Country And Western star Porter Wagoner has died, aged 80, after losing a fight with lung cancer. His publicist confirmed the singer died at a Nashville hospice this weekend.
Wagoner was perhaps best known for his American TV show, which ran from 1960 to 1981 and featured a variety of singers, musicians and comics. It was through his TV show that Wagoner brought one Dolly Parton to the world, and in Parton's early career she became predominantly known for her duets with Wagoner - they won Duo Of The Year at the US Country Music Association's annual awards in 1970 and 1971.
As Parton's solo career blossomed the relationship between the two became somewhat strained, leading to a messy legal dispute in 1980 which was ultimately settled out of court. Despite that, the pair remained on/off friends, with Parton calling Wagoner "one of my best friends today" at an event honouring her former collaborator earlier this year.
Country folklore has it that one of Parton's most famous songs, 'I Will Always Love You', was written for Wagoner. Whether that is true or not I don't know, though it was one of the first songs she wrote after Wagoner suggested she try writing a love song rather than a more traditional story based country song.