Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is an American popular music and country music singer. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American Music Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, and an ALMA Award, and many of her albums have been certified gold, platinum or multiplatinum in the United States and internationally. She has also earned nominations for a Tony Award and a Golden Globe award. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2014. On July 28, 2014, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts and Humanities.

Quotes

• You gave us Rupert Murdoch ,thanks a lot you guys, take him back.
  • Linda Ronstadt, Linda Ronstadt-Don Lane Show,27th October 1983

• For all families, participation in music and the arts, can help people reclaim and achieve the American dream.
  • Linda Ronstadt, Arts Advocacy Day 2009 Congressional Hearing, 1 May 2009

• I can sing in my brain…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.
  • On how she still sings in her head since retiring from music due to having Parkinson’s disease in “Linda Ronstadt Talks Illness, ‘Trio’ Album in Candid ‘CBS Sunday Morning’ Interview” in Rolling Stone (2019 Feb 4)

• I feel if I were to organize it correctly I would try to sing like a Mexican and think like a German. You know what I mean? I get it mixed up.
  • On her mixed heritage in a 1978 interview (as quoted in “Linda Ronstadt on New Live Album, Life With Parkinson’s and Modern Country Music” in Rolling Stone; 2019 Feb 7)

• The thing I’ve always thought about music is that it’s not competitive, it’s cooperative. I thought that was a really good example. We chose the songs because all three of us loved them so much we were afraid we’d get sick if we didn’t record them. Then we’d choose the arrangement by who was going to sing lead, by who sounded best…
  • On working with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris on the Trio albums in “Linda Ronstadt on New Live Album, Life With Parkinson’s and Modern Country Music” in Rolling Stone (2019 Feb 7)

• …I was singing on the sort of the flat, lower part of my voice. I didn't have all the color and the breath and the sort of airy halo that comes. There's a lot of different textures that you can dial in and out on an unconscious level when you're singing. And you just bring in these colors and textures, and they all express emotion in some way or another. And I didn't have that with me. I was - I thought of myself as a painter that was painting with a limited palette, so I thought, well, I got some darks and lights here. And I've got some maybe some umber, you know? And I can put that in, and I just have to make a really strong drawing, make the image as bold as I can. And that's what I was trying to do with this song.
  • On how she initially coped with singing after her Parkinson’s diagnosis in “Linda Ronstadt On Making Music: 'I Knew How To Sing My Whole Life'” in NPR (2019 Sep 13)

• It's always like that when you record: You always think that you can do a better [job]. You know, the whole thing with recording is you have to know when to turn off the tape machine and just stop recording because you want to keep fixing, fixing, fixing, you know? In those days, we didn't fix anything.
  • On letting go of perfectionism in “In Memoir, Linda Ronstadt Describes Her 'Simple Dreams'” in NPR (2013 Sep 17)

• The culture supports serial monogamy, and I think I had plenty of that, and I think I was reasonably monogamous in a serial way. But I'm not a good compromiser. I think I don't have the knack for that kind of compromise. I admire people's marriages, and I think it's a wonderful thing to have, but I don't think it's the only way to live…
  • On her view of marriage and serial monogamy in “In Memoir, Linda Ronstadt Describes Her 'Simple Dreams'” in NPR (2013 Sep 17)

External links