Linda Ronstadt: from queen of rock to devastating diagnosis

Linda Ronstadt is a music icon who has always marched to the beat of her own drum. Bold, diverse and powerful as her voice, her choices made her fans across genres and languages. But in 2013, she announced her forced retirement after a devastating medical diagnosis. This is her story.

Linda was born in 1946 in Tucson, Arizona to a family steeped in music. Her father played guitar and sang traditional Mexican songs on the family ranch, which later influenced her genre-defying career. In her 2013 memoir Simple Dreams, she wrote that she knew she wanted to be a singer when she was four.

In the mid-1960s, Linda joined the folk-rock trio Stone Poneys while she was still in highschool. Their 1967 hit 'Different Drum' became her breakout moment and also set the tone for the ground-breaking career that would follow.

After the Stone Poneys disbanded, she moved to the genre of Southern California country rock, releasing hit after hit. Albums like 'Heart Like a Wheel' and 'Simple Dreams' featured chart-toppers like 'You're No Good' and 'Blue Bayou,' made her known as the “Queen of Rock.”

Dirty Linen magazine describes her as the "first true woman rock 'n' roll superstar.” By the late 1970s, she was the first female artist to sell out arenas and one of the first to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. She was the top-selling female singer of the 1970s, according to Cashbox.

“I never felt that rock ‘n’ roll defined me,” she told journalist Randy Lewis. . “There was an unyielding attitude that came with the music that involved being confrontational, dismissive and aggressive — or, as my mother would say, ungracious. …Being considered, for a period in the ‘70s, as the Queen of Rock made me uneasy, as my musical devotions often lay elsewhere.”

Despite her label begging her to stick to what was working, in the 1980s, she traded a sure thing for her musical passions, exploring a huge range of genres. “Rampant eclecticism is my middle name,” she said, according to Windy City Times. And she was successful, with the records in the 1980s proving as commercially and critically successful as in the 1970s.

In the summer of 1980, Linda started rehearsing for the Broadway operetta 'The Pirates of Penzance.' The role earned her rave reviews and a Tony nomination. It also turned into a film version, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination.

She began experimenting with pop standards in 1981, but eventually teamed up with legendary arranger Nelson Riddle. They wowed audiences with a trilogy is traditional pop albums: ‘Whats’ New’ (1983), ‘Lush Life’ (1984), and ‘For Sentimental Reasons’ (1986).

In 1987, Linda joined forces with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris to release the Grammy-winning album 'Trio.' Their harmonies were pure magic, blending country and folk traditions. They followed up with ‘Trio II’ in 1994.

In 1987, Linda released 'Canciones de Mi Padre,' an album celebrating traditional mariachi music. It became the best-selling non-English album in the U.S. and won a Grammy Award for Best Mexican-American Performance.

In the 1990s, she returned to country rock, bringing her back onto the country singles chart. In 1996, she even produced the Grammy Award-winning album for children ‘Dedicated to the One I Love,’ which reinvented classic rock songs as lullabies. Throughout the decade, she began getting back into rock and in the 2000s, she also released a Christmas and a jazz album.

In 2009, Linda gave her last performance citing the decline of her singing voice. Fans were left heartbroken but grateful for decades of unforgettable music. "I'd start to sing and then it would just clamp up," she told CBS Sunday Morning in 2019. "My voice would freeze."

In 2012, as she was finishing up her biography, she received a bombshell diagnosis: Parkinson’s disease. However, she had symptoms since around 2000. She went public with her condition in 2013, revealing that not only could she not sing anymore, but she needed a wheelchair or walking sticks to get around.

The news caused her fans, friends and family to flock even closer. In 2014, she was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama. She moved from Arizona to live on the San Francisco coast near her two grown children.

In 2019, the critically acclaimed documentary 'Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice' premiered, celebrating her career and resilience. It introduced a new generation to her music and spirit. Variety has also reported that Selena Gomez will play the singer in an upcoming biopic.

In 2024, her health situation worsened dramatically. She came down with COVID-19. She was hospitalized twice and had lost her capacity for speech, hearing and walking. But, by the summer, she told Tuscon.com that she was regaining her power of speech, though sadly, her hearing loss is probably permanent.

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