Saturday Night Classics

 

From Wikipedia:

Ronstadt reduced her activity after 2000 when she felt her singing voice deteriorating, releasing her last full-length album in 2004 and performing her last live concert in 2009. She announced her retirement in 2011 and revealed shortly afterwards that she is no longer able to sing as a result of a degenerative condition later determined to be progressive supranuclear palsy. Since then, Ronstadt has continued to make public appearances, going on a number of public speaking tours in the 2010s.

[This is posted early to accommodate the Jewish Sabbath. I’ll be around for a little longer and then will see you on the other side!]

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  1. MWD B612 "Dawg" Member
    MWD B612 "Dawg"
    @danok1

    I love Linda Ronstadt. Such a great voice, and she wouldn’t let herself be pigeon-holed as a rock singer or country singer, etc. Her album Canciones de Mi Padre is the largest selling non-English album (and a beautiful record). It was sad that she had to retire.

    (NB: Yes, I know she’s a lefty. That doesn’t affect her artistry.)

    • #1
  2. Rodin Member
    Rodin
    @Rodin

    MWD B612 "Dawg" (View Comment):

    I love Linda Ronstadt. Such a great voice, and she wouldn’t let herself be pigeon-holed as a rock singer or country singer, etc. Her album Canciones de Mi Padre is the largest selling non-English album (and a beautiful record). It was sad that she had to retire.

    (NB: Yes, I know she’s a lefty. That doesn’t affect her artistry.)

    Ditto. 

    • #2
  3. OldPhil Coolidge
    OldPhil
    @OldPhil

    MWD B612 "Dawg" (View Comment):

    I love Linda Ronstadt. Such a great voice, and she wouldn’t let herself be pigeon-holed as a rock singer or country singer, etc. Her album Canciones de Mi Padre is the largest selling non-English album (and a beautiful record). It was sad that she had to retire.

    (NB: Yes, I know she’s a lefty. That doesn’t affect her artistry.)

    Saw her in concert a few times in the 70s/80s. Once, when we were on our honeymoon in Bethany Beach DE, we drove back to MD one night for a concert at Merriweather Post Pavilion. Also, at a “Jerry Brown for President” concert in Landover, MD with the Eagles, Joe Walsh (before he joined the band), Jackson Browne, and Dan Fogleberg. Like you say, music trumps politics.

    • #3
  4. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    Still my favorite.  This one speaks to me.

     

    • #4
  5. Dotorimuk Coolidge
    Dotorimuk
    @Dotorimuk

    Dig it.

    • #5
  6. Rōnin Coolidge
    Rōnin
    @Ronin

    Breaking my heart tonight @susanquinn

    What memories. 

    • #6
  7. DaveSchmidt Coolidge
    DaveSchmidt
    @DaveSchmidt

    As I heard today, it was better to be in your 20s in the 1970s than in your 70s in the 2020s.  

    • #7
  8. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    DaveSchmidt (View Comment):

    As I heard today, it was better to be in your 20s in the 1970s than in your 70s in the 2020s.

    Er…  That describes me today!  I graduated from college in 1971.  I was 73 on my last birthday.

    • #8
  9. I. M. Fine Inactive
    I. M. Fine
    @IMFine

    MWD B612 "Dawg" (View Comment):

    I love Linda Ronstadt. Such a great voice, and she wouldn’t let herself be pigeon-holed as a rock singer or country singer, etc.

    True and true. I had the great pleasure of hearing Linda Ronstadt perform the very legit-soprano role of Mabel in the Broadway production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance with Kevin Kline many years ago. (She also performed this role in the hilarious movie version.) Not only did she perform the music beautifully, but she also displayed some real comedic acting chops. Her vocal range spans several octaves, and her soprano register has a bright clarity with a marked vibrato that was perfect for the world of light opera. She could have had a successful career in a number of vastly different musical genres. What a talent.

    • #9
  10. MWD B612 "Dawg" Member
    MWD B612 "Dawg"
    @danok1

    I. M. Fine (View Comment):

    MWD B612 "Dawg" (View Comment):

    I love Linda Ronstadt. Such a great voice, and she wouldn’t let herself be pigeon-holed as a rock singer or country singer, etc.

    True and true. I had the great pleasure of hearing Linda Ronstadt perform the very legit-soprano role of Mabel in the Broadway production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance with Kevin Kline many years ago. (She also performed this role in the hilarious movie version.) Not only did she perform the music beautifully, but she also displayed some real comedic acting chops. Her vocal range spans several octaves, and her soprano register has a bright clarity with a marked vibrato that was perfect for the world of light opera. She could have had a successful career in a number of vastly different musical genres. What a talent.

    Did not know the exact range of her voice, but the range she spans in her cover of “Blue Bayou” is amazing.

     

    • #10
  11. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

     From Randy Webster’s family: 
    We just wanted to say thanks for all of the comments you all made after his passing.
    He would have given you all a big smile for continuing SNC, so thanks.
    Occasionally, I would recommend some songs to Randy, and this is  one of the few that he used. It seems to be appropriate under the circumstance of our loss.
    Keep on Smilin :-)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpTUAWz1hdE
    ——–
    @randyweivoda = I enjoyed meeting you and the others at the meetup in KY (Red State BBQ)

    • #11
  12. Doug Watt Member
    Doug Watt
    @DougWatt

    Linda Ronstadt a true Tucsonan. Tucson has long history of assimilation, that makes it interesting, and well worth a visit.

