Sabrina Carpenter, Julia Roberts and Oprah Winfrey Pay Tribute to Dolly Parton
Sabrina Carpenter, Julia Roberts and Oprah Winfrey were among the stars who honoured Dolly Parton on Wednesday night at a celebration staged by the Country Music Association (CMA), the US body that runs the CMA Awards. Variety reported the event, which came almost two months after Parton's death.
Parton died in August at the age of 80, after a brief battle with cancer. Her death drew tributes from across the music and film worlds in the days that followed. Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Kacey Musgraves, Jane Fonda and Vince Gill were among those who posted their reactions, as the Associated Press reported.
On Wednesday, Carol Burnett, Bono and Goldie Hawn also spoke about Parton. Katy Perry took the stage to pay her own tribute. She said Parton was known as the "Great Unifier" because of her ability to bring people together. Julia Roberts recalled working alongside Parton in Steel Magnolias, the 1989 film they made together.
Carpenter had worked with Parton before her death. The two recorded a remix of "Please Please Please", Carpenter's song, shortly before Parton died.
The evening was called CMA Presents I Will Always Love You: A Celebration of Dolly Parton. It aired live on ABC, the broadcast television network, and on Disney+, the streaming service owned by Disney. It was billed as a live two-hour special, according to Yahoo Entertainment. The broadcast went out on Wednesday, October 21.
Parton's career was closely tied to the CMA. She won nine CMA Awards over her career, according to the Associated Press. In the days after her death in August, the Empire State Building in New York was lit pink in her honour, as Reuters photographs showed.
Parton's own start was in church. Her first musical performances were given there, long before she became one of country music's best-known names. That early start is a reminder of where her story began.
