History Music / LindaRonstadt

* SesameStreetCred: Hosted an episode of ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' in 1980.

* DreamTeam: Collaborated with Music/DollyParton and [=EmmyLou=] Harris throughout her career, most notably in the group ''Trio''.

* MotorMouth: Talks a mile a minute in interviews and concerts, often giving blunt and candid opinions on a variety of topics.

* FollowTheLeader: Ronstadt started her career making pop-oriented country music that earned a mixed reception from country fans, before abandoning country altogether to do mainstream rock music, which catapulted her to being one of the most commercially successful singers of her time. [[Music/TaylorSwift Sound familiar]]?

* AwardBaitSong: ''[[TropeMaker The]]'' AwardBaitSong. Her version of "Somewhere Out There" with James Ingram from ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'' hit #2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and received two {{Grammy Awards}}, and [[AcademyAward both Golden Globe and Oscar nominations]].

* AwardBaitSong: ''[[TropeMaker The]]'' AwardBaitSong. Her version of "Somewhere Out There" with James Ingram from ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'' hit #2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and received two GrammyAwards, and [[AcademyAward both Golden Globe and Oscar nominations]].

* {{Adorkable}}: Very much in candid moments and interviews. Even now as a senior citizen, she still has her moments.

* BreakupBreakout: The only reason anyone remembers The Stone Poneys is because they're "the band Linda Ronstadt got started in." It's no coincidence that when their albums were later remastered and re-released, they were rebranded as ''Linda Ronstadt and The Stone Poneys''.
* ButNotTooForeign: Despite her English/German name, Ronstadt is a Hispanic American of Mexican descent.
** Ronstadt doesn't speak Spanish very well, and says that she recorded her three Spanish-language albums by memorizing the lyrics. She has stated that never learning Spanish is one of her biggest regrets.

* TheSeventies

* VoiceTypes: Her natural range goes from contralto to soprano.

** Got her in trouble in 2004 when during a concert at the Aladdin Theatre in Las Vegas she criticized then-President UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush and praised MichaelMoore and his documentary Fahrenheit 9/11. While it drew a mixed reaction from the crowd, it got her evicted from the theatre and became a national controversy. Not that it stopped her, as she continued giving the monologue at her summer concerts through 2006. At one 2006 Canadian concert, she called Bush an idiot and a racist.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Her declining health has prevented her from appearing at many ceremonies and tributes, including her 2014 induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. When she was unable to appear alongside Dolly Parton and EmmyLou Harris in promoting a new ''Trio'' box set, some of the TV shows they appeared on arraigned for fans to send their well-wishes to her, even displaying them on air.

* DreamTeam: Collaborated with Music/DollyParton and EmmyLou Harris throughout her career, most notably in the group ''Trio''.
* GameBreakingInjury: Claimed that Parkinson's Disease has taken away her singing voice.

* GreatestHitsAlbum: Her first was in 1976, titled ''Greatest Hits.''

* PoliticianGuestStar: Dated California Governor JerryBrown for a few years in the late 70s/early 80s, which brought greater public scrutiny on both of their personal lives. During Brown's campaign for president in 1980, buttons were distributed which encouraged a vote for Brown to bring about First Lady Linda Ronstadt.

After 1982's ''Get Closer'' performed below her previous three albums - which has been attributed to Ronstadt struggling to adapt to the new music video format popularized by MTV - she went in a more experimental direction. She released three consecutive big band ballad albums with The Nelson Riddle Orchestra, ''What's New'' (1983), ''Lush Life'' (1984), and ''For Sentimental Reasons'' (1986). She then released an album of Spanish language Mariachi music, ''Canciones de Mi Padre'' (1987), in celebration of her Mexican ancestry. With 2 million copies sold in the US and 10 million sold worldwide, it is the most successful non-English language album in American history. She again found mainstream commercial and critical success late in the decade. First with the massively successful single "Somewhere Out There" from the ''Film/AnAmericanTail'' soundtrack, which peaked at #2 in 1987, then with the highly acclaimed and successful album ''Trio'' (1987) which she recorded in a trio with Music/DollyParton and EmmyLou Harris. She fully [[WinBackTheCrowd won back the crowd]] in late 1989 with ''Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind'', which was a major critical and commercial smash. It sold well through 1990 and it's two lead singles ''Don't Know Much'' and ''All My Life'', duets with Aaron Neville, were both top 20 hits in 1990 and won Ronstadt and Neville the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance With Duo or Group With Vocal for two consecutive years, in 1990 and 1991, respectively.

''Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind'' would end up being Ronstadt's last hurrah, as her 1993 follow-up ''Winter Light'' ended up being an AcclaimedFlop, and she was subsequently relegated to being a legacy act. She continued to record and tour, releasing her last solo studio album ''Hummin' to Myself'' in 2004 and performed her last concert in 2009. She confirmed her retirement in 2011, subsequently revealing that she has Parkinson's Disease which left her unable to sing. Deteriorating health has forced her to generally withdraw from public life - she was sadly unable to attend her 2014 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a result - but still occasionally appears as a public speaker, discussing her career and the evolution of Rock music. Her memoirs, ''Simple Dreams'', were released in 2013.

Ronstadt is regarded is one of the greatest vocalists of the Baby Boomer generation and is considered a groundbreaking and influential act, as her solo album sales and concert ticket grosses were unprecedented for a female solo act, yet alone a Hispanic one. She was the first female solo act to regularly sell out stadium and arenas, and her high standing in the previously male-dominated world of Rock music paved the way for the massively successful female solo Pop/Rock acts of the 1980s and beyond. She has won 11 Grammy Awards, sold over 60 million albums and was both inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and awarded a National Medal of Arts and Humanities in 2014. ''Living in the U.S.A.'' was the first album in history to ship double platinum, and ''Canciones de Mi Padre'' is the best selling non-English language album in American history. She can be credited with launching the careers of the Music/{{Eagles}}, who served as her backup band in the early 1970s, and the solo career of Aaron Neville from him being her duet partner on ''Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind''. She was also a childhood crush of UsefulNotes/BarackObama.

'''Linda Ronstadt''' (b. 1946) is an American pop singer from Tucson, UsefulNotes/{{Arizona}}, who started her career in the 1960s and has gone on to sell over 60 million albums worldwide.

** Got her in trouble in 2004 when during a concert at the Aladdin Theatre in Las Vegas she criticized then-President GeorgeWBush and praised MichaelMoore and his documentary Fahrenheit 9/11. While it drew a mixed reaction from the crowd, it got her evicted from the theatre and became a national controversy. Not that it stopped her, as she continued giving the monologue at her summer concerts through 2006. At one 2006 Canadian concert, she called Bush an idiot and a racist.

** Got her in trouble in 2004 when during a concert at the Aladdin Theatre in Las Vegas she ripped into then-President GeorgeWBush and praised MichaelMoore and his documentary Fahrenheit 9/11. While it drew a mixed reaction from the crowd, it got her evicted from the theatre and became a national controversy. Not that it stopped her, as she continued giving the monologue at her summer concerts through 2006. At one 2006 Canadian concert, she called Bush an idiot and a racist.

* ChristmasCake: At age 70, Ronstadt is single, has never married nor had children, though she adopted two children in the early 1990s.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/linda_rainbow_dress.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"You and I march to the beat of a different drum"]]

'''Linda Ronstadt''' (b. 1946) is an American pop singer from Tucson, UsefulNotes/{{Arizona}}, who started her career in the 1960s and has gone on to sell over 60 million albums worldwide. Among her most famous songs are "You're No Good," "Different Drum," "Long Long Time" and "When Will I Be Loved." She has recorded in a variety of genres. She retired in 2011 after developing Parkinson's disease.



As usual, you can find the basics at [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Ronstadt The Other Wiki]].

[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/linda_rainbow_dress.jpg]]

[[quoteright:191:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lindaronstadt_4923.jpg]]

* PutOnABus: Her declining health has prevented her from appearing at many ceremonies and tributes, including her 2014 induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. When she was unable to appear alongside Dolly Parton and EmmyLou Harris in promoting a new ''Trio'' box set, some of the TV shows they appeared on arraigned for fans to send their well-wishes to her, even displaying them on air.

* BreakoutCharacter: Her early 1970s backup band went on to form their own band, [[Music/Eagles The Eagles]]. You might have heard of them.

** Got her in trouble in 2004 when during a concert at the Aladdin Theatre in Las Vegas she ripped into then-President GeorgeWBush and praised MichaelMoore and his documentary Fahrenheit9/11. While it drew a mixed reaction from the crowd, it got her evicted from the theatre and became a national controversy. Not that it stopped her, as she continued giving the monologue at her summer concerts through 2006. At one 2006 Canadian concert, she called Bush an idiot and a racist.

* VindicatedByHistory: Ronstadt's modern reception as a legacy artist - including being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - is much better than the mixed reception she received in the 1970s.

'''Linda Ronstadt''' (b. 1946) is an American pop singer from Tucson, UsefulNotes/{{Arizona}}, who started her career in the 1960s and has gone on to sell over 60 million albums worldwide. Among her most famous songs are "You're No Good," "Different Drum," "Long Long Time" and "When Will I Be Loved." She has recorded in a variety of genres.

!!! "Tropes Like a Wheel":

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Both on stage and several of her early album covers.

And I think I'm gonna love you for a long long time''"\\
--'''Linda Ronstadt''', "''Long Long Time''"