Can we please talk about Linda Ronstadt’s career life and catalogue?

I've always had this sense that she was gay, or bisexual. Is this true? Jerry Brown, George Lucas....these relationships never seemed very convincing.

This cunt again?

Loved her standards albums with Nelson Riddle. Actually, I still listen to them every so often.

She had such a beautiful voice.

I'm a huge fan. Just about the only SoCal 70s singer I can stand. Unlike, say, the Eagles.

We talk about Linda all the time.

Linda always ate her feelings

There were way too many Linda Ronstadt albums in my house when growing up. I asked my mother and she said they were my fathers'. He was really into her music which seems kind of odd from the man I knew as Dad.

Her voice is one of my favorites, and got better over time. A lot of power behind it.

I can never forget the Rolling Stone review of "Canciones de mi Padre" which specifically, and snidely, referenced her weight on the album cover. That certainly wouldn't fly today.

Amazing voice, so sad she can no longer sing. I feel that she hasn't been as influential as some other women in rock, i.e. Stevie Nicks, but Linda's voice was truly breathtaking and she worked to keep getting better. She also had a very diverse career, the easiest thing in the world for her would have been to keep recording rock/MOR songs, but she was highly experimental. Doesn't get nearly enough credit these days for her work. She had a great eye/ear for talent too. Never a songwriter, but she recorded songs from the likes of Warren Zevon, Jackson Browne, Elvis Costello, etc. Also, forerunner of the Eagles was her backing band at one time.

Only love one song of her: DON'T KNOW MUCH - LINDA RONSTADT & AARON NEVILLE

My favorite singer since the day in 1976 when the guy I'd hoped was going to be the love of my life played "Long, Long Time" at me as he broke up with me. What kind of song is that to play for someone you're dumping?

I didn't have the song—I hadn't heard of her since "Different Drum," actually—but I wanted it, so I went out and bought her latest album, Hasten down the Wind, figuring I'd find it there. It wasn't on that album, but HDTW did turn out to be the absolute pinnacle of Southern California heartbreak rock, so it was the perfect salve for how I was feeling at the time. And there were Prisoner in Disguise and Heart like a Wheel to take in as well.

And Linda has been my favorite singer ever since. 43 years now. Her beautiful voice is lost to us forever, except on recordings. Thank God I grew up in the era in which you didn't have to be in the same room with a person to experience their music (I've been a music addict since 7th grade).

In case there is even one person left among us who has not heard "Long, Long Time":

I went to high school with here in Arizona. Nice lady.

Don't Cry Now, Heart Like a Wheel, Prisoner in Disguise and Simple Dreams are all brilliant albums.

Mad Love, though, is my favourite.

I'm not sure the Nelson Riddle stuff was that great, beyond his orchestrations. She could be a bit opaque. But I liked her voice on other things, especially Different Drum and Mad Love.

"Simple Man, Simple Dream"

"Carmelita"

"Hasten down the Wind"

"If He's Ever Near"

There's a soon-to-be-released doc about Linda. Watch for "Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice"

R8, perhaps your father liked the way she looked.

LR had that wide-eyed, parted-lips, "you're so wonderful - you're my hero" look down pat. Straight guys really seem to love that look. Or, at least, they did. For all I know, young straight men today prefer dominatrix Amazons (that seems to be the preferred image in the media, anyway), but in the '70s, that look was everywhere, and LR pulled it off very well. She also photographed very pretty; she wasn't gorgeous IRL, but in pictures from her heyday, she's a knockout.

Can't wait, r21.

A short while after my best friend in high school died, I was helping his mother out by painting the inside of her garage. I had the radio blaring. Just as she came out with a glass of iced tea, Long, Long Time came on the radio and she collapsed in tears.

What year, r24?

1984

Long, Long Time is a great song, but it's for when you've accepted that the loss is inevitable.

This one - Love Has No Pride - is the one you play over and over the day after the love of your life walks out for good. The edge of desperation in the song is heartbreaking, and Ronstadt puts it across with all the stops pulled out.

