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 Music Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

, and an ALMA Award. Many of her albums have been certified gold, platinum or multiplatinum in the United States and internationally. She has also earned nominations for a Tony Award and a

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

award. She was awarded the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award by the Latin Recording Academy in 2011 and also awarded the

Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award is a special Grammy Award that is awarded by The Recording Academy to "performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording." ...

by the Recording Academy in 2016. She was inducted into the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...

in April 2014. On July 28, 2014, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts and Humanities. In 2019, she received a star jointly with Dolly Parton and

Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She has released dozens of albums and singles over the course of her career and has won 14 Grammys, the Polar Music Prize, and numerous other honors, including ...

on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Californ ...

for their work as the group Trio. Ronstadt was among five honorees who received the 2019

Kennedy Center Honors The Kennedy Center Honors are annual honors given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture. They have been presented annually since 1978, culminating each December in a gala celebrating five hono ...

for lifetime artistic achievements. Ronstadt has released 24 studio albums and 15 compilation or greatest hits albums. She charted 38 US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles. Twenty-one of those singles reached the top 40, ten reached the top 10, and one reached number one ("

You're No Good "You're No Good" is a song written by Clint Ballard Jr., first performed by Dee Dee Warwick for Jubilee Records in 1963 with production by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. It has since been covered by many artists, including charting versions by ...

"). Ronstadt also charted in UK as two of her duets, " Somewhere Out There" with James Ingram and "

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 ...

" with Aaron Neville, peaked at numbers 8 and 2 respectively and the single " Blue Bayou" reached number 35 on the UK Singles charts. She has charted 36 albums, ten top-10 albums, and three number 1 albums on the US ''Billboard'' Pop Album Chart. Ronstadt has collaborated with artists in diverse genres, including: Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris,

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 ...

Billy Eckstine William Clarence Eckstine (July 8, 1914 – March 8, 1993) was an American jazz and pop singer and a bandleader during the swing and bebop eras. He was noted for his rich, almost operatic bass-baritone voice. In 2019, Eckstine was posthumously ...

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

Carla Bley Carla Bley (born Lovella May Borg; May 11, 1936) is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and bandleader. An important figure in the free jazz movement of the 1960s, she is perhaps best known for her jazz opera '' Escalator over the Hill'' ...

('' Escalator Over the Hill''),

Rosemary Clooney Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 – June 29, 2002) was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the song "Come On-a My House", which was followed by other pop numbers such as " Botch-a-Me", " Mambo Italiano", ...

, Flaco Jiménez,

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

, Warren Zevon, Gram Parsons, Neil Young,

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actor whose career has spanned six decades. He is one of the most acclaimed songwriters in popular music, both as a solo artist and as half of folk roc ...

Earl Scruggs Earl Eugene Scruggs (January 6, 1924 – March 28, 2012) was an American musician noted for popularizing a three-finger banjo picking style, now called "Scruggs style", which is a defining characteristic of bluegrass music. His three-fin ...

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...

, and

Nelson Riddle Nelson Smock Riddle Jr. (June 1, 1921 – October 6, 1985) was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid-1980s. He worked with many world-famous vocalists at Capitol Records ...

. She has lent her voice to over 120 albums and has sold more than 100 million records, making her one of the world's best-selling artists of all time.http://lyricswww.ronstadt-linda.com/guestapp.doc Christopher Loudon, of '' Jazz Times'', wrote in 2004 that Ronstadt is "blessed with arguably the most sterling set of pipes of her generation." Ronstadt reduced her activity after 2000 when she felt her singing voice deteriorating, releasing her last full-length album in 2004 and performing her last live concert in 2009. She announced her retirement in 2011 and revealed shortly afterwards that she is no longer able to sing as a result of a degenerative condition later determined to be progressive supranuclear palsy. Since then, Ronstadt has continued to make public appearances, going on a number of public speaking tours in the 2010s. She published an autobiography, ''Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir'', in September 2013. A documentary based on her memoirs, '' Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice'', was released in 2019.

Early life

Linda Maria Ronstadt was born in Tucson, Arizona, on July 15, 1946, the third of four children of Gilbert Ronstadt (19111995), a prosperous machinery merchant who ran the F. Ronstadt Co., and Ruth Mary (née Copeman) Ronstadt (19141982), a homemaker. Ronstadt was raised on the family's ranch with her siblings Peter (who served as Tucson's Chief of Police for ten years, 19811991), Michael, and Gretchen. The family was featured in '' Family Circle'' magazine in 1953.

Ronstadt family history

Ronstadt's father came from a pioneering Arizona ranching family and was of Mexican descent with a German male ancestor. The family's influence on and contributions to Arizona's history, including wagon making, commerce, pharmacies, and music, are documented in the library of the University of Arizona. Her great-grandfather, the engineer Friedrich August Ronstadt (who went by Federico Augusto Ronstadt), immigrated first to Sonora, Mexico and later to the Southwest (then a part of Mexico) in the 1840s from Hanover, Germany. He married a Mexican citizen, and eventually settled in Tucson.http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/ford_times.html In 1991, the City of Tucson opened its central transit terminal on March 16 and dedicated it to Linda's grandfather, Federico José María Ronstadt, a local pioneer businessman; he was a wagon maker whose early contribution to the city's mobility included six mule-drawn streetcars delivered in 190304. Ronstadt's mother Ruth Mary, of German, English, and Dutch ancestry, was raised in

Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city and seat of Genesee County, Michigan, United States. Located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the region known as Mid Michigan. At the 2020 census, Flint had a population of 8 ...

. Ruth Mary's father,

Lloyd Groff Copeman Lloyd Groff Copeman (December 28, 1881 – July 5, 1956) was an American inventor who devised the first electric stove and the flexible rubber ice cube tray, among other products. He had nearly 700 patents to his name, and he claimed that he cou ...

, a prolific inventor and holder of nearly 700 patents, invented an early form of the electric toaster, many refrigerator devices, the grease gun, the first electric stove, and an early form of the microwave oven. His flexible rubber ice cube tray earned him millions of dollars in royalties.

Career summary

Establishing her professional career in the mid-1960s at the forefront of California's emerging folk rock and

country rock Country rock is a genre of music which fuses rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal s ...

movementsgenres which defined post-1960s rock musicRonstadt joined forces with

Bobby Kimmel Bobby Kimmel (born September 1, 1940) is an American musician and songwriter who currently performs with the acoustic folk group I Hear Voices. He has been recording and performing in concert for over 50 years and was a founding member of the Sto ...

and Kenny Edwards and became the lead singer of a folk-rock trio, the Stone Poneys. Later, as a solo artist, she released '' Hand Sown ... Home Grown'' in 1969, which has been described as the first

alternative country Alternative country, or alternative country rock (sometimes alt-country, insurgent country, Americana, or y'allternative), is a loosely defined subgenre of country music and/or country rock that includes acts that differ significantly in style ...

record by a female recording artist. Although fame eluded her during these years, Ronstadt actively toured with the Doors, Neil Young, Jackson Browne, and others, appeared numerous times on television shows, and began to contribute her singing to albums by other artists. With the release of chart-topping albums such as '' Heart Like a Wheel'', ''

Simple Dreams ''Simple Dreams'' is the eighth studio album by the American singer Linda Ronstadt, released in 1977 by Asylum Records. It includes several of her best-known songs, including her cover of the Rolling Stones song "Tumbling Dice" (featured in the f ...

'', and ''

Living in the USA ''Living in the USA'' is the ninth studio album by American singer Linda Ronstadt, released in 1978. The album was Ronstadt's third and final No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Release The album was originally released by Asylum in the L ...

'', Ronstadt became the first female "arena class" rock star. She set records as one of the top-grossing concert artists of the decade. Referred to as the "First Lady of Rock" and the "Queen of Rock", Ronstadt was voted the Top Female Pop Singer of the 1970s. Her rock-and-roll image was as famous as her music; she appeared six times on the cover of '' Rolling Stone'' and on the covers of '' Newsweek'' and '' Time''. In the 1980s, Ronstadt performed on Broadway and received a Tony nomination for her performance in '' The Pirates of Penzance'', teamed with the composer

, recorded traditional music, and collaborated with the conductor Nelson Riddle, an event at that time viewed as an original and unorthodox move for a rock-and-roll artist. This venture paid off, and Ronstadt remained one of the music industry's best-selling acts throughout the 1980s, with multi-platinum-selling albums such as ''

Mad Love __NOTOC__ Mad Love may refer to: Books *''Mad Love'' (French ''L'amour fou''), collection of poems by André Breton *'' The Batman Adventures: Mad Love'', an Eisner and Harvey award-winning comic by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm * Mad Love (publisher), ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', ''

Canciones de Mi Padre ''Canciones de Mi Padre'' (Spanish for "Songs of My Father", or "My Father's Songs") is American singer Linda Ronstadt's first album of Mexican traditional Mariachi music. History The album was released in late 1987 and immediately became a glob ...

'', and '' Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind''. She continued to tour, collaborate, and record celebrated albums, such as '' Winter Light'' and '' Hummin' to Myself'', until her retirement in 2011. Most of Ronstadt's albums are

certified Certification is the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestation or confirmation of certain characteristics of a ...

gold, platinum, or multi-platinum. Having sold in excess of 100 million records worldwide and setting records as one of the top-grossing concert performers for over a decade, Ronstadt was the most successful female singer of the 1970s and stands as one of the most successful female recording artists in U.S. history. She opened many doors for women in rock and roll and other musical genres by championing songwriters and musicians, pioneering her chart success onto the concert circuit, and being in the vanguard of many musical movements.

Career overview

Early influences

Ronstadt's early family life was filled with music and tradition, which influenced the stylistic and musical choices she later made in her career. Growing up, she listened to many types of music, including Mexican music, which was sung by her entire family and was a staple in her childhood. Ronstadt has remarked that everything she has recorded on her own recordsrock and roll, rhythm and blues, gospel, opera, country, choral, and mariachiis all music she heard her family sing in their living room or heard played on the radio, by the age of 10. She credits her mother for her appreciation of

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...

and her father for introducing her to the traditional pop and Great American Songbook repertoire that she would, in turn, help reintroduce to an entire generation. Early on, her singing style had been influenced by singers such as Lola Beltrán and Édith Piaf; she has called their singing and rhythms "more like Greek music ... It's sort of like 6/8 time signature ... very hard driving and very intense." She also drew influence from country singer

Hank Williams Hank Williams (born Hiram Williams; September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he reco ...

. She has said that "all girl singers" eventually "have to curtsy to Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday". Of

Maria Callas Maria Callas . (born Sophie Cecilia Kalos; December 2, 1923 – September 16, 1977) was an American-born Greek soprano who was one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century. Many critics praised her ''bel cant ...

, Ronstadt says, "There's no one in her league. That's it. Period. I learn more ... about singing rock n roll from listening to Maria Callas records than I ever would from listening to pop music for a month of Sundays. ... She's the greatest chick singer ever." She admires Callas for her musicianship and her attempts to push 20th-century singing, particularly opera, back into the

bel canto Bel canto (Italian for "beautiful singing" or "beautiful song", )—with several similar constructions (''bellezze del canto'', ''bell'arte del canto'')—is a term with several meanings that relate to Italian singing. The phrase was not associat ...

