Dolly Parton announced on Thursday (Jan. 21) that her younger brother Randy Parton has passed away following a bout with cancer. He was 67 years old.
Parton shared the news on social media.
"The family and I are grieving his loss but we know he is in a better place than we are at this time," she wrote. "We are a family of faith and we believe that he is safe with God and that he is joined by members of the family that have gone on before and have welcomed him with joy and open arms."
Like siblings Stella, Floyd, Freida and Rachel, Randy followed Dolly's singer-songwriter lead into the music business. He recorded multiple singles for RCA Records between 1975 and 1982. Standouts include "Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler)," which Randy recorded two years before Alabama's better-known rendition. He reached the country music charts' Top 30 with both "Hold Me Like You Never Had Me" and "Shot Full of Love" and found similar success with "Don't Cry Baby," "Oh, No" and "A Stranger in Her Bed."
"Randy was a great singer, writer and entertainer," Parton wrote. "He sang, played guitar and bass in my band for many years. He headed his own show at Dollywood since it opened in 1986. He's had several chart records of his own, but his duet with me on 'Old Flames Can't Hold A Candle To You' will always be a highlight in my own career."
His final recording, a duet with Dolly titled "You Are My Christmas," appears on his sister's A Holly Dolly Christmas and features Randy's daughter, Heidi.
Read More: Dolly Parton's First Christmas Album in 30 Years Includes a Duet With Her Goddaughter, Miley Cyrus
Randy's survived by his wife Deb, daughter Heidi, son Sabyn and grandsons Huston and Trent.
Born Randel Huston Parton, he was one of Dolly's 11 siblings, raised in Sevierville, Tennessee by Avie Lee Parton and Robert Lee Parton.
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