Editing Linda Ronstadt (section)

== Career overview ==
=== Early influences ===
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| quote=I don't record (any type of genre of music) that I didn't hear in my family's living room by the time I was 10. It just is my rule that I don't break because&nbsp;... I can't do it authentically&nbsp;... I really think that you're just hard-wiring (synapses) in your brain up until the age of maybe 12 or 10, and there are certain things you can't learn in an authentic way after that.
| source=—Linda Ronstadt<ref name="Asheralbumsales" />
}}

Ronstadt's early family life was filled with music and tradition, which influenced the stylistic and musical choices she later made in her career. Growing up, she listened to many types of music, including [[Music of Mexico|Mexican music]], which was sung by her entire family and was a staple in her childhood.<ref name="AARP-07">{{Cite web |last=Leach |first=Anita Mabante |date=August 2007 |title=Linda Ronstadt: The music legend opens up to AARP Segunda Juventud Online |url=http://www.aarpsegundajuventud.org/english/entertainment/2007-AS/07AS_ronstadt.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081222084100/http://www.aarpsegundajuventud.org/english/entertainment/2007-AS/07AS_ronstadt.html |archive-date=December 22, 2008 |access-date=November 25, 2012}}</ref>

Ronstadt has remarked that all the styles she has recorded on her own records{{snds}}rock and roll, rhythm and blues, gospel, opera, country, choral, and mariachi{{snds}}are music she heard her family sing in their living room or heard played on the radio by the age of 10. She credits her mother for her appreciation of [[Gilbert and Sullivan]] and her father for introducing her to the [[traditional pop]] and [[Great American Songbook]] repertoire that she would, in turn, help reintroduce to an entire generation.<ref name="Asheralbumsales">{{Cite web |last=Kruger |first=Debbie |date=June 17, 1998 |title=Linda Ronstadt Interview 17 June 1998 at Linda's home in Tucson, Arizona |url=http://www.debbiekruger.com/writer/freelance/ronstadt_transcript.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928113552/http://www.debbiekruger.com/writer/freelance/ronstadt_transcript.html |archive-date=September 28, 2007 |access-date=July 6, 2007 |publisher=debbiekruger.com}}</ref><ref name=starbulletin />

{{quote box|quote=If I didn't hear it on the radio, or if my dad wasn't playing it on the piano, or if my brother wasn't playing it on the guitar or singing it in his boys' choir, or my mother and sister weren't practicing a Broadway tune or a Gilbert and Sullivan song, then I can't do it today. It's as simple as that. All of my influences and my authenticity are a direct result of the music played in that Tucson living room.<ref name="McGrath03">{{Cite news |last=McGrath |first=T.J. |title=Linda Ronstadt: Silver Threads & Golden Needles |publisher=Dirty Linen |issue=#106 – June/July 2003 |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/dirty2003.html |url-status=live |access-date=November 15, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305072054/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/dirty2003.html |archive-date=March 5, 2016}}</ref>|source =—Linda Ronstadt|align = left|width = 200px}}

Early on, her singing style had been influenced by singers such as [[Lola Beltrán]] and [[Édith Piaf]]; she has called their singing and rhythms "more like [[Music of Greece|Greek music]] ... It's sort of like 6/8 [[time signature]] ... very hard driving and very intense."<ref name="influences">{{Cite web |date=February 1971 |title=Sanity on the Line Every Show |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/arthitp1.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331054553/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/arthitp1.htm |archive-date=March 31, 2016 |access-date=May 7, 2007 |website=Hit Parader}}</ref> She also drew influence from country singer [[Hank Williams]].

She has said that "all girl singers" eventually "have to curtsy to [[Ella Fitzgerald]] and [[Billie Holiday]]".<ref name="tiptheirhat" /> Of [[Maria Callas]], Ronstadt says, "There's no one in her league. That's it. Period. I learn more ... about singing rock n roll from listening to Maria Callas records than I ever would from listening to pop music for a month of Sundays.&nbsp;... She's the greatest chick singer ever."<ref name="NYTGarden">{{cite news |last=[[Stephen Holden|Holden, Stephen]] |date=April 19, 1995 |title=At Lunch With: Linda Ronstadt; And This Is What 48 Looks Like |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/19/garden/at-lunch-with-linda-ronstadt-and-this-is-what-48-looks-like.html?scp=1&sq=%22And+This+Is+What+48+Looks+Like%22&st=nyt |url-status=live |access-date=September 5, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130518104422/http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/19/garden/at-lunch-with-linda-ronstadt-and-this-is-what-48-looks-like.html?scp=1&sq=%22And+This+Is+What+48+Looks+Like%22&st=nyt |archive-date=May 18, 2013}}</ref> She admires Callas for her musicianship and her attempts to push 20th-century singing, particularly opera, back into the [[bel canto]] "natural style of singing".<ref name="kqed">{{cite web |date=July 19, 2006 |title=Linda Ronstadt: Forum with Michael Krasny |url=http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R607191000 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929082927/http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R607191000/ |archive-date=September 29, 2007 |access-date=July 6, 2007 |publisher=[[KQED-FM]] radio |format=MP3, transcript}}</ref>

