Post by erik on Jul 15, 2021 6:09:40 GMT -8
She was born on this day in 1946 into a prosperous ranching family of mixed European and Mexican heritage in the extreme summer heat of the Sonoran Desert in Tucson, Arizona. She left home for Los Angeles at the end of 1964 to pursue her dreams in music. And from 1967 until her retirement in 2013, when she announced that she had Parkinson's Disease (later re-diagnosed as Progressive Supranuclear Palsy), she essayed pretty much every style of music in her DNA: Folk; rock; blues; R&B; gospel; jazz; American standards; opera; Mexican rancheras; Afro-Cuban; and left-of-center country.
She is Linda Ronstadt. In her time, she has sold anywhere from seventy to one hundred million albums; won thirteen Grammy awards (plus two lifetime Grammys); she got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014; and was saluted at the 2019 Kennedy Center Honors by, among others, longtime friends Don Henley, Emmylou Harris, and Aaron Neville, as well as Carrie Underwood and Trisha Yearwood. Most recently, she was the subject of the much-acclaimed documentary film LINDA RONSTADT: THE SOUND OF MY VOICE (which won the Grammy for Best Musical Film of 2020), and a subsequent film, LINDA AND THE MOCKINGBIRDS, about her involvement with the Bay Area-based indigenous Mexican music group Los Cenzontles.
While Linda has seen her mobility cruelly diminished, and her singing voice vanish, because of her ailment, she has resolved to stay as active as possible. And she has remained about as opinionated as she ever was: she remains a tireless advocate for Latin-American migrants; a fierce opponent of the Far Right here in America; and a sharp critic of the direction that modern country music has taken the last twenty years. One of the things she has resolved to do is to taste some of her spiritual protégé Trisha Yearwood's home cooking, even though it means a 2000-mile flight to Nashville; the two of them have become very good friends as of late, and Linda has made this a point of wanting to do.
Linda also has in the works another book, Feels Like Home, to be published sometime before the end of 2022, which will be about her growing up in Arizona and her Mexican-American heritage. She's not letting her health issues slow her down or stop her. As she has said: "Life after death isn't the question; it's life before death. So how are you going to live it? What are you going to do?"
Happy 75th birthday to the iconic Linda Ronstadt.
P.S.: As an addendum, Tucson's mayor Regina Romero declared July 15th Linda Ronstadt Day.
She is Linda Ronstadt. In her time, she has sold anywhere from seventy to one hundred million albums; won thirteen Grammy awards (plus two lifetime Grammys); she got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014; and was saluted at the 2019 Kennedy Center Honors by, among others, longtime friends Don Henley, Emmylou Harris, and Aaron Neville, as well as Carrie Underwood and Trisha Yearwood. Most recently, she was the subject of the much-acclaimed documentary film LINDA RONSTADT: THE SOUND OF MY VOICE (which won the Grammy for Best Musical Film of 2020), and a subsequent film, LINDA AND THE MOCKINGBIRDS, about her involvement with the Bay Area-based indigenous Mexican music group Los Cenzontles.
While Linda has seen her mobility cruelly diminished, and her singing voice vanish, because of her ailment, she has resolved to stay as active as possible. And she has remained about as opinionated as she ever was: she remains a tireless advocate for Latin-American migrants; a fierce opponent of the Far Right here in America; and a sharp critic of the direction that modern country music has taken the last twenty years. One of the things she has resolved to do is to taste some of her spiritual protégé Trisha Yearwood's home cooking, even though it means a 2000-mile flight to Nashville; the two of them have become very good friends as of late, and Linda has made this a point of wanting to do.
Linda also has in the works another book, Feels Like Home, to be published sometime before the end of 2022, which will be about her growing up in Arizona and her Mexican-American heritage. She's not letting her health issues slow her down or stop her. As she has said: "Life after death isn't the question; it's life before death. So how are you going to live it? What are you going to do?"
Happy 75th birthday to the iconic Linda Ronstadt.
P.S.: As an addendum, Tucson's mayor Regina Romero declared July 15th Linda Ronstadt Day.