Top 5 favorites

1. Still Within The Sound of My Voice

2. Willin’

3. Faithless Love

4. Cry Like A Rainstorm

5. Winter Light

I heard Linda's version of I Will Always Love You years before I hear Dolly's version.

Still love it.

Hasten down the wind album is in my DNA

Mine, too, r30. Hasten down the Wind is my favorite album of all time.

She should have won the Tony for Pirates of Penzance. Lauren already had one, and to be completely honest, WOTY wasn't a great show.

That production of Pirates was magical, especially when it was done in Central Park.

What was WOTY?

HDTW was the first Linda album I bought, when I was 12 years old. I know it by heart, from start to finish.

What a pig David Browne is, r9. He certainly hit the trifecta of racism, classicism, and misogyny in his oh-so-clever bon mot. But it is Rolling Stone, so what more can be expected?

David Browne's palabras were muy malas.

Rolling Stone and Linda had a huge falling out after Linda played Sun City and they covered the trip to South Africa. Aaron Latham who wrote the article was indignant about Ronstadt accepting the offer and spent the entire article questioning her integrity (although it was never stated what HE did with the money he got from going to South Africa and writing the article). Linda responded in TV interviews saying that RS were hypocrites because half of their advertisements were for businesses that had manufacturing plants in South Africa. It was the last time Ronstadt was given a major article by the magazine. RS founder Jann Wenner, who also heads the RRHOF wouldn't even consider her for induction until she had gotten sick with Parkinsons. Even though she was eligible starting in the mid 90's, it took her about twenty years after the fact to get in.

Linda did apologize to the UN for playing Sun City in 1990 and was taken off the blacklist. Unfortunately that fact fell by the wayside.

That's very interesting, thank you, r37.

She's one of my favorite female performers.

Will somebody please post the pic of Bai Ling exiting a couch, beef-curtains first?

she alwys got bad press in bay area, her home, for being a big fat uber diva.....sad lady

Staple of the 70s. I miss nice natural innocent coherent music like RS, it simply no longer exsists, and no longer seems achievable by anyone. A real band and a real voice.

Does anyone know if she’s still in a blood feud with Howard Stern & Robin Quivers?

Her harmonizing vocals with Andrew Gold are beyond angelic on HDTW. I think a number of the posters on this thread are my contemporaries - 16 or so when HDTW came out...

What's to talk about? She had a long time "at the trough" as she put it. She tried all kinds of musical styles but was not well suited to a lot of them. She sounded ridiculous singing "new wave" music. Anyway, she had a long career. And she got around. Her 'boyfriends" included Jackson Browne, assorted members of the Eagles, Jerry Brown, Mick Jagger, Moon Martin, Bill Murray, Brent Hudson, Jim Carrey and George Lucas. She was actually engaged to Lucas for a while. Anyway, she had a "pretty voice" that served her well for a long time. She had a lot of hits, even though most of them were mediocre cover versions. And indeed she was a favorite of the Rolling Stone until she did concerts in South Africa. In interviews she sounds intelligent but always seems irritated and ill at ease, too. I don't think she liked stardom that much.

The divisive tactics used on this site are utterly bizarre.

Word is that Kevin Costner was actually inspired by Linda's version of I Will Always Love You and suggested Whitney sing it. Not sure how true that is, though.

Heart Like A Wheel is her best album.

I liked her but to be honest, I prefer Karla Bonoff's versions of the songs she wrote and shared with Linda and prefer Bonoff in general.

[quote] Rolling Stone and Linda had a huge falling out after Linda played Sun City and they covered the trip to South Africa. Aaron Latham who wrote the article was indignant about Ronstadt accepting the offer and spent the entire article questioning her integrity (although it was never stated what HE did with the money he got from going to South Africa and writing the article). Linda responded in TV interviews saying that RS were hypocrites because half of their advertisements were for businesses that had manufacturing plants in South Africa. It was the last time Ronstadt was given a major article by the magazine. RS founder Jann Wenner, who also heads the RRHOF wouldn't even consider her for induction until she had gotten sick with Parkinsons. Even though she was eligible starting in the mid 90's, it took her about twenty years after the fact to get in.

