Dolly Parton has paid tribute to her husband Carl Dean, following his death aged 82.
In a post on X, Parton said her husband would be laid to rest in a private ceremony with immediate family in attendance.
She said: Carl and I spent many wonderful years together.
Words cant do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.
The family, who requested privacy, did not specify a cause of death. Dean is survived by Parton, as well as siblings Sandra and Donnie.
Dean, who owned an asphalt paving business in Nashville, Tennessee, was also the inspiration behind Partons hit song Jolene.
Parton told NPR, a US radio network, in 2008: She got this terrible crush on my husband. And he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention.
It was kinda like a running joke between us when I was saying, Hell, youre spending a lot of time at the bank. I dont believe weve got that kind of money. So its really an innocent song all around, but sounds like a dreadful one.
Parton and Dean met outside a laundromat in 1964
Parton met her husband outside a laundromat in 1964 when she was 18. They married two years later in 1966 in a small ceremony in Ringgold, Georgia.
Parton recalled their first meeting in an interview: I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for me).