Dolly Parton's brother, Randy Parton, has died two days after her birthday, at age 67. The country musician had been battling cancer, Dolly revealed in a Facebook post on Thursday.
"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."
Born on Dec. 15, 1953, in Sevierville, Tennessee, Randy first broke into the music industry in the late 1970s with several singles that appeared on radio. He achieved minor success with his music, but it was the song "Old Flames Can't Hold a Candle to You," which featured Dolly, that got Randy into the charts.
He would often collaborate with Dolly, both on stage and in the studio. In 1984, Randy featured on the soundtrack for the film "Rhinestone," which starred Dolly, according to the Nashville Tennessean. He also hosted various shows at Dollywood in 1986.
Randy's final recording was in 2020 on Dolly's Christmas album that featured the song "You Are My Christmas," which he sang with his sister. In an interview with Nashville Tennessean, Dolly explained how she came about writing the song.
"He was born around Christmas time and he was our Christmas baby," she said last year of Randy. "We always called him 'Christmas' just for fun. ... I just thought, well, I'm gonna write a song for him to sing with me."
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