"natural style of singing". A self-described product of American radio of the 1950s and 1960s, Ronstadt is a fan of its eclectic and diverse music programming.

Beginning of professional career

At age 14, Ronstadt formed a folk trio with her brother Peter and sister Gretchen. The group played coffeehouses, fraternity houses, and other small venues, billing themselves as "the Union City Ramblers" and "the Three Ronstadts", and they even recorded themselves at a Tucson studio under the name "the New Union Ramblers". Their repertoire included the music they grew up onfolk, country, bluegrass, and Mexican. But increasingly, Ronstadt wanted to make a union of folk music and rock 'n' roll, and in 1964, after a semester at

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

, the 18-year-old decided to move to Los Angeles.

The Stone Poneys

Ronstadt visited a friend from Tucson,

, in Los Angeles during Easter break from college in 1964, and later that year, shortly before her eighteenth birthday, decided to move there permanently to form a band with him. Kimmel had already begun co-writing folk-rock songs with guitarist-songwriter Kenny Edwards, and eventually the three of them were signed by

Nik Venet Nick Venet (born Nikolas Kostantinos Venetoulis, 3 December 1936 – 2 January 1998) was an American record producer, who began his career at age 19 with World Pacific Jazz. He is best known for signing The Beach Boys to Capitol Records and prod ...

to Capitol in the summer of 1966 as "

the Stone Poneys Stone Poneys (also The Stone Poneys, Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys, and The Stone Poneys With Linda Ronstadt) were a folk rock trio formed in Los Angeles, consisting of Linda Ronstadt on vocals, Bobby Kimmel on rhythm guitar and vocals, an ...

". The trio released three albums in a 15-month period in 196768: ''

The Stone Poneys Stone Poneys (also The Stone Poneys, Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys, and The Stone Poneys With Linda Ronstadt) were a folk rock trio formed in Los Angeles, consisting of Linda Ronstadt on vocals, Bobby Kimmel on rhythm guitar and vocals, an ...

''; ''

Evergreen, Volume 2 ''Evergreen, Vol. 2'' is the second album from the Stone Poneys, released five months after ''The Stone Poneys''. It was the most commercially successful of the Stone Poneys' three studio albums. Release data The album was released in the LP ...

''; and ''

Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. III ''Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. III'' is the third and final studio album by The Stone Poneys, released on April 29, 1968. Singer Linda Ronstadt would release her first solo album the following year. While ostensibly a Stone Pon ...

''. The band is widely known for their hit single " Different Drum" (written by Michael Nesmith prior to his joining the Monkees), which reached number 13 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart as well as number 12 in '' Cashbox'' magazine. Nearly 50 years later, the song remains one of Ronstadt's most popular recordings.

Solo career

Still contractually obligated to Capitol Records, Ronstadt released her first solo album, '' Hand Sown ... Home Grown'', in 1969. It has been called the first

record by a female recording artist. During this same period, she contributed to the ''

Music from Free Creek ''Music from Free Creek'' is an album from a series of 1969 "super session" recordings by Free Creek, a group composed of a number of internationally renowned musical artists of the time, including Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Keith Emerson, Buzz Feite ...

'' "super session" project. Ronstadt provided the vocals for some commercials during this period, including one for Remington electric razors, in which a multitracked Ronstadt and

claimed that the electric razor "cleans you, thrills you ... may even keep you from getting busted". Ronstadt's second solo album, '' Silk Purse'', was released in March 1970. Recorded entirely in Nashville, it was produced by Elliot Mazer, whom Ronstadt chose on the advice of

Janis Joplin Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and musician. One of the most successful and widely known Rock music, rock stars of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and "electric" stage ...

, who had worked with him on the '' Cheap Thrills'' album. The ''Silk Purse'' album cover showed Ronstadt in a muddy pigpen, while the back and inside cover depicted her onstage wearing bright red. Ronstadt has stated that she was not pleased with the album, although it provided her with her first solo hit, the multi-format single " Long, Long Time", and earned her first Grammy nomination (for Best Contemporary Vocal Performance/Female).

Touring

In 1975, Ronstadt performed shows with Jackson Browne, the

Eagles Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

, and Toots and the Maytals. In a 1976 '' Rolling Stone'' interview with Cameron Crowe, Ronstadt said, "they haven't invented a word for that loneliness that everybody goes through on the road. The world is tearing by you, real fast, and all these people are looking at you. ... People see me in my 'girl-singer' suit." In 1974 she told

Peter Knobler Peter Knobler (born 1946) is an American writer living in New York City. He has collaborated on fifteen books, ten of them best sellers and was the editor-in-chief of ''Crawdaddy'' magazine from 1972 to 1979.Crawdaddy'', "People are always taking advantage of you; everybody that's interested in you has got an angle." Several years before Ronstadt became what author Gerri Hirshey called the first "arena-class rock diva" with "hugely anticipated tours" she began her solo career touring the North American concert circuit. But being on the road took its toll both emotionally and professionally. There were few "girl singers" on the rock circuit at the time, and they were relegated to "groupie level when in a crowd of a bunch of rock and roll guys", a status Ronstadt avoided. Relating to men on a professional level as fellow musicians led to competition, insecurity, bad romances, and a series of boyfriend-managers. At the time, she admired singers like

Maria Muldaur Maria Muldaur (born Maria Grazia Rosa Domenica D'Amato; September 12, 1942) is an American folk and blues singer who was part of the American folk music revival in the early 1960s. She recorded the 1973 hit song "Midnight at the Oasis" and has ...

for not sacrificing their femininity but says she felt enormous self-imposed pressure to compete with "the boys" at every level. She noted in a 1969 interview in ''Fusion'' magazine that it was difficult being a single "chick singer" with an all-male backup band. According to her, it was difficult to get a band of backing musicians because of their ego problem of being labeled sidemen for a female singer.
Part 1
) Soon after she went solo in the late 1960s, one of her first backing bands was the pioneering country-rock band

Swampwater Swampwater was an American country rock band, that formed and started out initially as Linda Ronstadt’s backing group in the late 1960s, soon after she went solo. They are famous for incorporating cajun and swamp rock elements into their music ...

, which combined Cajun and swamp-rock elements in their music. Its members included Cajun fiddler Gib Guilbeau and

John Beland John Edward Beland (born July 24, 1949) is an American songwriter, session guitarist, recording artist, producer and author. Beland's career as guitarist started out in Los Angeles in the late 1960s, playing sessions and local live gigs with K ...

, who later joined the Flying Burrito Brothers, as well as Stan Pratt, Thad Maxwell, and Eric White, brother of Clarence White of the Byrds. Swampwater went on to back Ronstadt during TV appearances on '' The Johnny Cash Show'' and '' The Mike Douglas Show'', and at the

Big Sur Folk Festival The Big Sur Folk Festival, held from 1964 to 1971 in California, was an informal gathering of prominent and emerging folk artists from across the United States. Nancy Jane Carlen (1941-2013) was working at the Esalen Institute when Joan Baez was ...

. Another backing band included

Don Henley Donald Hugh Henley (born July 22, 1947) is an American musician and a founding member of the rock band Eagles. He is the drummer and one of the lead singers for the Eagles. Henley sang the lead vocals on Eagles hits such as "Witchy Woman", "Despe ...

, Glenn Frey, Bernie Leadon, and

Randy Meisner Randall Herman Meisner (born March 8, 1946) is a retired American musician, singer, songwriter and founding member of the Eagles. Throughout his professional musical career, Meisner's main role was that of bassist and backing high-harmony vocal ...

, who went on to form the Eagles. They toured with her for a short period in 1971 and played on '' Linda Ronstadt'', her self-titled third album, from which the failed single, Ronstadt's version of Browne's "

Rock Me on the Water "Rock Me on the Water" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Jackson Browne, released as the second single from his 1972 debut album, '' Jackson Browne'', following the No. 7 success of Browne's debut single, " Doctor, My ...

", was drawn. At this stage, Ronstadt began working with producer and boyfriend John Boylan. She said, "As soon as I started working with John Boylan, I started co-producing myself. I was always a part of my productions. But I always needed a producer who would carry out my whims." Also in 1971, Ronstadt began talking with

David Geffen David Lawrence Geffen (born February 21, 1943) is an American business magnate, producer and film studio executive. He co-created Asylum Records in 1971 with Elliot Roberts, Geffen Records in 1980, DGC Records in 1990, and DreamWorks SKG in 199 ...

about moving from Capitol Records to Geffen's Asylum Records label.

Collaborations with Peter Asher

Ronstadt began her fourth solo album, '' Don't Cry Now'', in 1973, with Boylan (who had negotiated her contract with Asylum Records) and John David "J.D." Souther producing most of the album's tracks. But needing someone willing to work with her as an equal, Ronstadt asked Peter Asher, who came highly recommended to her by James Taylor's sister

Kate Taylor Kate Taylor (born August 15, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter, originally from Boston, Massachusetts. She is the younger (and only) sister of renowned singer-songwriter James Taylor, a six-time Grammy winner. Biography Taylor was born ...

, to help produce two of them: "Sail Away" and "I Believe in You". The album featured Ronstadt's first country hit, "

Silver Threads and Golden Needles "Silver Threads and Golden Needles" is a country song written by Dick Reynolds and Jack Rhodes. It was first recorded by Wanda Jackson in 1956. The original lyrics, as performed by Jackson, contain a verse not usually included in later versions, w ...

", which she had first recorded on ''Hand Sown ... Home Grown''this time hitting the Country Top 20. With the release of ''Don't Cry Now'', Ronstadt took on her biggest gig to date as the opening act on Neil Young's ''Time Fades Away'' tour, playing for larger crowds than ever before. Backstage at a concert in Texas, Chris Hillman introduced her to Emmylou Harris, telling them, "You two could be good friends", which soon occurred, resulting in frequent collaborations over the following years. Meanwhile, the album became Ronstadt's most successful up to that time, selling 300,000 copies by the end of 1974. Asher turned out to be more collaborative, and more on the same page with her musically, than any producer she had worked with previously.http://www.mixonline.com/news/profiles/linda-ronstadt/365380 Ronstadt's professional relationship with Asher allowed her to take command and effectively delegate responsibilities in the recording studio. Although hesitant at first to work with her because of her reputation for being a "woman of strong opinions (who) knew what she wanted to do (with her career)", he nonetheless agreed to become her full-time producer, and remained in that role through the late 1980s. Asher attributed the long-term success of his working relationship with Ronstadt to the fact that he was the first person to manage and produce her with whom there was a solely professional relationship. "It must be a lot harder to have objective conversations about someone's career when it's someone you sleep with", he said. Asher executive produced a tribute CD called '' Listen to Me: Buddy Holly'', released September 6, 2011, on which Ronstadt's 1976 version of

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer and songwriter who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texas ...

's " That'll Be The Day" appears among newly recorded versions of Holly's songs by various artists.

