00:00:06
Speaker 1: You're listening to a Mamma Mia podcast.
00:00:12
Speaker 2: Good afternoon. I'm Tamsin Rose with a special edition of your quickie afternoon headlines for Wednesday, August 26. Today, it's all about Dolly Parton. The country music legend, actor and philanthropist has passed away in Nashville, aged 80 after a brief battle with cancer. Her family says she died surrounded by loved ones and spent her life bringing joy, laughter, hope, and integrity into everything she touched. Her nephew, Brian Seaver, who's been her head of security for two decades, announced the news in an emotional video message.
00:00:49
Speaker 1: Dolly was a farmer, just like her daddy. He farmed the soil, she farmed songs and happiness. Dolly called me and said she wants to rest in a beautiful bed of plush cotton because after a life wearing heavy rhinestones, She finally deserves to be comfortable and have some rest. Rest in peace, Aunt Dolly, Aunt Granny, Gigi. May God bless Dolly Parton, and may God bless you all. She will always love you.
00:01:15
Speaker 2: Just four days before she died, Parton spoke about her ongoing health issues, telling People magazine she was still healing but still working, determined as always to keep going.
00:01:26
Speaker 3: Dolly Parton's death is devastating. I think that she might be possibly the last person that everyone loved. Like she's just, everyone loved Dolly. It's really hard to explain. She was just someone that had this incredibly rare thing where you would go to a concert and it was this They were like the old school country fans, different generations, people who just thought she was cool. She kind of pioneered being a brand as well. Like beyond just the music, she did everything from like cake mix to theme parks, movies, comedies. She did it all, but she never really lost herself or her essence.
00:02:00
Speaker 2: That's leading music journalist Cameron Adams, who met Parton in 2013. He's been reflecting on her incredible life and legacy.
00:02:08
Speaker 4: Well, hey there, it's Dolly.
00:02:10
Speaker 2: Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on January 16, 1946, the fourth of 12 children. The family lived in a one-bedroom cabin with no electricity, no heating and no running water. The day she was born, they paid the local doctor with a sack of cornmeal. She wrote her first song at the age of six and by eight was carting her guitar into local radio stations chasing that big break. At 13, she released her first record. and then at 18 she moved to Nashville, where she lived ever since. On her very first day there, she met the love of her life, Carl Dean, outside a laundromat. They married in secret two years later and stayed together for almost 60 years until Dean's death in March of last year. Parton always said that he was the star of her life story. It was in Nashville as well that Parton fought to be taken seriously as a songwriter.
00:03:06
Speaker 3: Jolene started an era when women, particularly in music, were just given songs like, just sing this, you know, you're the pretty girl. And that's how her career actually started. And she really pushed to be a songwriter. She was a songwriter from the start, one of her own songs on the records. And that came to a head in, so 1974, she'd had Crunchy Hits in America with Jolene and I Will Always Love You.
00:03:28
Speaker 4: Incredible.
00:03:29
Speaker 3: Those two songs are written almost back to back, but. That's Dolly. So Elvis Presley comes to her in 1974 or his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, and wanted to record I Always Love You. Elvis wanted to record that song. She was big at the time but not like super famous. So she basically said no because the deal was Elvis would have half of the publishing for that song, so half of the money, and she knew that was a bad deal even back then. That was what Elvis did. That was a really common thing with music back in the time. Like you want to record it, you need to give this person half the money, if not all the money. So she held on to the rights to that song and then later on Whitney would cover that. She made $ 10 million just from Whitney's cover straight away. But yes, she always knew that she wanted to be a songwriter and she knew the power of publishing and owning the rights to her music, which has become Western ever Taylor Swift later on.
00:04:17
Speaker 2: That instinct for control over her own career defined everything that followed, paving the way for women who came after her. Hollywood came calling next. Jane Fonda personally pitched her the role of Dora Lee Rhodes in the 1980 comedy 9 to 5, a film that earned Parton an Oscar nomination, two Grammys and became the biggest hit of her decade. As her star rose, she stayed out of the political fray, and perhaps that was part of her universal appeal.
