Vin Diesel has stunned fans with a surprisingly 'vulnerable' tribute to Dolly Parton, showing a rarely seen side of himself. Tributes have been flooding in from celebrities and fans alike following Parton's death aged 80 from a 'brief cancer battle'.
Emotional Instagram tribute
The Fast and Furious icon posted a video to Instagram, with a black-and-white picture of the Jolene legend and a simple prayer hands emoji as the caption. When fans pressed play, they quickly realised the audio was Diesel's own rather emotional rendition of I Will Always Love You.
While the track is often associated with Whitney Houston, it was originally released by Parton in 1974 and became a huge commercial success. Diesel gives a steady baritone vocal on his version, cracking with emotion over some lyrics such as 'please don't cry'.
Fans react with praise
The tribute was quickly shared on other platforms as many of Diesel's fans were completely unaware that the Guardians of the Galaxy star is also a recording artist.
'Didn't have "Crying to Vin Diesel singing" on my list today but here we are,' veal_squeals wrote on X. Sapphicssay added: 'Bros. He even harmonized himself. This is beautiful 😭😭😭.'
'The most staggeringly shocking thing about Vin Diesel is that he's actually insanely talented,' said Quitethequandry, adding it was 'a beautiful tribute'. 'This the most honest and vulnerable thing I've heard in my entire life,' wrote GingerMan512.
On his Instagram, fans were praising him equally enthusiastically with Nathalie Frankenne writing: 'What beautiful tribute ! Brave in more ways then one. Rest in peace Dolly, you will be deeply missed! 😔🤍.'
A history of singing
Diesel has made no secret of his love for singing, having posted various covers of songs throughout his career. In 2013, he praised Rihanna's 'gift' after posting a rendition of Stay and in 2020 he released two singles: Feel Like I Do and Days Are Gone.
'I did musical theatre as a kid, and I started rapping back in the early '80s,' Diesel told People previously. 'But the real singing happened with social media.
'When I sang Stay, I remember Mikky saying something like, "Vin's cover is the best." I was feeling all kinds of encouragement there. People say, "We've been watching you make these karaoke videos for 10 years for all your social media fans, and we see that you're serious and that you love it and we support it." That's beautiful.'
Some people in the industry warned Diesel against posting his karaoke videos, for fear it would impact his acting career. He explained that there was concern that, due to the type of characters he played, he wouldn't be taken seriously in his bread-and-butter action roles.
Paul Walker's support
His late Fast co-star Paul Walker, who he nicknamed Pablo, was actually a huge support for him singing and sharing the videos. 'Bless my brother's soul,' he said. 'I remember in London when I told Pablo that all these people were concerned that I was singing, he was the one who said, "Don't ever stop singing, you know you have something special."'
The Iron Giant actor performed a live version of See You Again at the MTV Movie Awards in tribute to Walker, who died in 2013. The song, by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth, was released in honour of Walker's death and features in Furious 7, his final film.
