Linda Ronstadt
Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is an American popular music singer. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American Music Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, and numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums. She has also earned nominations for a Tony Award and a Golden Globe award. Ronstadt was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2014. On July 28, 2014, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts and Humanities.
In total, she has released over 30 studio albums and 15 compilation or greatest hits albums. Ronstadt charted 38 Billboard Hot 100 singles, with 21 reaching the top 40, 10 in the top 10, three at number 2, and "You're No Good" at number 1. This success did not translate to the UK, with only her single "Blue Bayou" reaching the UK Top 40. Her duet with Aaron Neville, "Don't Know Much", peaked at number 2 in December 1989. In addition, she has charted 36 albums, 10 top-10 albums and three number 1 albums on the Billboard Pop Album Chart. Her autobiography, Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir, was released in September 2013. It debuted in the Top 10 on The New York Times Best Sellers List.
Ronstadt has collaborated with artists from a diverse spectrum of genres including Bette Midler, Billy Eckstine, Frank Zappa, Rosemary Clooney, Flaco Jiménez, Philip Glass, Warren Zevon, Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons, Dolly Parton, Neil Young, Johnny Cash, and Nelson Riddle. 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. Christopher Loudon of Jazz Times wrote in 2004, Ronstadt is "Blessed with arguably the most sterling set of pipes of her generation."
After completing her last live concert in late 2009, Ronstadt officially retired in 2011. She was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in December 2012, which left her unable to sing.
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 presidential candidate. They shared a Newsweek magazine cover in April 1979. Us Weekly magazine put them on its cover. Ronstadt and Brown took a trip to Africa which became fodder for the international press, and People magazine put them on its cover.
In 1983 Linda Ronstadt dated comedian Jim Carrey for 8 months. In the mid-1980s, Ronstadt was engaged to Star Wars director George Lucas.
In the early 1980s, Ronstadt was criticized by music critics for playing concerts in South Africa under apartheid. She was listed by the U.N. as supporting apartheid by performing there. 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."
In December 1990, she adopted an infant daughter, Mary Clementine. She later adopted a baby boy, Carlos Ronstadt in 1994. Ronstadt has never married. Speaking of finding an acceptable mate, in 1974 she told Peter Knobler in 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 Martin Guitar Company made a 00–42 model "Linda Ronstadt Limited Edition" acoustic guitar. Ronstadt appointed the Land Institute as recipient of all proceeds from her signature guitar.
In the summer of 2011, Simon & Schuster announced their publishing of Ronstadt's autobiography. Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir, and the Spanish version Sueños Sencillos – Memorias Musicales was released on September 17, 2013.
In August 2013, Ronstadt revealed she has Parkinson's disease, leaving her unable to sing due to loss of muscle 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 after effects of shoulder surgery and a tick bite.
Ronstadt self-identifies as a spiritual atheist.
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