''Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind'' is a studio album by American singer/producer

Linda Ronstadt Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is a retired American singer who performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American ...

, released in October 1989 by

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the 1 ...

. Produced by

Peter Asher Peter Asher, (born 22 June 1944) is an English guitarist, singer, manager and record producer. He came to prominence in the 1960s as a member of the pop music vocal duo Peter and Gordon before going on to a successful career as a manager and r ...

, the album features several duets with singer

Aaron Neville Aaron Joseph Neville (born January 24, 1941) is a retired American R&B and soul singer. He has had four platinum albums and four Top 10 hits in the United States, including three that reached number one on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. ...

— two of which earned Grammy Awards — and several songs written by

Jimmy Webb Jimmy Layne Webb (born August 15, 1946) is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He has written numerous platinum-selling songs, including " Up, Up and Away", "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "MacArthur Park", "Wichita Lineman", "Worst ...

and

Karla Bonoff Karla may refer to: People * Karla (name), a feminine given name * Petras Karla (1937–1969), Soviet Olympic rower Places * Karla, Kose Parish, a village in Harju County, Estonia * Karla, Rae Parish, a village in Harju County, Estonia * Kärl ...

. The album was a major success internationally. It sold over three million copies and was certified

Triple Platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

in the United States alone.

Composition

''Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind'' is a diverse collection of songs in the

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

, R&B, and pop genres. In addition, the album contains a few ballads, most notably Jimmy Webb's "Adios". Of the twelve tracks, Ronstadt included four duets with Aaron Neville, of Neville Brothers fame. In addition, the album is noted for its big production values including backing musicians the Skywalker Symphony,

Tower of Power Tower of Power is an American R&B and funk based band and horn section, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing since 1968. There have been a number of lead vocalists, the best-known being Lenny Williams, who fronted the b ...

horns, and the

Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir The Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir (OIGC) is located in Oakland, California, US. It was founded in 1986 as an outgrowth of a gospel music workshop, and became an independent organization in 1991. The choir has since toured globally, produced multi ...

. There are also tracks by songwriters

, and an appearance of

Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often called a genius for his novel approaches to pop composition, extraordinary musical aptitude, and m ...

, as back up singer and musical arranger on Ronstadt's fourteenth Top 10

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

single "Adios". The album's arrangers include

Marty Paich Martin Louis Paich (January 23, 1925 – August 12, 1995) was an American pianist, composer, arranger, record producer, music director, and conductor. As a musician and arranger he worked with jazz musicians Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Kento ...

, David Campbell,

, Greg Adams, and Terrance Kelly.

Reception

''Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind'' received critical acclaim and put Ronstadt back at top of the charts with the #1 Gold-certified hit single "

Don't Know Much "Don't Know Much" is a song written by Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil and Tom Snow. Mann was the first to record the song in 1980, gaining a minor chart hit in the US. The song was made famous when it was covered as a duet by Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Ne ...

", one of the duets with Neville. "Don't Know Much" and " All My Life", another chart-topping duet with Neville, won Grammy Awards in 1990 and 1991 respectively for

Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group The Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by ...

. The album earned Ronstadt a Grammy nomination for

Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female The Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a female in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The awar ...

alongside

Bette Midler Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...

Bonnie Raitt Bonnie Lynn Raitt (; born November 8, 1949) is an American blues singer and guitarist. In 1971, Raitt released her self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed roots-influenced albums that incorporated ...

Gloria Estefan Gloria Estefan (; born Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García; born 1 September 1957) is a Cuban-American singer, actress, and businesswoman. Estefan is a seven-time Grammy Award winner, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and has been ...

, and

Paula Abdul Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreograph ...

. The album reached #7 on the US ''Billboard'' 200, spending well over a year on the chart, and selling over three million copies in the United States alone (certified triple platinum). ''Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind'' stands as one of Ronstadt's three biggest selling studio albums of all-time in the United States (along with '' Simple Dreams'' and ''

What's New What's New may refer to: Entertainment Music * What's New? What's New?" is a 1939 popular song composed by Bob Haggart, with lyrics by Johnny Burke. It was originally an instrumental tune titled "I'm Free" by Haggart in 1938, when Haggart was ...

''). It is also one of her biggest selling albums worldwide, especially in Australia and the United Kingdom, selling over 100,000 copies (certified gold). This album is currently out of print but is still available online for download and streaming. When the album reached the ''Billboard'' Top 10 in late 1989, Ronstadt became only the second female recording artist in history to achieve ten Top 10 albums, following

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers List ...

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians

– lead and harmony vocals, backing vocals (4) *

– lead and harmony vocals (3, 4, 5, 11) *

– acoustic piano (1), orchestral arrangements (6) *

Robbie Buchanan Robbie or Robby is a surname. It is usually encountered as a nickname or a shortened form of Robert, Rob or Robin. The name experienced a significant rise in popularity in Northern Ireland in 2003. People Given name Robbie * Robbie Amell (born 1 ...

