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| Linda Ronstadt at home in San Francisco - 2013 SF Chronicle Photo |
I remember being captivated by that song back in the late 60's (actually 1967) when I was just a kid as AM radio was first giving way to the more progressive sounds of FM. A primarily folk based group based out of L.A. called The Stone Poneys released a cover of a Mike Nesmith (of the Monkees) song Different Drum. The band, well, it didn't last long. The song, the voice, the singer - Linda Ronstadt - that is a different story altogether. Her voice was smooth, alluring, and pitch perfect. It was also unmistakable and once you heard it, it could never be forgotten. And so a career was launched for a singer better known for her recorded vocal craftsmanship rather that her live performances which were often less than riveting because of extreme stage fright. I saw Ronstadt perform at a Day on the Green concert in the late 70's with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris. You could hear her voice but onstage it was the larger than life personality of Parton who stole the performance.
Through the years Ronstadt released a catalog of beautiful songs and albums in a variety of genres as she explored the craft of singing. Many of her recordings met with massive critical and popular success making her a pop music icon. Her career was nothing short of amazing as she continued to stretch and reach.
But I said 'her career...was amazing'. This week numerous stories were written about Ronstadt as she released an autobiography that focuses on her career as a singer rather than a pop icon. Yep, a book promotion for a singer, a singer who can no longer sing. It was unknown until the last couple of weeks that Linda Ronstadt, now 67 years old, has Parkinson's Disease, a degenerative muscular disease that also affects vocal muscles. Ronstadt has not sung publicly since 2009 and in story after story newspapers from New York to San Francisco wrote she readily admits in interviews that she can't sing a note. She also needs to use braces to walk.
So a beautiful voice has been silenced by a disease, and an incurable disease at that. It's really kind of sad. Or is it? For almost 50 years, Linda Ronstadt was able to achieve the kind of success that allowed her to do exactly what she wanted to do in pursuit of her singing craftsmanship. As a singer, she was an artist in every sense of the word, painting pictures in music that touched the soul. Even now, crippled by disease, we should all have a life so fortunate as hers.
The other things that intrigues me about Ronstadt's life is that now, in basically forced retirement, she could live anywhere she wants (though it was stated that the writing of her autobiography was partially done for income - her wealth was primarily based on recordings and performances, neither of which she can do any longer - Ronstadt wrote very little of her own material so she does not receive the songwriter's royalties), Ronstadt chooses to live in the city of San Francisco where she has lived off and on for several years but is not a native. As a person born and raised in San Francisco myself, I get some measure of satisfaction seeing someone I genuinely admire make the city their home when there are countless more popular options. For someone like Ronstadt, living in San Francisco makes perfect sense away from the world of TMZ, paparazzi, and prying eyes. In general, people in San Francisco are not caught up in other people being a 'celebrity'. You can live a normal life in a great American city which I'm sure she is perfectly content with.
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| NY Times Photo |
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| My favorite Linda Ronstadt album - Mad Love. A harder, edgier sound |
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