Dolly Parton would rather "drop dead" onstage than ever retire from music.

The country music icon, 77, has vowed to continue working until the very end, as long as she and her longtime husband, Carl Thomas Dean, 80, are in "good" health.

Dolly recently told Ken Bruce on Greatest Hits Radio: “I’m not one to sit around doin’ nothin’. I would never retire. I’ll just hopefully drop dead in the middle of a song onstage someday, hopefully, one I’ve written."

She continued: “But anyhow, that’s how I hope to go, we don’t have much of a choice in that but as long as I’m able to work, as long as my health is good and my husband is good, the only way that I would ever slow down or stop would be for that reason. But in the meantime, I’m going to make hay while the sun shines.”

Asked the same question by Us Weekly earlier this year, she replied: "I don’t think I could retire if I wanted to. Cause I’ve dreamed myself into a corner, as I say. Cause all these wonderful things keep happening and you gotta keep the dream alive.

"Since I love to work, I always say I’ll just work. 'I’m gonna make hay while the sun shines,' is the old saying. So, I’m gonna do that until I can’t do it anymore."

The musician has released 65 studio albums since beginning her career in the late 1960s and is known around the world for country hits like 'Jolene' and '9 to 5' but switched genres with her latest record, 'Rockstar'.

She recently told The Sunday People's Love Sunday magazine: 'Rockstar' is one of the most fun things I've ever done. I feel like a rock star! I wanted to see what I could do and I had to work hard to keep up."

The 'Islands in the Stream' songstress has been married to Carl since 1966 and went on to add that her husband has served as the inspiration for the project so she wanted to "please him" more than anyone else.

She added: "All my life - in the car, in the truck, on the tractor or in the house, he'll always blast out rock'n'roll music," "I sat him down to listen to the whole thing and he said 'it's really good'. He's kind of a quiet person, so to me, that was like somebody else jumping up and down saying it was the best thing they ever heard. He was proud of it, so that made me feel good. I wanted to please him more than anybody else."

The 'Backwoods Barbie' singer covered a number of classics such as The Beatles' 'Let It Be' with surviving members Sirs Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr and Queen's 'We Are the Champions' for the record.

Dolly even teamed up with goddaughter Miley Cyrus, 30, to produce a rock version of her 2013 single 'Wrecking Ball' for the record as she described the 'Jaded' hitmaker as being "like a daughter or sister" to her.