engine in East Tennessee.

Her Imagination Library distributed hundreds of millions of free books to young children. On Parton’s official website, her family asked fans to donate to the program in her honor and said a small private service would be held for immediate family.

Parton understood ownership, authorship and the value of a song. She famously protected the publishing rights to “I Will Always Love You” when Elvis Presley wanted to record it. Years later, that decision helped ensure that Houston’s extraordinary success also rewarded the woman who wrote every word.

Dolly Parton leaves behind a catalog, a business legacy and a record of generosity that cannot be reduced to one song. Yet “I Will Always Love You” remains a fitting farewell because it joins everything she represented: independence, tenderness, songwriting craft and the power to connect musical worlds.

Whitney Houston gave the song wings. Dolly Parton gave it a soul and a name. Music will always love them both.