– keyboards (1, 3, 4, 7, 10, 11, 12), organ (2, 4) *

Don Grolnick Don Grolnick (September 23, 1947 – June 1, 1996) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and record producer. He was a member of the groups Steps Ahead and Dreams, both with Michael Brecker, and played often with the Brecker Brothers. As a sessi ...

– acoustic piano (2, 3, 5, 7-12), keyboards (6) * William D. "Smitty" Smith – electric piano (4) *

Michael Landau Michael Christopher Landau (born June 1, 1958) is an American musician, audio engineer, and record producer. He is a session musician and guitarist who has played on many albums since the early 1980s with Boz Scaggs, Minoru Niihara, Joni Mitch ...

– electric guitar (1-9, 11, 12) *

Dean Parks Weldon Dean Parks (born December 6, 1946) is an American session guitarist and record producer from Fort Worth, Texas. Albums Parks was member of the North Texas State One O'clock Lab Band before moving to Los Angeles to work with Sonny and Cher ...

– electric guitar (1, 2, 4, 6-11) *

Andrew Gold Andrew Maurice Gold (August 2, 1951 – June 3, 2011) was an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and record producer who influenced much of the Los Angeles-dominated pop/soft rock sound in the 1970s. Gold played on scores of reco ...

– electric guitar (3), 12-string electric guitar (7), guitar (12) *

Leland Sklar Leland Bruce Sklar (born May 28, 1947) is an American bassist and session musician. Sklar rose to prominence as a member of James Taylor's backing band, which coaleced into a group in its own right, The Section. This group of musicians so frequ ...

– bass (1, 4, 5, 9, 12) *

David Hungate William David Hungate (born August 5, 1948) is an American bass guitarist noted as a member of the Los Angeles pop-rock band Toto from 1976 to 1982 and again from 2014 to 2015, and the son of judge William L. Hungate. Along with most of his T ...

– bass (2, 3, 6, 8, 10, 11) *

Carlos Vega Carlos Vega (December 7, 1956 – April 7, 1998) was a Cuban-born Los Angeles-based session drummer best known for his performances with James Taylor. As a part of the L.A. studio scene from the late 1970s through the 1990s, Vega contributed to ...

– drums (1-6, 8-11) *

Russ Kunkel Russell Kunkel (born September 27, 1948) is an American drummer who has worked as a session musician with many popular artists, including Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Buffett, Harry Chapin, Rita Coolidge, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Da ...

– drums (7, 12) * Michael Fisher – percussion (1, 5, 7, 9) *

– percussion (7) *

– horns (11) *

– orchestral arrangements and conductor (1, 2, 8, 10) * Terrance Kelly – choir arrangements and conductor (2, 8, 9) * David Campbell – orchestral arrangements (3, 5, 7, 12), conductor (3-7, 11, 12) * Greg Adams – orchestral arrangements (4, 11), horn arrangements (11), conductor (11) * The Skywalker Symphony Orchestra – orchestra (1-8, 10, 11, 12) * Pavel Farkas – concertmaster (1-8, 10, 11, 12) *

Rosemary Butler Rosemary Ann Butler (born April 6, 1947) is an American singer. She began her career playing bass guitar and singing in an all-female band named the Ladybirds while attending Fullerton Union High School in Fullerton, California. The band appeared ...

– additional backing vocals (2), backing vocals (4, 7) *

– choir (2, 8, 9) * Jon Joyce – backing vocals (4) *

Arnold McCuller Arnold McCuller (born August 26, 1950) is an American vocalist, songwriter, and record producer, born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He was active as a solo artist and session musician, but is perhaps best known for his work as a touring back- ...

– backing vocals (4) *

– backing vocals (6), arrangements (6)

Production

* Peter Asher – producer * Steve Tyrell – co-producer (Track 5) *

George Massenburg George Y. Massenburg (born Baltimore, Maryland c. 1947) is a Grammy award-winning recording engineer and inventor. Working principally in Baltimore, Los Angeles, Nashville, and Macon, Georgia, Massenburg is widely known for submitting a paper ...

– recording and mixing * Frank Wolf – additional recording * Bob Edwards – assistant engineer * Sharon Rice – assistant engineer * Mike Ross – assistant engineer * Jim Schelter – assistant engineer * Ivy Skoff – production coordination * Doug Sax - Mastering *

John Kosh John Kosh, known simply as Kosh, is an English art director, album cover designer, graphic artist, and documentary producer/director. He was born in London, England and rose to prominence in the mid-1960s while designing for the Royal Ballet a ...

– art direction, design * Robert Blakeman – photography * Cathy Kerr – personal assistant * Janet Stark – personal assistant * Charles Barber – assistant to

Jeff Beal Jeff Beal (born June 20, 1963) is an American composer of music for film, television, recordings, and the concert hall. Highly regarded as a jazz instrumentalist and versatile composer, Beal creates music that often incorporates a synthesis of im ...

– orchestra musical coordinator * Greg Sudmeier – orchestra musical coordinator

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1989 albums Linda Ronstadt albums Albums produced by Peter Asher Albums arranged by David Campbell (composer) Albums arranged by Jimmy Webb Albums arranged by Marty Paich Elektra Records albums Aaron Neville albums Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical