Linda Ronstadt was born in the city of Tucson, Arizona in 1946 to a wealthy family who owned the company called F. Ronstadt Co. She had two brothers, Michael and Peter, and a sister named Gretchen who all lived on a ten acre ranch outside of the city. Their family’s ranch, as well as the family itself, was featured in an article of Family Circle in 1953.

Linda Ronstadt

The thing you have to be prepared for is that other people don’t always dream your dream.

Arizona Born

Linda Ronstadt was born in the city of Tucson, Arizona in 1946 to a wealthy family who owned the company called F. Ronstadt Co. She had two brothers, Michael and Peter, and a sister named Gretchen who all lived on a ten acre ranch outside of the city. Their family’s ranch, as well as the family itself, was featured in an article of Family Circle in 1953. Linda would go on to be the only one in the entertainment industry carving out a very successful career in the folk rock category of American music and was said to be the highest paid woman in rock n’ roll of her time. She would also have many moments of controversy when she has expressed her views of certain politically fueled aspects of life.

Music Career

Linda Ronstadt would begin her folk rock career with a group called the Stone Poneys in 1964. The group is most well known for their single called Different Drum that reached up to number thirteen on the Billboard Hot 100. The hit would be one of her most compelling songs although she would go on to release hundreds more. The group ended up moving on from one another before they would release their third album which would prompt her to begin a career as a solo musician. From her previous group, she was contracted by Capitol Records, with whom she would release her first solo album.

Her first album was to be titled Hand Sown…Home Grown that was released in 1969. This was actually considered a first alternative country album by a female musician, which strayed from her previous form of the folk rock genre. During this time, she would also be the voice for television commercials such as Remington Electric Razors as did Frank Zappa. Their catch phrase was “Cleans you, thrills you…may even keep you from getting busted.”

Gaining Ground

Her second solo album would be released in March of 1970 called Silk Purse and was recorded in Nashville Tennessee where the country music industry was a thriving business. The album would give Linda Ronstadt her first hit as a solo musician from the single Long Long Time and would also be her first Grammy nomination. She would begin touring across the country where she would later admit that it really took a toll on her emotionally and physically as the country rock scene was not a very strong item at the time and tours were long and every day.

1973 would see Linda’s fourth studio album titled Don’t Cry Now that was co produced by Peter Boylan. With the release of her fourth album, she was beginning to get the attention of mainstream country and rock and this would lead to bigger venues to play. She would open up for Neil Young on his Time Fades Away tour where she would meet her long time collaborator Emmylou Harris.

Legend of Her Era

In the book by author Andrew Greeley called God in Popular Culture, he would go on to say the Ronstadt was the most gifted female singer of her time due to her wide popularity in both country and rock music. He would also say that she was the first rock n’ roll superstar and she would later be heralded by Redbook magazine as “the most successful female rock star in the world and Time magazine would comment on how rare it was that a female musician would survive in the dirty world of rock n’ roll. She had many albums that were nominated for awards such as the Grammy Award winning album Heat Like A Wheel which was produced in 1974.

Did You Know

• Linda Ronstadt would go on to vocalize her praise for the movie Fahrenheit 911 at one of her performances and receive very mixed emotions for her many fans for voicing her opinion.

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