Vocal styles

Ronstadt captured the sounds of country music and the rhythms of ranchera musicwhich she likened in 1968 to ''"Mexican bluegrass"''and redirected them into her rock 'n' roll and some of her pop music. Many of these rhythms and sounds were part of her

Southwestern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

roots. Likewise, a country sound and style, a fusion of country music and rock 'n' roll called

, started to exert its influence on mainstream pop music around the late 1960s, and it became an emerging movement Ronstadt helped form and commercialize. However, as early as 1970, Ronstadt was being criticized by music "purists" for her "brand of music" which crossed many genres. ''Country Western Stars'' magazine wrote in 1970 that "Rock people thought she was too gentle, folk people thought she was too pop, and pop people didn't quite understand where she was at, but Country people really loved Linda." She never categorized herself and stuck to her genre-crossing brand of music.

Interpretive singer

Ronstadt is considered an "interpreter of her times", and has earned praise for her courage to put her "stamp" on many of her songs. Nevertheless, her hits were criticized in some quarters for being cover songs. Ronstadt herself has indicated that some of her 1970s hits were recorded under considerable pressure to create commercially successful recordings, and that she prefers many of her songs that were non-hit album tracks. An infrequent songwriter, Ronstadt co-composed only three songs over her long career. Ronstadt's natural vocal range spans several octaves from contralto to

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

, and occasionally she will showcase this entire range within a single work. Ronstadt was the first female artist in popular music history to accumulate four consecutive platinum albums (fourteen certified million selling, to date). As for the singles, '' Rolling Stone'' pointed out that a whole generation, "but for her, might never have heard the work of artists such as

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award in ...

, and Chuck Berry." Others have argued that Ronstadt had the same generational effect with her Great American Songbook music, exposing a whole new generation to the music of the 1920s and 1930smusic which was pushed aside because of the advent of rock 'n' roll. When interpreting, Ronstadt said she "sticks to what the music demands", in terms of lyrics. Explaining that rock and roll music is part of her culture, she says that the songs she sang after her rock and roll hits were part of her soul. "The (Mariachi music) was my father's side of the soul," she was quoted as saying in a 1998 interview she gave at her Tucson home. "My mother's side of my soul was the Nelson Riddle stuff. And I had to do them both to reestablish who I was." In the 1974 book ''Rock 'N' Roll Woman'', author Katherine Orloff writes that Ronstadt's "own musical preferences run strongly to rhythm and blues, the type of music she most frequently chooses to listen to ... (and) her goal is to ... be soulful too. With this in mind, Ronstadt fuses country and rock into a special union." By this stage of her career, Ronstadt had established her niche in the field of country-rock. Along with other musicians such as the Flying Burrito Brothers, Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons,

, Neil Young, and the Eagles, she helped free country music from stereotypes and showed rockers that country was okay. However, she stated that she was being pushed hard into singing more rock and roll.

Most successful female singer of the 1970s

Author Andrew Greeley, in his book ''God in Popular Culture'', described Ronstadt as "the most successful and certainly the most durable and most gifted woman Rock singer of her era." Signaling her wide popularity as a concert artist, outside of the singles charts and the recording studio, ''

Dirty Linen ''Dirty Linen'' was a bi-monthly magazine of folk and world music based in Baltimore, Maryland. The magazine ceased publication in the spring of 2010. The magazine offered extensive reviews of folk music recordings, videos, books, and concert ...

'' magazine describes her as the "first true woman rock 'n' roll superstar ... (selling) out stadiums with a string of mega-successful albums." Amazon.com defines her as ''the'' American female rock superstar of the decade. '' Cashbox'' gave Ronstadt a ''Special Decade Award'', as the top-selling female singer of the 1970s. Her album covers, posters, magazine coversher entire rock 'n' roll imagewere as famous as her music. By the end of the decade, the singer whom the '' Chicago Sun Times'' described as the "Dean of the 1970s school of female rock singers" became what ''

Redbook ''Redbook'' is an American women's magazine that is published by the Hearst Corporation. It is one of the " Seven Sisters", a group of women's service magazines. It ceased print publication as of January 2019 and now operates an article-comprise ...

'' called "the most successful female rock star in the world." "Female" was the important qualifier, according to '' Time'' magazine, which labeled her "a rarity ... to (have survived) ... in the shark-infested deeps of rock." Although Ronstadt had been a cult favorite on the music scene for several years, 1975 was "remembered in the music biz as the year when 29-year-old Linda Ronstadt ''belatedly'' happened." With the release of ''Heart Like a Wheel''named after one of the album's songs, written by Anna McGarrigleRonstadt reached number 1 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart; it was also the first of four number 1 Country Albums, and the disc was certified double-platinum (over two million copies sold in the U.S.). In many instances, her own interpretations were more successful than the original recordings, and many times new songwriters were discovered by a larger audience as a result of her interpretation and recording. Ronstadt had major success interpreting songs from a diverse spectrum of artists. ''Heart Like a Wheel''s first single release, "

"a rockified version of an R&B song written by

Clint Ballard, Jr. Clinton Conger Ballard Jr. (May 24, 1931 – December 23, 2008) was an American songwriter, singer, and pianist. He wrote two ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number one hits. The first was " Game of Love" by Wayne Fontana and The Mindbenders in 1965. T ...

that Ronstadt had initially resisted because Andrew Gold's guitar tracks sounded too much like a "Beatles song" to herclimbed to number 1 on both the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' and ''Cash Box'' Pop singles charts.Bronson, Fred. ''The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits''. The album's second single release, " When Will I Be Loved"an uptempo country-rock version of a Top 10 Everly Brothers songhit number 1 in ''Cashbox'' and number 2 in ''Billboard''. The song was also Ronstadt's first number 1 country hit. The album's critical and commercial success was due to a fine presentation of country and rock, with ''Heart Like a Wheel'' her first of many major commercial successes that would set her on the path to being one of the best-selling female artists of all time. Ronstadt won her first Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance/Female for "

I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You) "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You)" is a song written and originally recorded by Hank Williams on MGM Records. It hit number two on the '' Billboard'' country singles chart in 1951. In his autobiography, George Jones printed the ...

" which was originally a 1940s hit by

. Ronstadt's interpretation peaked at number 2 on the country chart. The album itself was nominated for the Album of the Year Grammy. '' Rolling Stone'' put Ronstadt on its cover in March 1975. It was the first of six ''Rolling Stone'' covers shot by photographer Annie Leibovitz. It included her as the featured artist with a full photo layout and an article by

Ben Fong-Torres Benjamin Fong-Torres ( 方振豪; Cantonese: Fong Chan Ho; born January 7, 1945) is an American rock journalist best known for his association with ''Rolling Stone'' magazine (until 1981) and the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' (from around 1982). B ...

, discussing Ronstadt's many struggling years in rock n roll, as well as her home life and what it was like to be a woman on tour in a decidedly all-male environment. In September 1975, Ronstadt's album '' Prisoner in Disguise'' was released. It quickly climbed into the Top Five on the ''Billboard'' Album Chart and sold over a million copies. It became her second in a row to go platinum, "a grand slam" in the same year (Ronstadt would eventually become the first female artist in popular music history to have three consecutive platinum albums and would ultimately go on to have eight consecutive platinum albums, and then another six between 1983 and 1990). The disc's first single release was " Love Is A Rose". It was climbing the pop and country charts but " Heat Wave", a rockified version of the 1963 hit by

Martha and the Vandellas Martha and the Vandellas (known from 1967 to 1972 as Martha Reeves & The Vandellas) were an American vocal girl group formed in Detroit in 1957. The group achieved fame in the 1960s with Motown. An act founded by friends Annette Beard, Rosalind ...

, was receiving considerable airplay. Asylum pulled the "Love Is a Rose" single and issued "Heat Wave" with "Love Is a Rose" on the B-side. "Heat Wave" hit the Top Five on ''Billboard''s Hot 100 while "Love Is A Rose" hit the Top Five on Billboard's country chart. In 1976, Ronstadt reached the Top 3 of ''Billboard''s Album Chart and won her second career Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for her third consecutive platinum album '' Hasten Down the Wind''. The album featured a sexy, revealing cover shot and showcased Ronstadt the singer-songwriter, who composed two of its songs, "Try Me Again" (co-authored with Andrew Gold) and "Lo Siento Mi Vida". It also included an interpretation of Willie Nelson's ballad "

Crazy Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors performed by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can be manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or t ...

", which became a Top 10 Country hit for Ronstadt in early 1977. At the end of 1977, Ronstadt surpassed the success of ''Heart Like a Wheel'' with her album ''

'', which held the number 1 position for five consecutive weeks on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart. It sold over 3 million copies in less than a year in the U.S. alone – a record for a female artist. ''Simple Dreams'' spawned a string of hit singles on numerous charts. Among them were the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

platinum-certified single " Blue Bayou", a country-rock interpretation of a

Roy Orbison Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician known for his impassioned singing style, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. His music was described by critics as ...

song; " It's So Easy"previously sung by Buddy Holly, a cover of The Rolling Stones' " Tumbling Dice", and "

Poor Poor Pitiful Me "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" is a rock song written and first recorded by American musician Warren Zevon in 1976. With gender references reversed, it was made a hit twice: first as a top-40 hit for Linda Ronstadt, then over a decade later by Terri Cla ...

", a song written by Warren Zevon, an up-and-coming songwriter of the time. The album garnered several Grammy Award nominationsincluding Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance/Female for "Blue Bayou"and won its art director, Kosh, a Grammy Award for Best Album Cover, the first of three Grammy Awards he would win for designing Ronstadt album covers. In late 1977, Ronstadt became the first female recording artist to have two songs in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Top Ten at the same time. "Blue Bayou" was at No. 3 while "It's So Easy" was at No. 5. ''Simple Dreams'' became one of the singer's best-selling international-selling albums as well, reaching number 1 on the Australian and Canadian Pop and Country Albums charts. ''Simple Dreams'' also made Ronstadt the most successful international female touring artist. The same year, she completed a concert tour around Europe. As ''Country Music'' magazine wrote in October 1978, ''Simple Dreams'' solidified Ronstadt's role as "easily the most successful female rock and roll ''and'' country star at this time." Also in 1977, she was asked by the Los Angeles Dodgers to sing the

U.S. National Anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the bo ...

at game three of the World Series against the New York Yankees.