00:04:51
Speaker 3: She was never political. Deliberately, she would say, look, I'm not going to be political because she knew that as soon as you do that, you lose half your audience. And especially in country music, which kind of skews sort of big conservative, she turned down stuff from Trump and Biden. But one thing she did, she always stuck up for her beliefs. So while not being political, she was openly supportive of the LGBTQ community. She would just come and go, look, yeah, you can do what you like. I don't care. I support you. I love you. And especially at a time when that was political, she was doing that. So that was one thing. She really endeared herself to that fan base, but also managed to not alienate other people who probably had an issue with that. So it's just incredible. She managed this balancing act where She just was loved by people so much and just accepting of people.
00:05:36
Speaker 2: Beyond the music and the movies, though, Pardon built one of the most significant philanthropic legacies in all of entertainment. Her Imagination Library has now donated more than 330 million free books to children across the world, including millions here in Australia. In 2020, she donated $ 1 million towards the development of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine. After wildfires tore through her beloved Smoky Mountains in 2016, she helped raise almost $ 9 million for displaced families. And after Hurricane Helen devastated her home state last year, she was back again, raising funds for the relief effort.
00:06:16
Speaker 3: She was worth like $ 600 million, but she gave away so much money that she could have been a But she just was doing all the stuff behind the scenes. But just you look back and it's going to be like when George Michael died. He did so much stuff behind the scenes that no one knew about because, you know, he didn't need the accolades.
00:06:32
Speaker 2: Parton's health had been declining since her husband's death last year. She's cancelled a number of performances. Earlier this year, she released a short update for fans. She was as relentlessly positive as ever, still with a twinkle in her eye.
00:06:47
Speaker 4: Now, the bad news is... It's going to take me a little while before I'm up to stage performance level. Of course, I can't be dizzy carrying around banjos, guitars and such on five-inch heels. And you know that I'm going to be wearing them.
00:07:02
Speaker 2: Reports coming out now say that Parton was hospitalized for a few days before she died. Her family confirmed that a brief battle with cancer preceded her death. Adams, who interviewed Parton in Nashville in 2013, says nothing about meeting her in person disappointed.
00:07:20
Speaker 3: When I met Dolly, 2013, Nashville, on her compound. I used that word correctly because it was a compound. Yeah, she was incredible. Everything you want her to be, everything you would have hoped. She was just warm, generous, just basically didn't care being asked the same questions again and again and again. She was incredible, really lovely person. posed for the photo, did everything you want, but just gave really honest, classic answers. And I think she just realised that, yeah, she was in a great position and she was really proud of what she'd done, as she should be.
00:07:53
Speaker 2: Tributes have poured in from across the world. Jane Fonda, her 9to5 co-star, called her a naughty, playful southern gal and a deep and soulful thinker. Paul McCartney described her as a magnificent star. Oprah Winfrey said she brought the light and that the world is all the better because she was here. Reba McEntire, Casey Musgraves and Keith Urban all shared personal tributes, while the grand old Opry said simply they will never, ever be another one like her. US President Donald Trump ordered flags across America to fly at half-mast.
00:08:27
Speaker 3: For a week.
00:08:28
Speaker 2: In New York, the Empire State Building turned its lights pink in her honour at 9.25pm in tribute to her film. And here in Australia, that love runs deep too. In the New South Wales farming town of Narromine, home to the annual Dolly Parton Festival, organisers have already said they will hold a minute's silence at the October event. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese posted his own tribute recalling a memorable run-in helping get Parton's oversized tour bus onto Australian roads back in 2011.
00:09:01
Speaker 4: Hey Miss Honey Bee, it's Dolly P.
00:09:03
Speaker 2: Parton never stopped working, right until the end. In recent years, she'd collaborated with massive modern artists like Beyonce on her Cowboy Carter album with Sabrina Carpenter and many times with her beloved goddaughter Miley Cyrus.
00:09:19
Speaker 3: She just always wanted to keep working. She could have retired 20 years ago. I just think she always was still inspired. She just wanted to keep working. She was always touring basically until the end.
00:09:30
Speaker 2: Fans of Parton, though, haven't heard the last of her. She arranged for hundreds of songs to be released after her death.