A self-described product of American radio of the 1950s and 1960s, Ronstadt is a fan of its eclectic and diverse music programming.<ref name="starbulletin">{{cite news |last=Burlingame |first=Burl |title=Silver threads golden moments: After 35 years, Linda Ronstadt returns to sing in Diamond Head Crater |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |url=http://archives.starbulletin.com/2006/03/28/features/story01.html |url-status=live |access-date=April 9, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100808101920/http://archives.starbulletin.com/2006/03/28/features/story01.html |archive-date=August 8, 2010}}</ref>

=== Beginning of professional career ===
At age 14, Ronstadt formed a folk trio with her brother Peter and sister Gretchen. The group played coffeehouses, fraternity houses, and other small venues, billing themselves as "the Union City Ramblers" and "the Three Ronstadts", and they even recorded themselves at a Tucson studio under the name "the New Union Ramblers".<ref name=MIXMag2000 /> Their repertoire included the music they grew up on{{snds}}folk, country, bluegrass, and Mexican.<ref name="ramblers">{{Cite web |last=Barnard |first=Russ |date=October 1978 |title=Linda Ronstadt: The Queen of Rock & Roll is also a Queen of Country Music |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artcm78.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808092706/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artcm78.htm |archive-date=August 8, 2007 |access-date=May 11, 2007 |website=[[Country Music (magazine)|Country Music]]}}</ref> But increasingly, Ronstadt wanted to make a union of folk music and rock 'n' roll,<ref name=hamill /> and in 1964, after a semester at the University of Arizona,<ref>{{cite web |title=Linda Ronstadt |url=https://alumni.arizona.edu/notable-alumni/linda-ronstadt |website=University of Arizona Alumni |access-date=June 6, 2023}}</ref> the 18-year-old decided to move to Los Angeles.<ref name="LATimes">{{Cite news |last=Lewis |first=Randy |date=August 20, 2010 |title=Linda Ronstadt remembers Kenny Edwards: 'A beacon to me' |url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2010/08/linda-ronstadt-kenny-edwards.html |url-status=live |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100823080906/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2010/08/linda-ronstadt-kenny-edwards.html |archive-date=August 23, 2010 |access-date=September 4, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Soulful" /><ref name="Claire">{{Cite book |last=Claire |first=Vivian |title=Linda Ronstadt |publisher=Flash Books |year=1978 |isbn=0-8256-3918-2 |location=New York |page=10}}</ref>

=== The Stone Poneys ===
{{Main|Stone Poneys}}

Ronstadt visited a friend from Tucson, [[Bobby Kimmel]], in Los Angeles during Easter break from college in 1964, and later that year, shortly before her eighteenth birthday,<ref name=LATimes /> decided to move there permanently to form a band with him.<ref name="Soulful" /> Kimmel had already begun co-writing folk-rock songs with guitarist-songwriter [[Kenny Edwards]], and eventually the three of them were signed by [[Nik Venet]] to [[Capitol Records|Capitol]] in the summer of 1966 as "[[the Stone Poneys]]". The trio released three albums in a 15-month period in 1967{{ndash}}68: ''[[The Stone Poneys (album)|The Stone Poneys]]''; ''[[Evergreen, Volume 2]]''; and ''[[Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. III]]''. The band is widely known for their hit single "[[Different Drum]]" (written by [[Michael Nesmith]] prior to his joining [[the Monkees]]), which reached number 13 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] chart as well as number 12 in ''[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cashbox]]'' magazine. Nearly 50 years later, the song remains one of Ronstadt's most popular recordings.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Linda Ronstadt |url=http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/linda-ronstadt |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110704220240/http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/linda-ronstadt |archive-date=July 4, 2011 |access-date=April 1, 2009 |publisher=Rhapsody}}</ref>

=== Solo career ===
Still contractually obligated to Capitol Records, Ronstadt released her first solo album, ''[[Hand Sown ... Home Grown]]'', in 1969. It has been called the first [[alternative country]] record by a female recording artist.<ref name="Linen106" /> During this same period, she contributed to the ''[[Music from Free Creek]]'' "super session" project.