''Time'' magazine and "rock chick" image

Ronstadt has remarked that she felt as though she was "artificially encouraged to kinda cop a really tough attitude (and be tough) because rock and roll is kind of tough (business)," which she felt wasn't worn quite authentically. Female rock artists like her and Janis Joplin, whom she described as lovely, shy, and very literate in real life and the antithesis of the "red hot mamma" she was artificially encouraged to project, went through an identity crisis. By the mid-1970s, Ronstadt's image became just as famous as her music. In 1976 and 1977, she appeared on the covers of ''Rolling Stone'' and '' Time'', respectively. The ''Rolling Stone'' cover story was accompanied by a series of photographs of Ronstadt in a skimpy red slip, taken by Annie Leibovitz. Ronstadt felt deceived by the photographer, not realizing that the photos would be so revealing. She says her manager Peter Asher kicked Leibovitz out of the house when she visited to show them the photographs prior to publication. Leibovitz had refused to let them veto any of the photos, which included one of Ronstadt sprawled across a bed in her underpants. In a 1977 interview, Ronstadt explained, "Annie eibovitzsaw that picture as an exposé of my personality. She was right. But I wouldn't choose to show a picture like that to anybody who didn't know me personally, because only friends could get the other sides of me in balance." Her 1977 appearance on the cover of ''Time'' magazine under the banner "Torchy Rock" was also upsetting to Ronstadt, considering what the image appeared to project about the most famous woman in rock. At a time in the industry when men still told women what to sing and what to wear, Ronstadt hated the image of her that was projected to the world on that cover, and she noted recently how the photographer kept forcing her to wear a dress, which was an image she did not want to project. In 2004, she was interviewed for '' CBS This Morning'' and stated that this image was not her because she did not sit like that. Asher noted, "Anyone who's met Linda for 10 seconds will know that I couldn't possibly have been her Svengali. She's an extremely determined woman, in every area. To me, she was everything that feminism's about." Qualities which, Asher has stated, were considered a "negative (in a woman at that time), whereas in a man they were perceived as being masterful and bold". Since her solo career had begun, Ronstadt had fought hard to be recognized as a solo female singer in the world of rock, and her portrayal on the ''Time'' cover did not appear to help the situation. In 1978, ''Rolling Stone'' declared Ronstadt "by far America's best-known female rock singer." She scored a third number 1 album on the Billboard Album Chart – at this point equaling the record set by Carole King in 1974 – with ''Living in the USA''. She achieved a major hit single with "

Ooo Baby Baby "Ooo Baby Baby" is a song written by Smokey Robinson and Pete Moore. It is a classic 1965 hit single by The Miracles for the Tamla (Motown) label. The song has inspired numerous other cover versions by other artists over the years, including c ...

", with her rendition hitting all four major singles charts (Pop, AC, Country, R&B). ''Living in the USA'' was the first album by any recording act in music history to ship double-platinum (over 2 million advance copies). The album eventually sold 3 million U.S. copies. At the end of that year, ''Billboard'' magazine crowned Ronstadt with three number-one Awards for the Year: Pop Female Singles Artist of the Year, Pop Female Album Artist of the Year, and Female Artist of the Year (overall). ''Living in the USA'' showed the singer on roller skates with a newly short, permed hairdo on the album cover. Ronstadt continued this theme on concert tour promotional posters with photos of her on roller skates in a dramatic pose with a large American flag in the background. By this stage of her career, she was using posters to promote every album and concert – which at the time were recorded live on radio or television. Ronstadt was also featured in the 1978 film '' FM'', where the plot involved disc jockeys attempting to broadcast a Ronstadt concert live, without a competing station's knowledge. The film also showed Ronstadt performing the songs "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me", " Love Me Tender", and " Tumbling Dice". Ronstadt was persuaded to record "Tumbling Dice" after Mick Jagger came backstage when she was at a concert and said, "You do too many ballads, you should do more rock and roll songs." Following the success of ''Living in the USA'', Ronstadt conducted album promotional tours and concerts. She made a guest appearance onstage with the Rolling Stones at the Tucson Community Center on July 21, 1978, in her hometown of Tucson, where she and Jagger sang "Tumbling Dice". On singing with Jagger, Ronstadt later said, "I loved it. I didn't have a trace of stage fright. I'm scared to death all the way through my own shows. But it was too much fun to get scared. He's so silly onstage, he knocks you over. I mean you have to be on your toes or you wind up falling on your face."

Highest-paid woman in rock

By the end of 1978, Ronstadt had solidified her role as one of rock and pop's most successful solo female acts, and owing to her consistent platinum album success, and her ability as the first woman to sell out concerts in arenas and stadiums hosting tens of thousands of fans, Ronstadt became the "highest-paid woman in rock". She had six platinum-certified albums, three of which were number 1 on the ''Billboard'' album chart, and numerous charting pop singles. In 1978 alone, she made over $12 million () and in the same year her albums sales were reported to be 17 milliongrossing over $60 million (). As ''Rolling Stone'' dubbed her "Rock's Venus", her record sales continued to multiply and set records themselves. By 1979, Ronstadt had collected eight gold, six platinum, and four multi-platinum certifications for her albums, an unprecedented feat at the time. Her 1976 '' Greatest Hits'' album would sell consistently for the next 25 years, and it was certified by the

for seven-times platinum in 2001 (over seven million U.S. copies sold). In 1980, '' Greatest Hits, Volume 2'' was released and certified platinum. In 1979, Ronstadt went on an international tour, playing in arenas across Australia to Japan, including the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadiu ...

in Melbourne, and the Budokan in Tokyo. She also participated in a benefit concert for her friend

Lowell George Lowell Thomas George (April 13, 1945 – June 29, 1979) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer, who was the primary guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and founder/leader for the rock band Little Feat. Earl ...

, held at The Forum, in Los Angeles. By the end of the decade, Ronstadt had outsold her female competition; she had five straight platinum LPs''Hasten Down the Wind'' and ''Heart Like a Wheel'' among them. '' Us Weekly'' reported in 1978 that Ronstadt,

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her sta ...

Stevie Nicks Stephanie Lynn Nicks (born May 26, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter, and producer known for her work with the band Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist. After starting her career as a duo with her then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham, releasi ...

, and

Carly Simon Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, memoirist, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Top 40 U.S. hits include "Anticipation" (No. 13), " The Right Thin ...

had become "The Queens of Rock" and "Rock is no longer exclusively male. There is a new royalty ruling today's record charts." She would go on to parlay her mass commercial appeal with major success in interpreting

The Great American Songbook The Great American Songbook is the loosely defined canon of significant early-20th-century American jazz standards, popular songs, and show tunes. Definition According to the Great American Songbook Foundation: The "Great American Songbook" is ...

made famous a generation before by

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

and Ella Fitzgeraldand later the Mexican folk songs of her childhood.

From rock to operetta

In February 1980, Ronstadt released ''

'', her seventh consecutive platinum-selling album. It was a straightforward rock and roll album with post-punk, new wave influences, including tracks by songwriters such as Elvis Costello, the Cretones, and musician Mark Goldenberg who played on the record himself. As part of the album's promotion, a live concert was recorded for an HBO special in April. A partial soundtrack for this special (omitting most of the ''Mad Love'' tracks) was released as her first official live album in February 2019. She also made the cover of ''Rolling Stone'' for a record-setting sixth time. ''Mad Love'' entered the ''Billboard'' Album Chart in the Top Five its first week (a record at that time) and climbed to the number 3 position. The project continued her streak of Top 10 hits with "

How Do I Make You "How Do I Make You" is a song composed by Billy Steinberg and recorded by Linda Ronstadt in 1980, reaching the top 10 in the United States. Writing and recording Steinberg stated that he was "a little bit influenced" by the Knack hit "My Sharona ...

", originally recorded by

Billy Thermal William Endfield Steinberg (born February 26, 1950) is an American songwriter. He achieved his greatest success in the 1980s with songwriting partner Tom Kelly; together they wrote or co-wrote the No. 1 hits " Like a Virgin" by Madonna (1984), ...

, and "

Hurt So Bad "Hurt So Bad" is a song written by Teddy Randazzo, Bobby Weinstein, and Bobby Hart. It is a classic 1965 Top 10 hit ballad originally recorded by Little Anthony & The Imperials. Linda Ronstadt also had a Top 10 hit with her cover version in 19 ...

", originally a Top 10 hit for Little Anthony & the Imperials. The album earned Ronstadt a 1980 Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock Vocal Performance/Female (although she lost to Pat Benatar's ''

Crimes of Passion A crime of passion (French: ''crime passionnel''), in popular usage, refers to a violent crime, especially homicide, in which the perpetrator commits the act against someone because of sudden strong impulse such as anger rather than as a premed ...

'' album). Benatar praised Ronstadt by stating, "There are a lot of good female singers around. How could I be the best? Ronstadt is still alive!" In the summer of 1980, Ronstadt began rehearsals for the first of several leads in Broadway musicals. Joseph Papp cast her as the lead in the New York Shakespeare Festival production of

's '' The Pirates of Penzance'', alongside

Kevin Kline Kevin Delaney Kline (born October 24, 1947) is an American actor. He is the recipient of an Academy Award and three Tony Awards. In addition, he has received nominations for two British Academy Film Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and five ...

. She said singing Gilbert and Sullivan was a natural choice for her, since her grandfather Fred Ronstadt was credited with having created Tucson's first orchestra, the ''Club Filarmonico Tucsonense'', and had once created an arrangement of ''The Pirates of Penzance''. ''The Pirates of Penzance'' opened for a limited engagement in New York City's Central Park, eventually moving its production to Broadway, where it became a hit, running from January 8, 1981, to November 28, 1982.http://www.ibdb.com/Person/View/58306 '' Newsweek'' was effusive in its praise: "... she has not dodged the

coloratura Coloratura is an elaborate melody with runs, trills, wide leaps, or similar virtuoso-like material,''Oxford American Dictionaries''.Apel (1969), p. 184. or a passage of such music. Operatic roles in which such music plays a prominent part, an ...

demands of her role (and Mabel is one of the most demanding parts in the G&S canon): from her entrance trilling 'Poor Wand'ring One,' it is clear that she is prepared to scale whatever soprano peaks stand in her way." Ronstadt co-starred with Kline and Angela Lansbury in the 1983 operetta's film version; this was her only acting role in a motion picture (her other film appearances, such as in the 1978 drama, '' FM'', being concert footage as herself). Ronstadt received a

nomination for the role in the film version. She garnered a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical and '' The Pirates of Penzance'' won several Tony Awards, including a

Tony Award for Best Revival The Tony Award for Best Revival was given to the best play, musical or non-musical, which had already appeared on Broadway in a previous production. It was presented from 1977, where it was called ''Most Innovative Production of a Revival'' and lat ...

