Vin Diesel chose a microphone instead of a long written message when he paid tribute to Dolly Parton following the country legend’s death. The Fast & Furious star recorded himself singing “I Will Always Love You” and shared the performance with his Instagram followers one day after Parton died.
Diesel posted the roughly two-minute recording on Aug. 26 over a black-and-white photograph of Parton, keeping his caption to a single prayer-hands emoji. Just Jared reported that the performance quickly drew attention as followers encountered the 59-year-old action star singing one of Parton’s most recognizable songs.
The reaction was divided. Some listeners praised the emotion in Diesel’s delivery, while others responded with jokes or surprise at hearing Dominic Toretto’s famously gravelly voice tackle the ballad. Singing is not entirely new territory for Diesel, he has posted karaoke performances for years and released his first official single in 2020.
Parton died Aug. 25 at 80 after a brief battle with cancer, her publicist confirmed. She wrote “I Will Always Love You” as a farewell to her longtime professional partner Porter Wagoner, and her recording became a country hit decades before Whitney Houston turned the composition into an international pop standard with her 1992 version for The Bodyguard.
Diesel’s Cover Starts Almost Entirely With His Voice
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The recording opens with Diesel singing nearly a cappella, with reverb around his voice before an instrumental gradually enters behind him. By the chorus, he is layering harmonies over his own vocal, according to Complex.
His delivery becomes noticeably more emotional during the song’s goodbye section. Just Jared and Us Weekly both noted that his voice appears to crack as he continues through the verse rather than stopping or restarting the performance. Near the end, the audio fades while the words “Love you…” appear over Parton’s photograph.
Her version became a No. 1 country hit in 1974. Houston’s recording for The Bodyguard became an even larger international success nearly two decades later.
Fans Praised the Emotion and Joked About the Vocals
Diesel’s Instagram comments did not produce one clear verdict. Entertainment Weekly reported that some followers praised him for showing a more vulnerable side, while others made jokes about the unexpected performance.
Just Jared highlighted viewers who focused less on technical perfection than on the emotion behind the tribute. Other commenters expressed simple disbelief that the Fast & Furious star had recorded his own version of the Parton classic.
Parton’s publicist Marcel Pariseau said she died at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center surrounded by loved ones after “a brief battle with cancer.” Her nephew and head of security, Bryan Seaver, had earlier announced her death in a video that he said Parton had asked him years before to make when the time eventually came.
Singing Is Not New Territory for Diesel
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The surprise surrounding the Parton cover has more to do with Diesel’s action-star image than with him suddenly deciding to sing. In February 2013, he uploaded a Valentine’s Day karaoke performance of Rihanna’s “Stay” to Facebook, where the unlikely cover circulated widely.
He took the musical interest further in September 2020 with “Feel Like I Do,” his first official single. The track was released through Kygo’s Palm Tree Records and premiered on The Kelly Clarkson Show. Palm Tree Records identified Petey Martin as its writer and producer, while official music credits also list Diesel among its composers.
Diesel followed the track with another single, “Days Are Gone,” later that year. His singing had also surfaced outside formal releases, including musical tributes to his late Fast & Furious costar Paul Walker.
When Clarkson asked him in 2021 about the possibility of a Fast & Furious musical, Diesel said he had been “dying to do a musical” his entire life. He also revealed that he had once come close to working with Steven Spielberg on a film version of Guys and Dolls.