00:09:36
Speaker 3: At Dollywood, there's a song that she's recorded which won't be released until what will be her 100th birthday, this secret song. That's in a vault somewhere. But also, she said there's hundreds of songs released that she's recorded, which she's generally put aside for future release, including being really smart. And she recorded just vocal stems, basically her straight up vocal. And she said, I want these songs to go to producers in the future. They can do what they like with them, but I want to control it. It's obviously devastating that she's gone, but there's going to be literally hundreds of songs that she's okayed coming out to roll out in the future.
00:10:09
Speaker 2: Dolly Parton is survived by her extended family and she leaves behind an incredible legacy. In her own words, delivered to graduates at the University of Tennessee back in 2009, this is how she hoped to be remembered.
00:10:23
Speaker 4: People are always asking me, what do you want people to say about you 100 years from now? I always say, I want them to say, dang, don't she still look good for her age? But all joking aside, I think people will remember us for who we were, not how many records we sell or how much money we make, because I have always said, that I've always counted my blessings far more often than I count my money. And my blessings are many.
00:11:05
Speaker 2: And here are another few things you need to know about today. Virginia Bell has requested a four-day extension to the Anti-Semitism Royal Commission to avoid presenting her final report on the one-year anniversary of the Bondi Massacre. Speaking on the final day of hearings of the Royal Commission into Anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion, the Commissioner said the final report would be handed down on December 18 rather than December 14. The short extension was a response to concern from Australia's Jewish community that the report coming out on the day of the anniversary of the attack would be a distraction from the memorials. And finally, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is staring down a challenge from leaders in two Australian jurisdictions on his looming regulations for artificial intelligence data centres. The Prime Minister is hosting the National Cabinet meeting in Sydney on Wednesday, which will focus on the National Agreement on Data Centre Regulation, including a contentious mandate for developers to provide renewable energy. The plan has faced backlash from Queensland and the Northern Territory, who have called for data centres to be backed by coal and gas reserves. That's all for now. If you have a topic you'd like us to discuss, our inbox is always open. We're at thequickie at mamamia.com.au. And make sure to rate and review us in your favourite podcast app. Music Mamma Mia acknowledges the traditional owners of the land on which we have recorded this podcast.
Speaker 1: You're listening to a Mamma Mia podcast.
00:00:12
Speaker 2: Good afternoon. I'm Tamsin Rose with a special edition of your quickie afternoon headlines for Wednesday, August 26. Today, it's all about Dolly Parton. The country music legend, actor and philanthropist has passed away in Nashville, aged 80 after a brief battle with cancer. Her family says she died surrounded by loved ones and spent her life bringing joy, laughter, hope, and integrity into everything she touched. Her nephew, Brian Seaver, who's been her head of security for two decades, announced the news in an emotional video message.
00:00:49
Speaker 1: Dolly was a farmer, just like her daddy. He farmed the soil, she farmed songs and happiness. Dolly called me and said she wants to rest in a beautiful bed of plush cotton because after a life wearing heavy rhinestones, She finally deserves to be comfortable and have some rest. Rest in peace, Aunt Dolly, Aunt Granny, Gigi. May God bless Dolly Parton, and may God bless you all. She will always love you.
00:01:15
Speaker 2: Just four days before she died, Parton spoke about her ongoing health issues, telling People magazine she was still healing but still working, determined as always to keep going.
00:01:26
Speaker 3: Dolly Parton's death is devastating. I think that she might be possibly the last person that everyone loved. Like she's just, everyone loved Dolly. It's really hard to explain. She was just someone that had this incredibly rare thing where you would go to a concert and it was this They were like the old school country fans, different generations, people who just thought she was cool. She kind of pioneered being a brand as well. Like beyond just the music, she did everything from like cake mix to theme parks, movies, comedies. She did it all, but she never really lost herself or her essence.
00:02:00
Speaker 2: That's leading music journalist Cameron Adams, who met Parton in 2013. He's been reflecting on her incredible life and legacy.
00:02:08
Speaker 4: Well, hey there, it's Dolly.