. As a child, Ronstadt had discovered the opera '' La bohème'' through the silent film with

Lillian Gish Lillian Diana Gish (October 14, 1893February 27, 1993) was an American actress, director, and screenwriter. Her film-acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912, in silent film shorts, to 1987. Gish was called the "First Lady of American Cinema", ...

and was determined to someday play the part of Mimi. When she met the opera superstar Beverly Sills, she was told, ''"My dear, ''every'' soprano in the world wants to play Mimi!"'' In 1984, Ronstadt was cast in the role at Joseph Papp's Public Theater. However, the production was a critical and commercial disaster, closing after only a few nights. In 1982, Ronstadt released the album '' Get Closer'', a primarily rock album with some country and pop music as well. It remains her only album between 1975 and 1990 not to be officially certified platinum. It peaked at number 31 on the ''Billboard'' Album Chart. The release continued her streak of Top 40 hits with "Get Closer" and " I Knew You When"a 1965 hit by Billy Joe Royalwhile the Jimmy Webb song "Easy For You To Say" was a surprise Top 10 Adult Contemporary hit in the spring of 1983. "Sometimes You Just Can't Win" was picked up by country radio, and made it to number 27 on that listing. Ronstadt also filmed several music videos for this album which became popular on the fledgling MTV cable channel. The album earned Ronstadt two Grammy Award nominations: one for Best Rock Vocal Performance/Female for the title track and another for Best Pop Vocal Performance/Female for the album. The artwork won its art director, Kosh, his second Grammy Award for Best Album Package. Along with the release of her ''Get Closer'' album, Ronstadt embarked on a North American tour, remaining one of the top rock-concert draws that summer and fall. On November 25, 1982, her "Happy Thanksgiving Day" concert was held at the Reunion Arena in Dallas and broadcast live via satellite to NBC radio stations in the United States. In 1988, Ronstadt returned to Broadway for a limited-run engagement in the musical show adaptation of her album celebrating her Mexican heritage, ''Canciones De Mi PadreA Romantic Evening in Old Mexico''.http://www.ibdb.com/Person/View/58306

Artistic aspirations

Ronstadt has remarked that in the beginning of her career she "was so focused on folk, rock and country" that she "got a bit bored and started to branch out, and ... asbeen doing that ever since." By 1983, her estimated worth was over $40 million mostly from records, concerts and merchandising. In the early 1980s, Ronstadt was criticized for accepting $500,000 to perform at the South African resort Sun City, violating the cultural boycott imposed against South Africa because of its policy of apartheid. At the time, she stated, "the last place for a boycott is in the arts" and "I don't like being told I can't go somewhere".

was criticized for including her on his 1986 album '' Graceland,'' recorded in South Africa, but defended her: "I know that her intention was never to support the government there ... She made a mistake. She’s extremely liberal in her political thinking and unquestionably antiapartheid." Ronstadt eventually tired of playing arenas. She had ceased to feel that arenas, where people milled around smoking marijuana cigarettes and drinking beer, were "appropriate places for music". She wanted "angels in the architecture"a reference to a lyric in the Paul Simon song "

You Can Call Me Al "You Can Call Me Al" is a song by American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. It was the lead single from his seventh studio album, ''Graceland'' (1986), released on Warner Bros. Records. Written by Simon, its lyrics follow an individual seemingly ex ...

" from ''Graceland''. (Ronstadt sang harmony with Simon on a different ''Graceland'' track, "

Under African Skies "Under African Skies" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. It was the fifth and final single from his seventh studio album, ''Graceland'' (1986), released on Warner Bros. Records. The song features guest vocals from singer Linda ...

". The second verse's lyrics pay tribute to Ronstadt: "Take this child, Lord, from Tucson, Arizona. ..."). Ronstadt has said she wants to sing in places similar to the theatre of ancient Greece, where the attention is focused on the stage and the performer. Ronstadt's recording output in the 1980s proved to be just as commercially and critically successful as her 1970s recordings. Between 1983 and 1990, Ronstadt scored six additional platinum albums; two are triple platinum (each with over three million U.S. copies sold); one has been certified double platinum (over two million copies sold), and one has earned additional certification as a Gold (over 500,000 U.S. copies sold) double-disc album.

Jazz/pop trilogy

In 1981, Ronstadt produced and recorded an album of pop standards (later marketed in

bootleg Bootleg or bootlegging most often refers to: * Bootleg recording, an audio or video recording released unofficially * Rum-running, the illegal business of transporting and trading in alcoholic beverages, hence: ** Moonshine, or illicitly made ...

form) titled ''Keeping Out of Mischief'' with the assistance of producer

Jerry Wexler Jerry may refer to: Animals * Jerry (Grand National winner), racehorse, winner of the 1840 Grand National * Jerry (St Leger winner), racehorse, winner of 1824 St Leger Stakes Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Jerry'' (film), a 2006 Indian fil ...

. However, Ronstadt's displeasure with the result led her, with regrets, to scrap the project. "Doing that killed me," she said in a ''Time'' magazine interview. But the appeal of the album's music had seduced Ronstadt, as she told ''

DownBeat ' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...

'' in April 1985, crediting Wexler for encouraging her. Nonetheless, Ronstadt had to convince her reluctant record company,

Elektra Electra was a daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra in Greek mythology. Electra or Elektra may also refer to: Greek mythology *Electra (Pleiad), one of the Pleiades * Electra, one of the Danaids, daughter of Danaus and Polyxo * Electra (Oc ...

, to approve this type of album under her contract. By 1983, Ronstadt had enlisted the help of 62-year-old conductor Nelson Riddle. The two embarked on an unorthodox and original approach to rehabilitating the Great American Songbook, recording a trilogy of traditional pop albums: ''

'' (1983U.S. 3.7 million as of 2010); '' Lush Life'' (1984U.S. 1.7 million as of 2010); and '' For Sentimental Reasons'' (1986U.S. 1.3 million as of 2010). The three albums have had a combined sales total of nearly seven million copies in the U.S. alone. The album design for ''What's New'' by designer Kosh was unlike any of her previous disc covers. It showed Ronstadt in a vintage dress lying on shimmering satin sheets with a

Walkman Walkman, stylised as , is a brand of portable audio players manufactured and marketed by Japanese technology company Sony since 1979. The original Walkman was a portable cassette player and its popularity made "walkman" an unofficial term for ...

headset. At the time, Ronstadt received some chiding for both the album cover and her venture into what was then considered "elevator music" by cynics, but remained determined to record with Riddle, and ''What's New'' became a hit. The album was released in September 1983 and spent 81 weeks on the ''Billboard'' Album Chart and held the number three position for a month and a half (held out of the top spot only by Michael Jackson's ''

Thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...

'' and

Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of funk band the Commodores; writing and recordi ...

's '' Can't Slow Down'') and the

certified it triple platinum (over three million copies sold in the U.S. alone). The album earned Ronstadt another

Grammy 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 many as the most pre ...

nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and critical raves, with '' Time'' magazine calling it "one of the gutsiest, most unorthodox and unexpected albums of the year." Ronstadt faced considerable pressure not to record ''What's New'' or record with Riddle. According to jazz historian

Peter Levinson Peter James Levinson (1 July 1934 Atlantic City, New Jersey - 21 October 2008 Malibu) was an American music publicist and biographer, particularly of jazz musicians. Education Levinson took his bachelor's at the University of Virginia, where he wr ...

, author of the book ''September in the Raina Biography on Nelson Riddle'', Joe Smith, president of Elektra Records, was terrified that the Riddle album would turn off Ronstadt's rock audience. Ronstadt did not completely turn her back on her rock and roll past, however; the video for the title track featured Danny Kortchmar as the old beau that she bumped into during a rainstorm. ''What's New'' brought Riddle to a younger audience. According to Levinson, "the younger audience hated what Riddle had done with

, which in 1983 was considered 'Vintage Pop'". Working with Ronstadt, Riddle brought his career back into focus in the last three years of his life.

Stephen Holden Stephen Holden (born July 18, 1941) is an American writer, poet, and music and film critic. Biography Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963. He worked as a photo editor, staff writer, and eventually be ...

of '' The New York Times'' wrote, ''What's New'' "isn't the first album by a rock singer to pay tribute to the golden age of the pop, but is ... the best and most serious attempt to rehabilitate an idea of pop that

Beatlemania Beatlemania was the fanaticism surrounding the English rock band the Beatles in the 1960s. The group's popularity grew in the United Kingdom throughout 1963, propelled by the singles "Please Please Me", "From Me to You" and "She Loves You". By ...

and the mass marketing of rock LPs for teenagers undid in the mid-60s. ... In the decade prior to Beatlemania, most of the great band singers and crooners of the 40s and 50s codified a half-century of American pop standards on dozens of albums ... many of them now long out-of-print." ''What's New'' is the first album by a rock singer to have major commercial success in rehabilitating the Great American Songbook. In 1984, Ronstadt and Riddle performed these songs live, in concert halls throughout Australia, Japan, and the United States, including multi-night performances at historic venues

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplac ...

, and

Pine Knob A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

. In 2004, Ronstadt released '' Hummin' to Myself'', her album for Verve Records. It was her first foray into traditional jazz since her sessions with Jerry Wexler and her records with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, but this time with an intimate jazz combo. The album was a quiet affair for Ronstadt, giving few interviews and making only one television performance as a promotion. It reached number 2 on Billboard's Top Jazz Albums chart but peaked at number 166 on the main Billboard album chart. Not having the mass distribution that Warner Music Group gave her, ''Hummin' To Myself'' had sold over 75,000 copies in the U.S. as of 2010. It also achieved some critical acclaim from the jazz cognoscenti.

"Trio" recordings

In 1978, Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, and Emmylou Harris, friends and admirers of one another's work (Ronstadt had included a cover of Parton's "

I Will Always Love You "I Will Always Love You" is a song written and originally recorded in 1973 by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton. Written as a farewell to her business partner and mentor Porter Wagoner, expressing Parton's decision to pursue a solo career, ...

" on ''Prisoner in Disguise'') attempted to collaborate on a ''Trio'' album. Unfortunately, the attempt did not pan out. Ronstadt later remarked that not too many people were in control at the time and everyone was too involved with their own careers. (Though the efforts to complete the album were abandoned, a number of the recordings were included on the singers' respective solo recordings over the next few years.) This concept album was put on the back burner for almost ten years. In January 1986, the three eventually did make their way into the recording studio, where they spent the next several months working. The result, '' Trio'', which they had conceived ten years earlier, was released in March 1987. It was a considerable hit, holding the number 1 position on Billboard's Country Albums chart for five weeks running and hitting the Top 10 on the pop side also. Selling over three million copies in the U.S. and winning them a Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, it produced four Top Ten Country singles including " To Know Him Is to Love Him" which hit number 1. The album was also a nominee for overall Album of the Year, in the company of Michael Jackson, U2, Prince, and Whitney Houston. In 1994, the three performers recorded a follow-up to ''Trio''. As was the case with their aborted 1978 effort, conflicting schedules and competing priorities delayed the album's release indefinitely. Ronstadt, who had already paid for studio timeand owed her record company a finished albumremoved Parton's individual tracks at Parton's request, kept Harris's vocals, and produced a number of the recordings, which she subsequently released on her 1995 return to country rock, the album '' Feels Like Home''. However, in 1999, Ronstadt, Parton, and Harris agreed to release the '' Trio II'' album, as was originally recorded in 1994. It included an ethereal cover of Neil Young's " After The Gold Rush" which became a popular music video. The effort was certified Gold (over 500,000 copies sold) and won them a Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals for the track. Ronstadt co-produced the album with

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 to ...

and the three women also received a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Country Album.

''Canciones de Mi Padre''

At the end of 1987, Ronstadt released ''Canciones de Mi Padre'', an album of traditional Mexican folk songs, or what she has described as "world class songs". Keeping with the Ronstadt history theme, her cover art was dramatic, bold, and colorful; it shows Ronstadt in full Mexican regalia. Her musical arranger was mariachi musician Rubén Fuentes. These '' canciones'' were a big part of Ronstadt's family tradition and musical roots. In January 1946, the University of Arizona published a booklet by Luisa Espinel entitled ''Canciones de mi Padre''. Luisa Espinel, Ronstadt's aunt, was an international singer in the 1920s and 1930s. Espinel's father was Fred Ronstadt, Linda Ronstadt's grandfather, and the songs she had learned, transcribed, and published were some of the ones he had brought with him from

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...