Have we ever had a thread about Miss Wenner and what an evil bitch she is?

There was also a Rolling Stone interview with her in the late '80s/early '90s where she was testy with the reporter.

Both Queen and Linda have been haunted by playing Sun City. I don't even think it was addressed in Bohemian Rhapsody.

I love her and she remains overly criticized and underrated.

"Talk to Me of Mendocino"....here with Kate and Anna McGarrigle, so beautiful.

She was wildly popular in the late 70's and 80's. I remember attending her concert in the 70s and she just charmed the crowd. I never heard about the Sun City episode, maybe that why she sort of disappeared for a while.

She was the ultimate California beauty-- natural, healthy, casual and sun-kissed look--not overly made up and plastic like pop stars nowadays.

After "Pirates" on Broadway she played Mimi in a short-lived production of "La Boheme" at The Public. I wish I had seen it, of course.

I really admire her tackling so many different musical genres. She wasn't the best at some of them, but who else would have the guts to try?

For such an icon, she only had one number one song (You're No Good) and one gold record (Blue Bayou).

Jerry and the Pop Princess

R44 pretty much nails it. Nice voice with the right material, but she did a lot of crap. At least she wasn't as pretentious as Joni Mitchell.

If Taylor Swift is the Stevie Nicks of today does that make Ariana Grande the Linda Ronstadt of today?

[quote]What was WOTY?

"Woman of the Year", a schlocky-yet-enjoyable Kander & Ebb musical star vehicle written for Lauren Bacall for which she won the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical against Linda.

Ronstadt would have won the Tony but she didn't attend the nomination ceremony and it rubbed the committee the wrong way. If she played the game, she would have a Tony but she didn't care.

I've told this story before, but some of you may not have read it. I saw Ronstadt in the 70's at the Circle Star Theater in San Carlos, California. The theater was nearly empty (this was slightly before she made it big), so she told everyone in the audience to come sit in the front rows, and she sang to us. It was a heady experience. The eye contact, the sweetness, the amazing voice, the backup band - it was so good it was surreal. I've loved Linda a long, long time.

"Cry like a Rainstorm, Howl like the Wind" - in my opinion - nearest to the perfect "pop" recording, ever. It's my "go to" record when I'm in my feelings about something, because the song selection takes the listener to the lowest of lows ("Shattered") around again to the highest of highs ("Trouble Again"). Back when the record was first released, in 1989, I really didn't get it, mostly because I was not mature enough to really understand how Linda's vocals perfectly conveyed the truth and raw emotions of life, I had not yet lived.

...and just to set the "record" straight, Ronstadt is one of the best selling female album artists of all time.

Units sold in the United States:

Don't Cry Now - 500,000 Heart Like A Wheel - 2,000,000 Prisoner In Disguise - 1,000,000 Hasten Down the Wind - 1,000,000 Simple Dreams - 3,000,000 Living in the USA - 2,000,000 Mad Love - 1,000,000 Get Closer - 500,000 What's New - 3,000,000 For Sentimental Reasons - 1,000,000 Canciones De Mi Padre - 2,000,000 Cry Like A Rainstorm - 3,000,000

Collaborations with Parton & Harris: Trio - 1,000,000 Trio II - 500,000

Compilations A Retrospective - 500,000 Greatest Hits - 7,000,000 Greatest Hits Vol 2 - 1,000,000 Round Midnight - 250,000

I read that she was very kind to other struggling young musicians and had no hard feelings when they left to go on to create their oftentimes huge careers - Jackson Browne, Dan Fogelberg, Eagles, Andrew Gold,etc.

^My all time favs include Blue Bayou and Ooh Baby, Baby.

[quote] and just to set the "record" straight, Ronstadt is one of the best selling female album artists of all time.

sales do not necessarily indicate quality

[quote] I had not yet lived.

MARY!

Does anyone know when the documentary [italic]Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice[/italic] will be released nationally, or in streaming format?

Maybe if we could ever get her in those little shorts again and put her on those roller skates, she could go down one of those steep hills in Sun City!?

