Really sad to hear this news. I was never a fan of country music, but some of her songs are really iconic - '9 To 5', 'Jolene', 'Islands in the Stream', 'I will always love you' etc. I seem to remember a thread on here about 'Jolene' where we earnestly discussed the song
, And occasionally, when I'm having a bad day at work, I find myself singing '9 to 5', with an emphasis on the line, "What a way to make a living". "Pour myself a cup of ambition" is a fantastic lyric. Funnily enough, I've never seen the movie - I'll have to rectify that.
A lot of stars go off the rails when they hit the big time, but Dolly seems to have kept both feet firmly on the ground. And wasn't afraid to poke fun at herself.
It's only in recent years that I discovered how much (in terms of time and money) she had invested in literacy programmes and (being a booklover myself), I was so impressed. Also, she allowed herself to be filmed receiving the Covid vaccine whilst singing a special version of 'Jolene'. I'm sure that video was more influential in getting people to sign up for the vaccine than any amount of discussion from medical professionals.
Dolly gave people a lot of pleasure through her songs and her movies and did a lot of good too. The world seems a little dimmer this evening.