. Ronstadt researched and extracted from the favorites she had learned from her father Gilbert and she called her album by the same name as her aunt's booklet and as a tribute to her father and his family. Though not fully bilingual, she has a fairly good command of the Spanish language, allowing her to sing Latin American songs with little discernible U.S. accent; Ronstadt has often identified herself as Mexican-American. Her formative years were spent with her father's side of the family. In fact, in 1976, Ronstadt had collaborated with her father to write and compose a traditional Mexican folk ballad, ''"Lo siento mi vida"''a song that she included on ''Hasten Down the Wind''. Ronstadt has also credited Mexican singer Lola Beltrán as an influence on her own singing style, and she recalls how a frequent guest to the Ronstadt home, Eduardo "Lalo" Guerrero, father of Chicano music, would often serenade her as a child. ''Canciones de Mi Padre'' won Ronstadt a Grammy Award for Best Mexican-American Performance. In 2001, it was certified double-platinum by the RIAA for shipments of over 2 million copies in the United States, making it the best-selling non-English-language album in U.S. music history. The album and later theatrical stage show served as a benchmark of the Latin cultural renaissance in North America. Ronstadt produced and performed a theatrical stage show, also titled ''Canciones de mi Padre'', in concert halls across the U.S. and Latin America to both Hispanic and non-Hispanic audiences. These performances were later released on DVD. Ronstadt elected to return to the Broadway stage, four years after she performed in ''La bohème'', for a limited-run engagement. PBS's ''Great Performances'' aired the stage show during its annual fund drives and the show was a hit with audiences, earning Ronstadt a Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program. Ronstadt recorded two additional albums of Latin music in the early 1990s. Their promotion, like most of her albums in the 1990s, was a quieter affair, with Ronstadt making only a limited number of appearances to promote them. They were not nearly as successful as ''Canciones De Mi Padre'', but were critically acclaimed in some circles. In 1991, she released '' Mas Canciones'', a follow-up to the first ''Canciones''. For this album, she won a Grammy Award for Best Mexican/Mexican-American Album. The following year, she stepped outside of the mariachi genre and decided to record well-known Afro-Cuban songs. This album was titled '' Frenesí''. Like her two previous Latin recordings ventures, it won Ronstadt a Grammy Award, this time for

Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album The Grammy Award for Best Tropical Latin Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for releasing albums in the tropical latin music ...

. In 1991, Ronstadt acted in the lead role of archangel San Miguel in ''La Pastorela'', or ''A Shephard's Tale'', a musical filmed at ''

San Juan Bautista San Juan Bautista is the Spanish-language name of Saint John the Baptist. It may refer to: Places Bolivia *San Juan Bautista, Bolivia, Jesuit mission ruins near the village of San Juan de Taperas Chile *San Juan Bautista, Chile, Juan Fernández ...

''. It was written and directed by Luis Valdez. The production was part of the PBS ''Great Performances'' series. In December 2020, it was announced that ''Canciones de Mi Padre'' had been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Returning to the contemporary music scene

By the late 1980s, while enjoying the success of her big band jazz collaborations with Riddle and her surprise hit mariachi recordings, Ronstadt elected to return to recording mainstream pop music once again. In 1987, she made a return to the top of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart with " Somewhere Out There", which peaked at number 2 in March. Featured in the animated film '' An American Tail'', the sentimental duet with James Ingram was nominated for several Grammy Awards, ultimately winning the Grammy Award for Song of the Year. The song also received a nomination for the

Academy Award for Best Original Song The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who have composed th ...

and achieved high sales, earning a million-selling gold single in the U.S.one of the last 45s ever to do so. It was also accompanied by a popular music video. On the heels of this success,

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

asked Ronstadt to record the theme song for the animated sequel titled '' An American Tail: Fievel Goes West'', which was titled "

Dreams to Dream ''An American Tail: Fievel Goes West'' (also known as ''An American Tail 2: Fievel Goes West'' or ''An American Tail II'') is a 1991 American-British animated Western comedy film directed by Phil Nibbelink and Simon Wells (in their feature dire ...

". Although "Dreams to Dream" failed to achieve the success of "Somewhere Out There", the song did give Ronstadt an Adult Contemporary hit in 1991. In 1989, Ronstadt released a mainstream pop album and several popular singles. '' Cry Like A Rainstorm, Howl Like The Wind'' became one of the singer's most successful albumsin production, arrangements, sales, and critical acclaim. It became Ronstadt's tenth Top 10 album on the ''Billboard'' chart, reaching number 7 and being certified triple-platinum (over three million copies sold in the U.S.). The album also received Grammy Award nominations. Ronstadt included New Orleans soul singer Aaron Neville on several of the album's songs. Ronstadt incorporated the sounds of the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, Tower of Power horns, the Skywalker Symphony, and numerous musicians. It included the duets with Aaron Neville, "

" (''Billboard'' Hot 100 number 2 hit, Christmas 1989) and " All My Life" (''Billboard'' Hot 100 number 11 hit), both of which were long-running number 1 Adult Contemporary hits. The duets earned several Grammy Award nominations. The duo won both the 1989 and 1990 Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal awards. Ronstadt's last known live Grammy Award appearance was in 1990 when she and Neville performed "Don't Know Much" together on the telecast. ("Whenever I sing with a different artist, I can get things out of my voice that I can't do by myself", Ronstadt reflected in 2007. "I can do things with Aaron that I can't do alone.") In December 1990, she participated in a concert held at the Tokyo Dome to commemorate John Lennon's 50th birthday, and to raise awareness of environmental issues. Other participants included Miles Davis,

Lenny Kravitz Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter. His style incorporates elements of rock, blues, soul, R&B, funk, jazz, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, pop and folk. Kravitz won the Grammy Award for Best Male Roc ...

, Hall & Oates, Natalie Cole, Yoko Ono, and Sean Lennon. An album resulted, titled ''Happy Birthday, John''.

Return to roots music

Ronstadt released the highly acclaimed '' Winter Light'' album at the end of 1993. It included New Age arrangements such as the lead single "

Heartbeats Accelerating ''Heartbeats Accelerating'' is the sixth album by Kate & Anna McGarrigle, released in 1990. It was their first album in eight years, after '' Love Over and Over'' in 1982, and received favourable reviews from many music critics. Bill Dillon, Pie ...

" as well as the self-penned title track and featured the glass harmonica. It was her first commercial failure since 1972, and peaked at number 92 in Billboard, whereas 1995's '' Feels Like Home'' was Ronstadt's much-heralded return to country-rock and included her version of Tom Petty's classic hit " The Waiting". The single's rollicking, fiddle-infused flip side, "Walk On", returned Ronstadt to the Country Singles chart for the first time since 1983. An album track entitled "The Blue Train" charted 10 weeks in ''Billboard''s Adult Contemporary Top 40. This album fared slightly better than its predecessor, reaching number 75. Both albums were later deleted from the Elektra/Asylum catalog. Ronstadt was nominated for three Lo Nuestro Awards in 1993: Female Regional Mexican Artist of the Year, Female Tropical/Salsa Artist of the Year, and her version of the song "Perfidia" was also listed for Tropical/Salsa Song of the Year. In 1996, Ronstadt produced '' Dedicated to the One I Love'', an album of classic rock and roll songs reinvented as lullabies. The album reached number 78 in ''Billboard'' and won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Album for Children. In 1998, Ronstadt released '' We Ran'', her first album in over two years. The album harkened back to Ronstadt's country-rock and folk-rock heyday. She returned to her rock 'n' roll roots with vivid interpretations of songs by

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

, Doc Pomus, Bob Dylan, and John Hiatt. The recording was produced by Glyn Johns. A commercial failure, the album stood at 57,897 copies sold at the time of its deletion in 2008. It is the poorest-selling studio album in Ronstadt's Elektra/Asylum catalog. ''We Ran'' did not chart any singles but it was well received by critics. Despite the lack of success of ''We Ran'', Ronstadt kept moving towards this adult rock exploration. In the summer of 1999, she released the album '' Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions'', a folk-rock-oriented project with Emmylou Harris. It earned a nomination for the Grammy Award for the Best Contemporary Folk Album and made the Top 10 of ''Billboard''s Country Albums chart. Still in print as of December 2016, it has sold 223,255 copies per

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

. Also in 1999, Ronstadt went back to her concert roots when she performed with the Eagles and Jackson Browne at

Staples Center Crypto.com Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Downtown Los Angeles. Adjacent to the L.A. Live development, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex along Figueroa Street. The arena opened on October 17, 1999; it was ...

's 1999 New Year's Eve celebration kicking off the December 31 end-of-the-millennium festivities. As Staples Center Senior Vice President and general manager Bobby Goldwater said, "It was our goal to present a spectacular event as a sendoff to the 20th century", and "Eagles, Jackson Browne, and Linda Ronstadt are three of the most popular acts of the century. Their performances will constitute a singular and historic night of entertainment for New Year's Eve in Los Angeles." In 2000, Ronstadt completed her long contractual relationship with the Elektra/Asylum label. The fulfillment of this contract commenced with the release of ''

A Merry Little Christmas A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

'', her first holiday collection, which includes rare choral works, the somber Joni Mitchell song " River", and a rare recorded duet with the late

on Clooney's signature song, "

White Christmas White Christmas most commonly refers to: * White Christmas (weather), snowfall or snow-covered ground on Christmas Day * "White Christmas" (song), a 1942 song written by Irving Berlin White Christmas may also refer to: Film, television, and the ...

". Since leaving Warner Music, Ronstadt has gone on to release one album each under

Verve Verve may refer to: Music * The Verve, an English rock band * ''The Verve E.P.'', a 1992 EP by The Verve * ''Verve'' (R. Stevie Moore album) * Verve Records, an American jazz record label Businesses * Verve Coffee Roasters, an American coffee ho ...

and Vanguard Records. In 2006, recording as the ZoZo Sisters, Ronstadt teamed with her new friend, musician and musical scholar

Ann Savoy Ann Savoy (; born Ann Allen on January 20, 1952) is a musician, author, and record producer. Biography Savoy was raised in Richmond, Virginia. She resides with her husband Marc Savoy and family in Eunice, Southern Louisiana. As a musician, sh ...

, to record ''

Adieu False Heart ''Adieu False Heart'' is a collaborative album by American singer, songwriter, and producer Linda Ronstadt featuring Cajun music singer Ann Savoy. It peaked at #146 on the ''Billboard'' album chart and nominated at the 2006 Grammy Awards for Bes ...

''. It was an album of roots music incorporating pop, Cajun, and early-20th-century music and released on the Vanguard Records label. But ''Adieu False Heart'' was a commercial failure, peaking at number 146 in the U.S. despite her touring for the final time that year. It was the last time Linda Ronstadt would record an album, having begun to lose her singing ability as a result of a degenerative condition later determined to be progressive supranuclear palsy, but initially diagnosed as Parkinson's disease, in December 2012. ''Adieu False Heart'', recorded in Louisiana, features a cast of local musicians, including Chas Justus, Eric Frey and Kevin Wimmer of

the Red Stick Ramblers The Red Stick Ramblers were a Cajun Music and Western Swing band formed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1999 while some of the members were attending Louisiana State University. Their name comes from a translation of Baton Rouge, which means "red ...