    Linda Maria Ronstadt was born in Tucson, Arizona, on July 15, 1946, the third of four children of Gilbert Ronstadt (1911–1995), a prosperous machinery merchant who ran the F. Ronstadt Co. and Ruth Mary (née Copeman) Ronstadt (1914–1982), a homemaker.

    Ronstadt was raised on the family’s 10-acre ranch with her siblings Peter (who served as Tucson’s Chief of Police for ten years, 1981–1991), Michael, and Gretchen. The family was featured in Family Circle magazine in 1953.

    Ronstadt’s father came from a pioneering Arizona ranching family and was of Mexican descent with a German male ancestor. The family’s influence on and contributions to Arizona’s history, including wagon making, commerce, pharmacies, and music, are chronicled in the library of the University of Arizona.

    Her great-grandfather, graduate engineer Friedrich August Ronstadt (who went by Federico Augusto Ronstadt), immigrated firstly to Sonora, Mexico and later to the Southwest (then a part of Mexico) in the 1840s from Hanover, Germany.

    He married a Mexican citizen, and eventually settled in Tucson. In 1991, the City of Tucson opened its central transit terminal on March 16 and dedicated it to Linda’s grandfather, Federico José María Ronstadt, a local pioneer businessman; he was a wagon maker whose early contribution to the city’s mobility included six mule-drawn streetcars delivered in 1903–04.

    Ronstadt’s mother Ruth Mary, of German, English, and Dutch ancestry, was raised in Flint, Michigan. Ruth Mary’s father, Lloyd Groff Copeman, a prolific inventor and holder of nearly 700 patents, invented an early form of the electric toaster, many refrigerator devices, the grease gun, the first electric stove, and an early form of the microwave oven. His flexible rubber ice cube tray earned him millions of dollars in royalties. –from Wikipedia

    • #12
  13. El Rando Moderator
    El Rando
    @RandyWeivoda

    Linda Ronstadt has so, so many great songs.  I don’t know that this one ever got any radio airplay, but I think it is lovely.

    Randy Webster (View Comment):
    @randyweivoda = I enjoyed meeting you and the others at the meetup in KY (Red State BBQ)

    Thanks.  I wish I could have spent more time with Randy in person.

    • #13
  14. CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill
    @CarolJoy

    El Rando (View Comment):

    Linda Ronstadt has so, so many great songs. I don’t know that this one ever got any radio airplay, but I think it is lovely.

    Randy Webster (View Comment):
    @ randyweivoda = I enjoyed meeting you and the others at the meetup in KY (Red State BBQ)

    Thanks. I wish I could have spent more time with Randy in person.

    I love Linda, and had never heard this song. What a lovely piece, and sung by a favorite artist.

    Is this from her first solo album? I don’t even recognize the cover.

     

    • #14
  15. El Rando Moderator
    El Rando
    @RandyWeivoda

    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill (View Comment):

    El Rando (View Comment):

    Linda Ronstadt has so, so many great songs. I don’t know that this one ever got any radio airplay, but I think it is lovely.

    Randy Webster (View Comment):
    @ randyweivoda = I enjoyed meeting you and the others at the meetup in KY (Red State BBQ)

    Thanks. I wish I could have spent more time with Randy in person.

    I love Linda, and had never heard this song. What a lovely piece, and sung by a favorite artist.

    Is this from her first solo album? I don’t even recognize the cover.

     

    It is from the album simply named “Linda Ronstadt,” which was released in 1971.  You can see her discography here.  If you look at the tracks from that album, there are a lot of good songs on there.  I never knew she covered the Johnny Cash song, I Still Miss Someone.  Let’s listen, shall we?

     

    • #15
  16. Dotorimuk Coolidge
    Dotorimuk
    @Dotorimuk

    El Rando (View Comment):

    Linda Ronstadt has so, so many great songs. I don’t know that this one ever got any radio airplay, but I think it is lovely.

    Randy Webster (View Comment):
    @ randyweivoda = I enjoyed meeting you and the others at the meetup in KY (Red State BBQ)

    Thanks. I wish I could have spent more time with Randy in person.

    A Neil Young cover. Good one!

    • #16
  17. EB Thatcher
    EB
    @EB

    The only time I saw Linda Ronstadt live was when I was in college.  She was the opening act for Neil Young.  

    • #17
  18. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    If I have the dates right, Linda stopped singing shortly after this performance. It was so lovely and heartfelt, I couldn’t resist putting it up–

     

    • #18
  19. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    I appreciate an artist who does recognize when it’s time to exit the stage.  It’s kind of heartbreaking sometimes when you see someone still out on tour and their voice is just shot.  As an example, I listened to samples of the last Meat Loaf album.  This is someone who had a mighty voice in his prime.  That last album should never have been made.  Linda was wise enough to know that she could no longer deliver the goods and set show business aside.

    • #19
  20. EB Thatcher
    EB
    @EB

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):
    If I have the dates right, Linda stopped singing shortly after this performance. It was so lovely and heartfelt, I couldn’t resist putting it up–

    I think you may be right.  Somewhere I have the CD that she and Neville did together.  Her voice in this video above seems weaker than I remember the song on the CD  sounding.

     

    • #20
  21. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    EB (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):
    If I have the dates right, Linda stopped singing shortly after this performance. It was so lovely and heartfelt, I couldn’t resist putting it up–

    I think you may be right. Somewhere I have the CD that she and Neville did together. Her voice in this video above seems weaker than I remember the song on the CD sounding.

     

    That’s a fantastic album – Cry Like A Rainstorm, Howl Like The Wind.

    • #21
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