Country music trailblazer and Grand Ole Opry star Jeannie Seely died on Friday (Aug. 1) at Summit Medical Center in Hermitage, Tenn., due to complications from an intestinal infection. She was 85. Seely had been battling health issues since last fall and underwent multiple back surgeries this spring, as well as two emergency abdominal surgeries.

"We had many wonderful laughs together, cried over certain things together and she will be missed," the musician's friend Dolly Parton wrote in a statement.

Jeannie Seely, a Grammy-winning country music icon, passed away at 85 in Nashville after a brief illness. Known as "Miss Country Soul," Seely was a trailblazer in country music, becoming the first Pennsylvania native inducted into the Grand Ole Opry and performing there over 5,