00:02:10
Speaker 2: Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on January 16, 1946, the fourth of 12 children. The family lived in a one-bedroom cabin with no electricity, no heating and no running water. The day she was born, they paid the local doctor with a sack of cornmeal. She wrote her first song at the age of six and by eight was carting her guitar into local radio stations chasing that big break. At 13, she released her first record. and then at 18 she moved to Nashville, where she lived ever since. On her very first day there, she met the love of her life, Carl Dean, outside a laundromat. They married in secret two years later and stayed together for almost 60 years until Dean's death in March of last year. Parton always said that he was the star of her life story. It was in Nashville as well that Parton fought to be taken seriously as a songwriter.
00:03:06
Speaker 3: Jolene started an era when women, particularly in music, were just given songs like, just sing this, you know, you're the pretty girl. And that's how her career actually started. And she really pushed to be a songwriter. She was a songwriter from the start, one of her own songs on the records. And that came to a head in, so 1974, she'd had Crunchy Hits in America with Jolene and I Will Always Love You.
00:03:28
Speaker 4: Incredible.
00:03:29
Speaker 3: Those two songs are written almost back to back, but. That's Dolly. So Elvis Presley comes to her in 1974 or his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, and wanted to record I Always Love You. Elvis wanted to record that song. She was big at the time but not like super famous. So she basically said no because the deal was Elvis would have half of the publishing for that song, so half of the money, and she knew that was a bad deal even back then. That was what Elvis did. That was a really common thing with music back in the time. Like you want to record it, you need to give this person half the money, if not all the money. So she held on to the rights to that song and then later on Whitney would cover that. She made $ 10 million just from Whitney's cover straight away. But yes, she always knew that she wanted to be a songwriter and she knew the power of publishing and owning the rights to her music, which has become Western ever Taylor Swift later on.
00:04:17
Speaker 2: That instinct for control over her own career defined everything that followed, paving the way for women who came after her. Hollywood came calling next. Jane Fonda personally pitched her the role of Dora Lee Rhodes in the 1980 comedy 9 to 5, a film that earned Parton an Oscar nomination, two Grammys and became the biggest hit of her decade. As her star rose, she stayed out of the political fray, and perhaps that was part of her universal appeal.
00:04:51
Speaker 3: She was never political. Deliberately, she would say, look, I'm not going to be political because she knew that as soon as you do that, you lose half your audience. And especially in country music, which kind of skews sort of big conservative, she turned down stuff from Trump and Biden. But one thing she did, she always stuck up for her beliefs. So while not being political, she was openly supportive of the LGBTQ community. She would just come and go, look, yeah, you can do what you like. I don't care. I support you. I love you. And especially at a time when that was political, she was doing that. So that was one thing. She really endeared herself to that fan base, but also managed to not alienate other people who probably had an issue with that. So it's just incredible. She managed this balancing act where She just was loved by people so much and just accepting of people.
00:05:36
Speaker 2: Beyond the music and the movies, though, Pardon built one of the most significant philanthropic legacies in all of entertainment. Her Imagination Library has now donated more than 330 million free books to children across the world, including millions here in Australia. In 2020, she donated $ 1 million towards the development of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine. After wildfires tore through her beloved Smoky Mountains in 2016, she helped raise almost $ 9 million for displaced families. And after Hurricane Helen devastated her home state last year, she was back again, raising funds for the relief effort.
00:06:16
Speaker 3: She was worth like $ 600 million, but she gave away so much money that she could have been a But she just was doing all the stuff behind the scenes. But just you look back and it's going to be like when George Michael died. He did so much stuff behind the scenes that no one knew about because, you know, he didn't need the accolades.
00:06:32
Speaker 2: Parton's health had been declining since her husband's death last year. She's cancelled a number of performances. Earlier this year, she released a short update for fans. She was as relentlessly positive as ever, still with a twinkle in her eye.
00:06:47
Speaker 4: Now, the bad news is... It's going to take me a little while before I'm up to stage performance level. Of course, I can't be dizzy carrying around banjos, guitars and such on five-inch heels. And you know that I'm going to be wearing them.
00:07:02
Speaker 2: Reports coming out now say that Parton was hospitalized for a few days before she died. Her family confirmed that a brief battle with cancer preceded her death. Adams, who interviewed Parton in Nashville in 2013, says nothing about meeting her in person disappointed.