Love the voice and image

[R66] I heard CNN will be airing it sometime this year.

She had a gorgeous rock voice (and even dabbled in opera and operetta).

She's been almost destitute because she never wrote any of the songs she sang (where the real money lies--which is why every modern artist sticks his/her name among the authors of each song)

[quote] Ronstadt is one of the best selling female album artists of all time

Sadly no one buys her stuff anymore and that source of income has dried up

I did love how she tried so many genres and was great at most--pop, rock, big band, classical

She was a total coke fiend at one time. Imagine all the coke sex she had.

Lots of people played Sun City- look it up- but Linda Ronstadt was made the target. Because she was female?

I'm Never Gonn Play Sun City

LOL....Ronstadt is worth well over 100 million...Im sure she very far from destitute.

Love her. She's the "classical recitalist" of rock.

Linda's family is very, very rich so she has quite an inheritance. She made her money from touring and it was probably invested wisely.

Others like Eartha Kitt, Stephanie Mills, Tina Turner, Cher, etc. all played Sun City. Kitt was the worst and most outspoken about it saying how great the country was and was made an "honorary White". Look it up. Hilarious that Kitt and her daughter were refused to ride an attraction at an amusement park, honorary white or not.

$$$ cant buy u good kharma or good health, hun

any pix of her massive white ass lately? be hot fun

"Hasten down the Wind" - the original

the original version of "Carmelita"

I like Linda's and Warren's versions of "Carmelita" and "Hasten" equally, but Warren's version IS "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me."

Warren Zevon...now THERE was a train wreck. His compulsive behavior seemed to indicate he was bi-polar; he would develop weird obsessions, like wearing grey socks (they had to be grey; no other color would do) and eating turkey sandwiches (for a time that was ALL he would eat). He was highly intelligent; he was also a hard core druggie/alcoholic and couldn't keep his dick in his pants. After his death his son found pornographic tapes of his father screwing various women. He never achieved much commercial success although he was well respected by other musicians for his songwriting. He died at age 56 of cancer. Apparently he had no problem finding women who wanted to go to bed with him, and that always puzzled me. He always had this weird, smug, slimy look about him that I found very unattractive.

R84 — Clearly you don’t understand the charisma of true artists. However ugly or immoral or infuriating they may be they bring a palpable sense of living that is thrilling to be around. For some people it’s addictive.

Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind...my desert island CD. Solos... duets...flawless. I love her versatility and her musicianship. I love her support of other careers beside her own, and love seeing her sing back up... BACK UP...for Roy and others. If I take Cry off the CD player... Trio or the Nelson Riddles replaces it. I think she has a “wimpy” public persona... kind of quaint in this age of big, in your face moves and interviews...but that only pushes the music to the foreground. I was devastated when she had to stop singing. Can only imagine what might have been.

I love Warren Zevon. "Lawyers, Guns and Money" used to be my theme song.

Singing Heat Wave live. This was before autotune, why I love old school music much more than today's crap.

Linda did a great version of Heatwave, but Dusty's will always be my favorite.

Every time I hear "Heat Wave", I think of that pivotal moment in "Boys In The Band".

Linda Ronstadt is from a time when singers needed to have real talent to make it in the business, and to sustain careers. A shame all of that is gone now.

Her Motown covers were off-key and cringeworthy. Popularity never equals artistry.

I did not like Linda's version of "Heat Wave," but I did not like Martha and the Vandellas' either. Her version of "Tracks of My Tears" was sublime, however, and hit me at a time in my life when my tears had tracks.

She has said herself that her "hits" are the least of her work, and she is right.

I think Linda is a very "in-tune" singer.

Very true R93. With a few exceptions (You're No Good, Different Drum, How Do I Make You) her album tracks are where the real gold is: Willin', Colorado, the self-penned Try Me Again, Mohammed's Radio, Down So Low. Like others here, I respect her trying her hand at so many different genres, often with great success, and her encouragement of and lobbying for fellow artists. Heart Like a Wheel and later releases introduced me to the McGarrigles, Emmylou Harris, Little Feat, Maria Muldaur and Warren Zevon, all of whom remain favourites. I saw her live in Australia and it was a fairly 'by the numbers' big arena type gig but her voice, without the need or desire for any technological trickery, was immaculate. Patsy might not think she's fabulous, but I do.