, Sam Broussard of the Mamou Playboys, Dirk Powell, and Joel Savoy, as well as an array of Nashville musicians: fiddler

Stuart Duncan Stuart Duncan (born April 14, 1964) is an American bluegrass musician who plays the fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and banjo. Life Duncan was born in Quantico, Virginia, and raised in Santa Paula, California, where he played in the school band. He ...

, mandolinist

Sam Bush Charles Samuel Bush (born April 13, 1952) is an American mandolinist who is considered an originator of progressive bluegrass music. In 2020, he was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame as a member of New Grass Revival. ...

, and guitarist Bryan Sutton. The recording earned two Grammy Award nominations:

Best Traditional Folk Album The Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album was awarded from 1987 to 2011. Until 1993 the award was known as the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Recording. An award for Best Contemporary Folk Album was also presented. Prior to 1987 ...

and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. In 2007, Ronstadt contributed to the compilation album '' We All Love Ella: Celebrating the First Lady of Song''a tribute album to jazz music's all-time most heralded artiston the track " Miss Otis Regrets". In August 2007, Ronstadt headlined the Newport Folk Festival, making her debut at this event, where she incorporated jazz, rock, and folk music into her repertoire. It was one of her final concerts. In 2010, Ronstadt contributed the arrangement and lead vocal to "A La Orilla de un Palmar" on the Chieftains' studio album '' San Patricio'' (with

Ry Cooder Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer, and writer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in traditional music, an ...

). This remains her most recent commercially available recording as lead vocalist.

Retirement

In 2011, Ronstadt was interviewed by the ''

Arizona Daily Star The ''Arizona Daily Star'' is the major morning daily newspaper that serves Tucson and surrounding districts of southern Arizona in the United States. History L. C. Hughes was the Arizona Territory governor and founder of the ''Arizona Star'', ...

'' and announced her retirement. In August 2013, she revealed to Alanna Nash, writing for

AARP AARP (formerly called the American Association of Retired Persons) is an interest group in the United States focusing on issues affecting those over the age of fifty. The organization said it had more than 38 million members in 2018. The magazin ...

, that she has Parkinson's disease and "can no longer sing a note." Her diagnosis was subsequently re-evaluated as progressive supranuclear palsy. Her memoir ''Feels Like Home: A Song for the Sonoran Borderlands'' was published in 2022.

Selected career achievements

Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt Honorary Doctorate From Berklee Presentation

On April 10, 2014, Ronstadt was inducted into the

. In July 2019, Ronstadt was selected as a Kennedy Center Honoree. On May 7, 2022, during the International Mariachi Conference, the Tucson Music Hall at the Tucson Convention Center was officially renamed as The Linda Ronstadt Music Hall. As of 2019, Ronstadt has earned three number-one pop albums, 10 top-ten pop albums, and 38 charting pop albums on the ''Billboard'' Pop Album Charts. She has 15 albums on the ''Billboard'' Top Country Albums chart, including four that hit number one. Ronstadt's singles have earned her a number-one hit and three number-two hits on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, with 10 top-ten pop singles and 21 reaching the Top 40. She has also scored two number-one hits on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs chart, and two number-one hits on the ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary chart. ''Rolling Stone'' wrote that a whole generation "but for her, might never have heard the work of

, Chuck Berry, or

." She has recorded and released over 30 studio albums and has made guest appearances on an estimated 120 albums by other artists. Her guest appearances included the classical minimalist

's album ''

Songs from Liquid Days ''Songs from Liquid Days'' is a collection of songs composed by composer Philip Glass with lyrics by Paul Simon, Suzanne Vega, David Byrne and Laurie Anderson. Glass began the project scoring lyrics by Byrne and then thought to collaborate with ad ...

'', a hit classical record with other major pop stars either singing or writing lyrics (Ronstadt's two tracks on the album saw her singing lyrics written by

Suzanne Vega Suzanne Nadine Vega ( Peck; born July 11, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter best known for her folk-inspired music. Vega's music career spans almost 40 years. She came to prominence in the mid-1980s, releasing four singles that entered the ...

and Laurie Anderson). She also appeared on Glass's follow-up recording ''

1000 Airplanes on the Roof ''1000 Airplanes on the Roof'' is a melodrama in one act by Philip Glass which featured text by David Henry Hwang and projections by Jerome Sirlin. It is described by Glass as "a science fiction music drama". The work was commissioned by the D ...

''. She appeared on

's '' Graceland'', where she sang a duet with Simon, "

". In that song, there is a verse dedicated to Ronstadt, her voice and harmonies and her birth in Tucson, Arizona. She voiced herself in '' The Simpsons'' episode "

Mr. Plow "Mr. Plow" is the ninth episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox Network in the United States on November 19, 1992. In the episode, Homer buys a snowplow and starts a ...

" and sang a duet, " Funny How Time Slips Away", with

Homer Simpson Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the American animated sitcom ''The Simpsons''. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared, along with the rest of his family, in ''The Tracey Ullman Show'' short "G ...

on '' The Yellow Album''. Ronstadt has also appeared on albums by a vast range of artists including Emmylou Harris, the Chieftains, Dolly Parton, Neil Young, J. D. Souther, Gram Parsons,

, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band,

, the Eagles, Andrew Gold, Wendy Waldman, Hoyt Axton, Kate and Anna McGarrigle,

, Karla Bonoff, James Taylor, Jimmy Webb, Valerie Carter, Warren Zevon,

, Randy Newman (specifically his Randy Newman's Faust, musical adaptation of Faust), Nicolette Larson, Seldom Scene, the Seldom Scene,

, Aaron Neville, Rodney Crowell, Hearts and Flowers, Laurie Lewis and Flaco Jiménez. As a singer-songwriter, Ronstadt has written songs covered by several artists, such as "Try Me Again", covered by Trisha Yearwood; and "Winter Light", which was co-written and composed with Zbigniew Preisner and Eric Kaz, and covered by Sarah Brightman. Her three biggest-selling studio albums to date are: her 1977 release ''

'', 1983's ''

'', and 1989's '' Cry Like A Rainstorm, Howl Like The Wind''. Each one has been certified by the Recording Industry Association of America for over three million copies sold. Her highest-selling album to date is the 1976 compilation '' Greatest Hits'', certified for over seven million units sold as of 2001. Ronstadt became music's first major touring female artist to sell out sizeable venues; she was also the top-grossing solo female concert artist for the 1970s. She remained a highly successful touring artist into the 1990s, at which time she decided to scale back to smaller venues. In the 1970s, '' Cashbox'' magazine, a competitor of ''Billboard'' during that time period, named Ronstadt the "#1 Female Artist of the Decade". "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" included ''Heart Like a Wheel'' (1974) at number 164 and ''The Very Best Of Linda Ronstadt'' (2002) at number 324. The 2012 revision kept only the compilation, but raised it to the place once occupied by ''Heart Like a Wheel''. Ronstadt's album sales have not been certified since 2001. At that time, Ronstadt's U.S. album sales were certified by the Recording Industry Association of America at over 30 million albums sold; however, Peter Asher, her former producer and manager, placed her total U.S. album sales at over 45 million. Likewise, her worldwide albums sales are in excess of 100 million albums sold, according to the former president of Warner Bros. Records, Joe Smith, now a jury member of the Hit Parade Hall of Fame. Her RIAA certification (audits paid for by record companies or artists for promotion) tally as of 2001 totaled 19 Gold, 14 Platinum and 7 Multi-Platinum albums. She was the first female in music history to score three consecutive platinum albums and ultimately racked up a total of eight consecutive platinum albums. Her album ''Living in the USA'' was the first album by any recording artist in U.S. music history to ship double platinum (over two million advanced copies). Her first Latin release, the all-Spanish 1987 album ''Canciones De Mi Padre'', stands as the best-selling non-English-language album in American music history. As of 2013, it had sold over 2 million U.S. copies. Ronstadt has served as producer on albums from various musicians that include her cousin, David Lindley (musician), David Lindley, Aaron Neville and singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb. She produced ''Cristal – Glass Music Through the Ages'', an album of classical music using glass instruments with Dennis James (musician), Dennis James, where she sang on several of the arrangements. In 1999, Ronstadt also produced the Grammy Award-winning '' Trio II''. She has received a total of 27 Grammy Award nominations in various fields that include rock, country, pop and Tropical (radio format), Tropical Latin, and has won 11 Grammy Awards in the categories of Pop, Country, Tropical Latin, Musical Album for Children and Mexican-American. In 2016, Ronstadt was again honored by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences with the Lifetime Achievement Grammy. She was the first female solo artist to have two Top 5 singles simultaneously on ''Billboard'' magazine's Hot 100: "Blue Bayou" and "It's So Easy". By December of that year, both "Blue Bayou" and "It's So Easy" had climbed into ''Billboard''s Top 5 and remained there for the month's last four weeks. In 1999, Ronstadt ranked number 21 in VH1's ''100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll''. Three years later, she ranked number 40 in Country Music Television, CMT's ''40 Greatest Women in Country Music''.

Personal life

Beginning in the mid-1970s, Ronstadt's private life became increasingly public. It was fueled by a relationship with then-Governor of California Jerry Brown, a Democratic Party (United States), Democratic presidential candidate. They shared a '' Newsweek'' magazine cover in April 1979, as well as the covers of '' Us Weekly'' and ''People (magazine), People'' magazine. In 1983, Linda Ronstadt dated comedian Jim Carrey for eight months. From the end of 1983 to 1988, Ronstadt was engaged to ''Star Wars'' director George Lucas. In December 1990, she adopted an infant daughter, Mary Clementine Ronstadt. In 1994, she adopted a baby boy, Carlos Ronstadt. Ronstadt has never married. Speaking of finding an acceptable mate, in 1974 she told

Peter Knobler Peter Knobler (born 1946) is an American writer living in New York City. He has collaborated on fifteen books, ten of them best sellers and was the editor-in-chief of ''Crawdaddy'' magazine from 1972 to 1979.Crawdaddy'', "... he's real kind but isn't inspired musically and then you meet somebody else that's just so inspired musically that he just takes your breath away but he's such a moron, such a maniac that you can't get along with him. And then after that it's the problem of finding someone that can stand you!" After living in Los Angeles for 30 years, Ronstadt moved to San Francisco because she said she never felt at home in Southern California. "Los Angeles became too enclosing an environment", she says. "I couldn't breathe the air and I didn't want to drive on the freeways to get to the studio. I also didn't want to embrace the values that have been so completely embraced by that city. Are you glamorous? Are you rich? Are you important? Do you have clout? It's just not me and it never was me." In 1997, Ronstadt sold her home in San Francisco and moved back to her hometown of Tucson, Arizona, to raise her two children. In more recent years, Ronstadt moved back to San Francisco while continuing to maintain her home in Tucson. In 2009, in honor of Ronstadt, the C. F. Martin & Company, Martin Guitar Company made a 0042 model "Linda Ronstadt Limited Edition" acoustic guitar. Ronstadt appointed the Land Institute as recipient of all proceeds from her signature guitar. In 2013, Simon & Schuster published her autobiography, ''Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir'', as well as the Spanish version, ''Sueños SencillosMemorias Musicales''. In August 2013, Ronstadt revealed she was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, leaving her unable to sing due to loss of muscular control, which is common to Parkinson's patients. She was diagnosed eight months prior to the announcement and had initially attributed the symptoms she had been experiencing to the aftereffects of shoulder surgery and a tick bite. In late 2019, it was reported her doctors had revised their diagnosis to progressive supranuclear palsy, a degenerative disease commonly mistaken for Parkinson's due to the similarity of the symptoms. Ronstadt describes herself as a "spiritual atheist".

