Shania Twain Mourns Dolly Parton: 'My Mentor Is Gone'
Shania Twain paid tribute to Dolly Parton on Tuesday, writing "My mentor is gone" alongside footage of the two performing together on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2003.
Parton died at the age of 80, with her family announcing the news through a video statement from her nephew on 25 August 2026. She was to be honoured with a private family service and funeral, People reported.
Twain called Parton her "songwriting teacher and hero of grace and humility" and described her as her "musical and personal hero of all time" and a "beautiful person inside and out," according to Rolling Stone. The social media post she shared featured the two women singing Parton's 1971 hit "Coat of Many Colors" together on the Oprah stage.
That 2003 Oprah appearance was part of a special episode celebrating Parton. Melissa Etheridge and Alison Krauss also performed. The broadcast coincided with the release of Just Because I'm a Woman, a tribute album pairing Parton's songs with female artists she had influenced — among them Etheridge, Krauss, Sinead O'Connor, Shelby Lynne, Norah Jones and Mindy Smith.
The bond between Parton and Twain ran deeper than a single duet. Twain, a Canadian singer-songwriter from Timmins, Ontario, began singing in bars at a young age — a start that mirrored Parton's own early performances in venues around her native East Tennessee. Twain went on to honour Parton again in 2006, performing "Coat of Many Colors" at the Kennedy Center Honors, the annual award recognising lifetime contributions to American culture.
Parton's death prompted an outpouring that crossed genres and generations, but Twain's tribute carried a particular weight: a direct line from a woman who studied Parton's songwriting and then carved her own path through country and pop. The footage she chose to share — two voices on one song, two careers in the same frame — said what her words made plain.