00:07:20
Speaker 3: When I met Dolly, 2013, Nashville, on her compound. I used that word correctly because it was a compound. Yeah, she was incredible. Everything you want her to be, everything you would have hoped. She was just warm, generous, just basically didn't care being asked the same questions again and again and again. She was incredible, really lovely person. posed for the photo, did everything you want, but just gave really honest, classic answers. And I think she just realised that, yeah, she was in a great position and she was really proud of what she'd done, as she should be.
00:07:53
Speaker 2: Tributes have poured in from across the world. Jane Fonda, her 9to5 co-star, called her a naughty, playful southern gal and a deep and soulful thinker. Paul McCartney described her as a magnificent star. Oprah Winfrey said she brought the light and that the world is all the better because she was here. Reba McEntire, Casey Musgraves and Keith Urban all shared personal tributes, while the grand old Opry said simply they will never, ever be another one like her. US President Donald Trump ordered flags across America to fly at half-mast.
00:08:27
Speaker 3: For a week.
00:08:28
Speaker 2: In New York, the Empire State Building turned its lights pink in her honour at 9.25pm in tribute to her film. And here in Australia, that love runs deep too. In the New South Wales farming town of Narromine, home to the annual Dolly Parton Festival, organisers have already said they will hold a minute's silence at the October event. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese posted his own tribute recalling a memorable run-in helping get Parton's oversized tour bus onto Australian roads back in 2011.
00:09:01
Speaker 4: Hey Miss Honey Bee, it's Dolly P.
00:09:03
Speaker 2: Parton never stopped working, right until the end. In recent years, she'd collaborated with massive modern artists like Beyonce on her Cowboy Carter album with Sabrina Carpenter and many times with her beloved goddaughter Miley Cyrus.
00:09:19
Speaker 3: She just always wanted to keep working. She could have retired 20 years ago. I just think she always was still inspired. She just wanted to keep working. She was always touring basically until the end.
00:09:30
Speaker 2: Fans of Parton, though, haven't heard the last of her. She arranged for hundreds of songs to be released after her death.
00:09:36
Speaker 3: At Dollywood, there's a song that she's recorded which won't be released until what will be her 100th birthday, this secret song. That's in a vault somewhere. But also, she said there's hundreds of songs released that she's recorded, which she's generally put aside for future release, including being really smart. And she recorded just vocal stems, basically her straight up vocal. And she said, I want these songs to go to producers in the future. They can do what they like with them, but I want to control it. It's obviously devastating that she's gone, but there's going to be literally hundreds of songs that she's okayed coming out to roll out in the future.
00:10:09
Speaker 2: Dolly Parton is survived by her extended family and she leaves behind an incredible legacy. In her own words, delivered to graduates at the University of Tennessee back in 2009, this is how she hoped to be remembered.
00:10:23
Speaker 4: People are always asking me, what do you want people to say about you 100 years from now? I always say, I want them to say, dang, don't she still look good for her age? But all joking aside, I think people will remember us for who we were, not how many records we sell or how much money we make, because I have always said, that I've always counted my blessings far more often than I count my money. And my blessings are many.
00:11:05
Speaker 2: And here are another few things you need to know about today. Virginia Bell has requested a four-day extension to the Anti-Semitism Royal Commission to avoid presenting her final report on the one-year anniversary of the Bondi Massacre. Speaking on the final day of hearings of the Royal Commission into Anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion, the Commissioner said the final report would be handed down on December 18 rather than December 14. The short extension was a response to concern from Australia's Jewish community that the report coming out on the day of the anniversary of the attack would be a distraction from the memorials. And finally, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is staring down a challenge from leaders in two Australian jurisdictions on his looming regulations for artificial intelligence data centres. The Prime Minister is hosting the National Cabinet meeting in Sydney on Wednesday, which will focus on the National Agreement on Data Centre Regulation, including a contentious mandate for developers to provide renewable energy. The plan has faced backlash from Queensland and the Northern Territory, who have called for data centres to be backed by coal and gas reserves. That's all for now. If you have a topic you'd like us to discuss, our inbox is always open. We're at thequickie at mamamia.com.au. And make sure to rate and review us in your favourite podcast app. Music Mamma Mia acknowledges the traditional owners of the land on which we have recorded this podcast.