Political activism

Ronstadt's politics received criticism and praise during and after her July 17, 2004, performance at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas Strip, Las Vegas. Toward the end of the show, as she had done across the country, Ronstadt spoke to the audience, praising ''Fahrenheit 9/11'', Michael Moore's documentary film about the Iraq War; she dedicated the song "Desperado (Eagles song), Desperado" to Moore. Accounts say the crowd's initial reaction was mixed, with "half the crowd heartily applauding her praise for Moore, (and) the other half booing." Following the concert, news accounts reported Ronstadt was "evicted" from the hotel premises. Ronstadt's comments, as well as the reactions of some audience members and the hotel, became a topic of discussion nationwide. Aladdin casino president Bill Timmins and Michael Moore each made public statements about the controversy. The incident prompted international headlines and debate on an entertainer's right to express a political opinion from the stage and made the editorial section of '' The New York Times''. Following the incident, many friends of Ronstadt's, including the Eagles, immediately cancelled their engagements at the Aladdin. Ronstadt also received telegrams of support from her rock 'n' roll friends around the world like the Rolling Stones, the Eagles and Elton John. Amid reports of mixed public response, Ronstadt continued her praise of Moore and his film throughout her 2004 and 2006 summer concerts across North America. At a 2006 concert in Canada, Ronstadt told the ''Calgary Sun'' that she was "embarrassed George W. Bush, George Bush (was) from the United States. ... He's an idiot. ... He's enormously incompetent on both the domestic and international scenes. ... Now the fact that we were lied to about the reasons for entering into war against Iraq and thousands of people have diedit's just as immoral as racism." Her remarks drew international headlines. In an August 14, 2007, interview, she commented on all her well-publicized, outspoken views, in particular the Aladdin incident, by noting, "If I had it to do over I would be much more gracious to everyone ... you can be as outspoken as you want if you are very, very respectful. Show some grace". In 2007, Ronstadt resided in San Francisco while also maintaining her home in Tucson. That same year, she drew criticism and praise from Tucsonans for commenting that local city council's failings, developers' strip mall mentality, greed and growing dust problem had rendered the city unrecognizable and poorly developed. In August 2009, Ronstadt, in a well-publicized interview to Planet Out, PlanetOut Inc. titled "Linda Ronstadt's Gay Mission", championed gay rights and same-sex marriage, and stated "homophobia is anti-family values. Period, end of story." On January 16, 2010, Ronstadt converged with thousands of other activists in a "National Day of Action". Ronstadt stated that her "dog in the fight"as a native Arizonan and coming from a law enforcement familywas the treatment of illegal aliens and Arizona's enforcement of its illegal immigrant law, especially Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's efforts in that area. On April 29, 2010, Ronstadt began a campaign, including joining a lawsuit, against Arizona's new illegal-immigration law SB 1070 calling it a "devastating blow to law enforcement ... the police don't protect us in a democracy with brute force", something she said she learned from her brother, Peter, who was Chief of Police in Tucson. Ronstadt has also been outspoken on environmental and community issues. She is a major supporter and admirer of sustainable agriculture pioneer Wes Jackson, saying in 2000, "the work he's doing right now is the most important work there is in the (United States)", and dedicating the rock anthem "Desperado" to him at an August 2007 concert in Kansas City, Kansas.

National arts advocacy

In 2004, Ronstadt wrote the foreword to the book ''The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to American Folk Music'', and in 2005, she wrote the introduction to the book ''Classic Ferrington Guitars'', about guitar-maker and luthier Danny Ferrington and the custom guitars that he created for Ronstadt and other musicians such as

, and Kurt Cobain. Ronstadt has been honored for her contribution to the American arts. On September 23, 2007, she was inducted into the Arizona Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame, along with

, Buck Owens, and filmmaker

. On August 17, 2008, Ronstadt received a tribute by various artists, including BeBe Winans and Wynonna Judd, when she was honored with the Trailblazer Award, presented to her by Plácido Domingo at the 2008 ALMA Awards, a ceremony later televised in the U.S. on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. In 2008, Ronstadt was appointed artistic director of the San Jose, California, San José Mariachi and Mexican Heritage Festival. On March 31, 2009, in testimony that the ''Los Angeles Times'' termed "remarkable", Ronstadt spoke to the United States Congress House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment & Related Agencies, attempting to convince lawmakers to budget $200 million in the 2010 fiscal year for the National Endowment of the Arts. In May 2009, Ronstadt received an honorary doctorate of music degree from the Berklee College of Music for her achievements and influence in music and her contributions to American and international culture. ''Mix (magazine), Mix'' magazine stated that "Linda Ronstadt (has) left her mark on more than the record business; her devotion to the craft of singing influenced many audio professionals ... (and is) intensely knowledgeable about the mechanics of singing and the cultural contexts of every genre she passes".

Awards and nominations

Grammy Awards

* In 23rd Annual Grammy Awards, 1981 the album ''In Harmony (compilation albums), In Harmony: A Sesame Street Record'' won the Grammy for Grammy Award for Best Album for Children, Best Album for Children. Ronstadt was one of the various artists featured on the album. The Grammys were awarded to the producers, David Levine and Lucy Simon.

Latin Grammy Awards

Primetime Emmy Awards

Tony Awards

Golden Globe Awards

* 1983Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical or Comedy, Linda Ronstadt in ''The Pirates of Penzance''

Arizona Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame

* 2007Inducted for her significant impact on the evolution and development of the entertainment culture in the state of Arizona

Academy of Country Music

* 1974Best New Female Artist * 1987Album of the Year/ ''Trio'', Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris

Country Music Association

* 1988Vocal Event of the Year / ''Trio'', Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris

American Latino Media Arts

* 2008Trailblazer Award for Contribution to American Music

Lo Nuestro nominations

* Premio Lo Nuestro 1989, 1989Regional Mexican Female Artist, Lo Nuestro Award for Regional Mexican Album of the Year, Regional Mexican Album (''Canciones de Mi Padre''), and Crossover Artist * Premio Lo Nuestro 1992, 1992Regional Mexican Female Artist * Premio Lo Nuestro 1993, 1993Lo Nuestro Award for Tropical Female Artist of the Year, Tropical Female Artist, Regional Mexican Female Artist, and Tropical Song ("Perfidia").

Kennedy Center

* 2019 Kennedy Center Honoree

Discography

Studio albums

* '' Hand Sown ... Home Grown'' (1969) * '' Silk Purse'' (1970) * '' Linda Ronstadt'' (1972) * '' Don't Cry Now'' (1973) * '' Heart Like a Wheel'' (1974) * '' Prisoner in Disguise'' (1975) * '' Hasten Down the Wind'' (1976) * ''

'' (1977) * ''

'' (1978) * ''

'' (1980) * '' Get Closer'' (1982) * ''

'' (1983) * '' Lush Life'' (1984) * '' For Sentimental Reasons'' (1986) * ''

'' (1987) - (English translation: ''Songs of My Father'') * '' Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind'' (1989) * '' Mas Canciones'' (1991) - (English translation: ''More Songs'') * '' Frenesí'' (1992) - (English translation: ''Frenzy'') * '' Winter Light'' (1993) * '' Feels Like Home'' (1995) * '' Dedicated to the One I Love'' (1996) * '' We Ran'' (1998) * ''

'' (2000) * '' Hummin' to Myself'' (2004)

Live albums

* ''Live in Hollywood (Linda Ronstadt album), Live in Hollywood'' (2019)

Duets and trios

* '' Trio'' (1987) (Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and Linda Ronstadt) * '' Trio II'' (1999) (Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and Linda Ronstadt) * '' Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions'' (1999) (with Emmylou Harris) * ''

'' (2006) (with Ann Savoy) * ''The Complete Trio Collection'' (2016) (Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and Linda Ronstadt)

Compilation albums

* ''Different Drum (album), Different Drum'' (1974) * ''Greatest Hits (Linda Ronstadt album), Greatest Hits'' (1976) * ''A Retrospective'' (1977) * '' Greatest Hits, Volume 2'' (1980) * Round Midnight'' (1986) – 2-CD set * ''The Linda Ronstadt Box Set'' (1999) – 4-CD set * ''The Very Best of Linda Ronstadt'' (2002) * ''Mi Jardin Azul: Las Canciones Favoritas'' (2004) - (English translation: ''My Blue Garden: The Favorite Songs'') * ''The Best of Linda Ronstadt: The Capitol Years'' (2006) – 2-CD set * ''Standards'' with Nelson Riddle Orchestra (2008) * ''The Collection'' (2011) – British 2-CD set * ''Duets (Linda Ronstadt album), Duets'' (2014) * ''Just One Look: Classic Linda Ronstadt'' (2015) – 2-CD set * ''Like A Rose: The Classic 1976 Broadcast Recording'' (2021)

Filmography

Books

* *

Explanatory notes

References

External links

* * * *
Image of Linda Ronstadt reclining on a porch railing in Los Angeles, California, 1974.
Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ronstadt, Linda Linda Ronstadt, Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners United States National Medal of Arts recipients 1946 births Living people Actresses from Tucson, Arizona American actresses of Mexican descent American alternative country singers American atheists American country rock singers American country singer-songwriters American women country singers American women rock singers American women singer-songwriters American film actresses American memoirists Women in Latin music American multi-instrumentalists American musical theatre actresses American musicians of Mexican descent American performers of Latin music American pop rock singers American stage actresses American television actresses American writers of Mexican descent Big band singers Cajun musicians Feminist musicians Grammy Award winners Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Hispanic and Latino American women singers Hispanic and Latino American musicians Primetime Emmy Award winners Spanish-language singers of the United States American women memoirists Asylum Records artists Capitol Records artists Vanguard Records artists Verve Records artists American people of Canadian descent American people of Dutch descent American people of English descent American people of German descent Arizona Democrats Country musicians from Arizona Country musicians from California Musicians from San Francisco Musicians from Tucson, Arizona Record producers from Arizona Record producers from California Singers from Los Angeles Writers from Los Angeles Writers from San Francisco Writers from Tucson, Arizona 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses 20th-century American singers 21st-century American singers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American composers 21st-century American composers 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American women singers American women record producers Jerry Brown American country guitarists American acoustic guitarists American women guitarists Guitarists from Arizona Guitarists from Los Angeles Tambourine players 20th-century women composers 21st-century women composers Chicano rock musicians Traditional pop music singers Singer-songwriters from California Singer-songwriters from Arizona