She and Bonnie Raitt covered a lot of the same songs in the 70s. Actually, Raitt covered "Cry Like a Rainstorm" way back in '73.

I think Linda was uncomfortable being so famous in the 70s, so in the 80s that's why she stopped the rock stuff for awhile and explored other genres of music. She was like the anti-Madonna, massive fame didn't sit well with her.

Linda is a "classical" singer, in the sense of doing classics. And she is not an entertainer, like Bette, nor a spectacle artist, like Madonna. Linda is a pure singer. She barely moves in her concerts. I've seen her live 7 times, not including the 3 times I saw Pirates of Penzance.

Should we start a Warren Zevon thread?

R99, I'm reading C.M. Kushins' new Warren Zevon biography, [italic]Nothing's Bad Luck: The Lives of Warren Zevon[/italic]. Maybe you could start a thread with that.

[quote]Patsy might not think she's fabulous, but I do.

Who's Patsy, r95?

R97 Really, you don’t think it was sagging album sales? 1/2 empty venues??

Obviously that had something to do with it, r102. 1982's Get Closer was her first album in ten years not to go platinum. But I believe Linda wanted to do the opera and the Nelson Riddle, and wasn't retreating from pop, per se.

"Should we start a Warren Zevon thread?"

That probably would be interesting. He was quite a character; highly intelligent, a great songwriter, mentally ill and totally dissolute.

R102 Or maybe that witch up in Topanga Canyon?

Linda Ronstadt had great pipes. It must be so disheartening for her to now not be able to sing.

I'm sure it's somewhat disheartening, but most singers can't sing past 60, let alone 70. It's a very physical thing, that wears out as your body wears out.

I was just listening to her version of I’ve Got A Crush On You last night. My favorite. OT. I had a one night stand with a guy I met at The Abbey at WeHo years ago and he had Linda Ronstadt playing in his car and was surprised I knew and liked her music. Had the be best sex that night which turned from a one night stand to dating and having great sex for two years until I had to move to Chicago.

I got my first CD player in 1989 and bought three CDs: Cry Like a Rainstorm, the Les Miz Symphonic Recording, and a Narada new age sampler.

I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

How Linda was marketed in NYC circa '78 / subway billboard

Even though she didn't have the vocal training for Mabel it didn't matter, she looked and acted the part perfectly. A real delight on stage. In the park one of the most joyous evenings in the musical theater one could imagine.

I can't even count how many dudes she fucked. She also got involved with some of the musicians in her touring bands. That's extremely unprofessional and tacky.

Wonder who is fucking her fat old ass these days!

Never liked her loud voice, she basically yelled, that's singing? Granted there are a lot worse 'singers' and no talents who are famous these days, but Ronstadt was never that special or unique. She tortured the Elvis Costello songs she recorded.

Like so many other musicians, she was in the right place at the right time. Nothing more.

Why is she now so fat? She didn't have a weight problem when she was young, unless she was a coke addict as rumored.

Why did she get fat? MENOPAUSE.

[quote]Why did she get fat? MENOPAUSE.

What a dumb lame excuse. Not all women get fat in menopause, none of the women in menopause in my family got fat. Besides, Linda is waaaay past menopause!

How about she enjoys eating and doesn't have anything else to do?

FFS lots of women gain weight in menopause and that's it. Their bodies can't come back from it.

R113, you must be an unhappy person.

Sorry for the delayed reply R101 - Patsy is Patsy Stone, Joanna Lumley's character on Absolutely Fabulous. She often says 'I think she's fabulous' about someone, usually a celebrity going through a rocky patch. It's got nothing to do with Linda Ronstadt and I'm not even sure why I said it.

