Most Successful Female Singer of the 70s
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$40 Million
“I would say that art is very personal and everybody finds their own individual things they respond to. Don't be afraid to respond. Like a lot of mainstream stuff. I like some stuff because it is a spectacle. Michael Jackson was amazing on stage; he was brilliant.” Linda Ronstadt’s career is full of firsts. She was the first female singer to release an alt-country album, as well as the first female rock superstar. During the 1970s, she was the decade’s top-selling female vocalist, and earned a reputation as "The Queen of Rock" and "The Queen of Country Rock."
Ronstadt’s career began in the mid-1960s, but it wasn’t until the mid-1970s that she skyrocketed to fame with hits like “That’ll Be The Day,” “Ooh Baby Baby,” When Will I Be Loved,” “You’re No Good,” and “Heart Like A Wheel.” While Ronstadt is retired from singing today due to her battle with Parkinson’s disease, the vocal powerhouse leaves behind a legacy like no other. Let’s take a closer look at this Rock & Roll Hall of Famer’s journey to stardom.
A Musical Childhood in Arizona
Linda Maria Ronstadt was born on July 15, 1946 in Tucson, Arizona to prosperous machinery merchant Gilbert Ronstadt and homemaker Ruth Mary Ronstadt. She was the third of four children. Growing up on her family’s 10-acre ranch, Ronstadt was surrounded by music. Her father played guitar and taught her and her siblings many Mexican songs, while her mother played the ukulele. Ronstadt also learned to play guitar, and formed a trio with her siblings.
Over the years, Ronstadt drew influence from many singers and singing styles, including Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. On the impact of Maria Callas on her singing, she says, “There’s no one in her league. That’s it. Period. I learn more ...about signing 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.”
During her years at Catalina High School, Ronstadt met Bob Kimmel, a local folk musician, whom she would soon follow to Los Angeles. They were later joined by Kenny Edwards in forming the Stone Poneys. The folk trio enjoyed some success, which helped to establish Ronstadt herself at the forefront of the emerging folk rock and country rock scenes. During this time, she toured with acts like the Doors, Jackson Browne, and Neil Young. Ronstadt also put together the band that went on to become the Eagles. Personal fame and commercial success, however, continued to elude her until she went solo.
A Meteoric Rise to Stardom
With the 1969 release of Hand Sown...Home Grown, Ronstadt because the first female singer to release an alt-country album. She then crossed over to rock, earning her first Grammy Award nomination for “Long, Long Time” in 1971. Her follow-up album, Don’t Cry Now, received a positive reception in 1973, and went on to become certified double platinum, while Heart Like a Wheel in 1974 made her a household name by positioning her as the first female “arena class” rock star. Subsequent albums included Prisoner in Disguise in 1975 and Hasten Down the Wind in 1976, which became her third straight album to surpass a million dollars in sales. Hits and chart-toppers continued to follow, and Ronstadt was dubbed with multiple honorifics, including “First Lady of Rock” and “Queen of Rock.” She was also voted the Top Female Pop Singer of the 1970s, appearing on the cover of Rolling Stone a staggering six times. Her rock-and-roll image also graced the covers of Newsweek and Time.
Despite her many accomplishments, Ronstadt was far from ready to rest on her laurels. As her career progress, she continued to grow and evolve as a performer. In 1980, she made the leap to Broadway starring in the operetta Pirates of Penzance. Her performance earned her a Tony Award nomination. The 1980s also found her trying her hand at country, jazz and pop standards, and collaborations with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Haris led to more massive country hits. Their album, Trio, topped the Country charts for five weeks, and garnered many music awards, including Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
Ronstadt also embraced her Hispanic heritage with three Spanish language albums, including Canciones de Mi Padre, Mas Canciones, and Frenesí. 1989 found her captivating an entirely new generation of music lovers with her hit duet with Aaron Neville, “Don’t Know Much” off the multi-platinum album Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind.
Throughout her career, Ronstadt collaborated with a long and diverse list of artists, including Bette Midler, Billy Eckstine, Frank Zappa, Rosemary Clooney, Flaco Jiménez, Philip Glass, Warren Zevon, Gram Parsons, Johnny Cash, and Nelson Riddle. She’s also garnered numerous accolades, including 11 Grammys, three American Music Awards, two, Academy of Country Music Awards, an ALMA and an Emmy. Many of her albums have gone certified gold, platinum or multi-platinum.
In 2013, Rondstadt announced that she’d been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, which interfered with her ability to sing. That same year saw the publication of her autobiography, Simple Dreams, which detailed her prolific musical career and went on to become a New York Times Best Seller. In the spring of 2019, a new musical documentary about Ronstadt had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. It went on to win the HBO Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature at the Provincetown Film Festival.
While physical challenges caused by Parkinson’s prevented Ronstadt from attending her induction ceremony into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014, she was able to travel to the White House later that year when President Barack Obama presented her with the National Medal of Arts and Humanities. She’s also been honored with the Latin Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award and a special Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award.
Today, Ronstadt is retired from performing due to her Parkinson’s disease and spends most of her time resting, reading, and enjoying her views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the ocean. She’s also an avid supporter of humanitarian aid activism along the border. “I can think of no more compelling crisis than that now facing the borderlands and my view is this: Every individual has the right to receive and the right to give humanitarian aid, in order to prevent suffering and death -- no matter what one’s legal status,” she asserts.
And while Ronstadt can no longer sing in the conventional sense, it’s still a part of her. “I can sing in my brain,” she says. “I sing in my brain all the time. It’s not quite the same as doing it physically. There’s a physical feeling in singing that’s just like skiing down a hill. Except better, because I’m not a very good skier.”
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