A Warren Zevon thread would be interesting. He's like the darker stranger flip side of the West Coast sound and personalities - on one hand you have the likes of Jackson Browne and JD Souther - the 'sensitivity squad' as Robert Christgau called them - and then you have WZ with his songs about drugs and murder and mercenaries. At least that's how he seemed to this foreigner who only knows the West Coast through songs, books and movies. It's hard to pick a favourite song of his as he had so many but mine would have to be Desperadoes Under the Eaves closely followed by The French Inhaler.

Speaking of JD Souther, he and Linda were a couple on the 70's. He wrote and produced some of her songs in the 70s.

R118, the new bio refers to "Desperadoes" as Warren's "magnum opus," a title I find it to share with "The French Inhaler."

Thanks, r119, I hadn't seen that before.

WTF R117, someone posts they didn't like Linda Rotunda's loud screaming voice and you have to snark they're unhappy?

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I think she sucked. Yelling isn't singing. I also hate opera, it sounds so artificial. Sue me.

So...who DO you like to listen to, r121?

Linda was plump as a child. She slimmed down when she moved to California to be a singer.

I don’t think she should be punished on here for getting a ton of dick in the 1970’s.

Coincidentally, I'm reading her memoir, "Simple Dreams" at the moment. It's all about the music. She doesn't go into her relationships in any great detail, other than her professional ones (Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, Jackson Browne, etc.). For what it's worth, she says she tried cocaine once and it made her nose bleed. A doctor told her it eventually kills the cilia in the ears, affecting hearing, so she never used it again. She also said she was allergic to alcohol and never drank.

Linda was one of only a handful of 70s music people to not indulge in drugs and booze.

r124 It would certainly be hypocritical of me to criticize anyone for getting as much dick as he or she could in the '70s.

Who did she sleep with besides Jerry and JD? They should be privileged to have slept with her-- she was a gorgeous babe in the 70s.

I really can’t stand her.

"Who did she sleep with besides Jerry and JD?"

Here's a partial list:

Jackson Browne

Mick Jagger

Brett Hudson

Albert Brooks

Bill Murray

George Lucas

Jim Carrey

Moon Martin

Assorted members of the Eagles

Mick Jagger fucked every woman in the world back then. And he still does.

Yeah, I'm really going to get on someone's case for fucking Jackson Browne and JD Souther.

LInda got around but pretty much everybody did back then during Linda's heyday. Jackson Brown said of the period "Everybody slept with everybody. It was great!"

Yes, Graham Nash has also spoken of that. He said living in Laurel Canyon in the late 60's and early 70's was "the best time of my life." He wasn't just talking about music; it was a sly reference to the abundant sex available with beautiful women.

MAD LOVE, GET CLOSER and WHAT'S NEW are my favorite Linda Ronstadt CDs.

Linda Ronstadt has been trending on Twitter all morning...apparently at the State Department dinner last night honoring the Kennedy Center recipients, she laid into Mike Pompeo who was hosting the event.

Per Sam Greisman....At the State Dept. dinner for the Kennedy Center honorees Mike Pompeo wondered aloud when he would be “loved”. Then Linda Ronstadt got up to get laurels, looked the fucker right in the eye and said “maybe when you stop enabling Donald Trump”. Icon.

Why the fuck is Linda Ronstadt at the State Department dinner??

Is she some kind of time-traveling Ambassador to late-Seventies has-been society??

Learn to read r137....Shes a recipient of a Kennedy Center honor...and the State Dept was hosting a dinner in their honor....Mike Pompeo is SECRETARY OF STATE.

[R9], to expect anything less from that male cunt rag is give life to the phrase, "Hope springs ephemeral."

[R37], thank you for the info. I take issue with only one sentence. You said RS *were* hypocrites. No way will they ever be able to join the ranks of anything remotely approaching respect after the shit they've uniformly flung at women. For no other reason than... why go on?

I was surprised to learn that she was at the State Dept dinner for Kennedy Center honorees. I thought she was housebound and barely able to speak these days.

[quote]I thought she was housebound and barely able to speak these days.

She was only able to insult Mike Pompeo by covering up her trach with two fingers.