Ronstadt provided the vocals for some commercials during this period, including one for [[Remington Products|Remington]] electric razors, in which a multitracked Ronstadt and [[Frank Zappa]] claimed that the electric razor "cleans you, thrills you ... may even keep you from getting busted".<ref name="Remington">{{Cite web |title=Remington Electric Razor |url=http://home.comcast.net/~westhamptonpg/razor.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051217233342/http://home.comcast.net/~westhamptonpg/razor.html |archive-date=December 17, 2005 |access-date=June 16, 2007 |website=The Linda Ronstadt Download Center |publisher=westhamptonpg personal webpage}}</ref>

Ronstadt's second solo album, ''[[Silk Purse (Linda Ronstadt album)|Silk Purse]]'', was released in March 1970. Recorded entirely in Nashville, it was produced by [[Elliot Mazer]], whom Ronstadt chose on the advice of [[Janis Joplin]], who had worked with her on the ''[[Cheap Thrills (Big Brother and the Holding Company album)|Cheap Thrills]]'' album.<ref name="Capitol">{{Cite press release |date=November 8, 2005 |title=Linda Ronstadt's 1969–1974 Capitol Records Solo Output Presented in New 2-CD Collection, 'The Best Of Linda Ronstadt: The Capitol Years' |url=http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/11-08-2005/0004211041&EDATE= |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011225100/http://prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=%2Fwww%2Fstory%2F11-08-2005%2F0004211041&EDATE= |archive-date=October 11, 2007 |access-date=September 30, 2007 |agency=PR Newswire}}</ref> The ''Silk Purse'' album cover showed Ronstadt in a muddy pigpen, while the back and inside cover depicted her onstage wearing bright red. Ronstadt has stated that she was not pleased with the album, although it provided her with her first solo hit, the multi-format single "[[Long Long Time]]", and earned her first Grammy nomination (for Best Contemporary Vocal Performance/Female).

==== Touring ====
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| quote=[[Judy Henske]], who was the then reigning queen of folk music, said to me at [[The Troubadour (Los Angeles)|The Troubadour]], "Honey, in this town there are four sexes. Men, women, homosexuals, and girl singers." |source=—Linda Ronstadt<ref name="Windy">{{Cite web |last=Shapiro |first=Gregg |date=February 1, 2003 |title=The Very Best: Linda Ronstadt |url=http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=451 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061121142054/http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=451 |archive-date=November 21, 2006 |access-date=July 31, 2008 |website=Windy City Times}}</ref>}}

Soon after she went solo in the late 1960s, one of her first backing bands was the pioneering country-rock band [[Swampwater]], which combined [[Cajun music|Cajun]] and [[swamp rock]] elements in their music. Its members included Cajun fiddler [[Gib Guilbeau]] and [[John Beland]], who later joined [[the Flying Burrito Brothers]],<ref name="swamprock">{{Cite web |last=jason |date=May 20, 2007 |title=Swampwater "Swampwater" |url=http://therisingstorm.net/swampwater-swampwater/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609171143/http://therisingstorm.net/swampwater-swampwater/ |archive-date=June 9, 2007 |access-date=June 14, 2007 |website=The Rising Storm}}</ref> as well as Stan Pratt, Thad Maxwell, and Eric White, brother of [[Clarence White]] of [[the Byrds]]. Swampwater went on to back Ronstadt during TV appearances on ''[[The Johnny Cash Show (TV series)|The Johnny Cash Show]]''<ref name=swampwater>{{Cite web |last=Roberts |first=John |date=May 2003 <!-- Article refers to 2000 in the past; 2003 was the only year with Monday, May 19, between 2000 and the accessdate--> |title=John Beland |url=http://www.barkingspider.abelgratis.com/artists/beland.shtml?functions |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070803012815/http://www.barkingspider.abelgratis.com/artists/beland.shtml?functions |archive-date=August 3, 2007 |access-date=June 14, 2007 |website=The Barking Spider}}</ref> and ''[[The Mike Douglas Show]]'', and at the [[Big Sur Folk Festival]].<ref name="BigSur">{{Cite web |title=Gib Guilbeau, 1970–1972 |url=http://members.chello.at/thomas.aubrunner/gib4.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609103002/http://members.chello.at/thomas.aubrunner/gib4.htm |archive-date=June 9, 2007 |access-date=June 14, 2007 |website=Swampwater}}</ref>

Another backing band included [[Don Henley]], [[Glenn Frey]], [[Bernie Leadon]], and [[Randy Meisner]], who went on to form the [[Eagles (band)|Eagles]]. They toured with her for a short period in 1971 and played on ''[[Linda Ronstadt (album)|Linda Ronstadt]]'', her eponymous third album, from which a failed single, Ronstadt's version of Browne's "[[Rock Me on the Water]]", was drawn. At this stage, Ronstadt began working with producer and boyfriend [[John Boylan (record producer)|John Boylan]]. She said, "As soon as I started working with John Boylan, I started co-producing myself. I was always a part of my productions. But I always needed a producer who would carry out my whims."<ref name=MIXMag2000 /> Also in 1971, Ronstadt began talking with [[David Geffen]] about moving from Capitol Records to Geffen's [[Asylum Records]] label.<ref>See generally Tom King, ''The Operator: David Geffen Builds, Buys, and Sells the New Hollywood'', p. 159, 173, Broadway Books (New York 2001).</ref>

In 1975, Ronstadt performed shows with Jackson Browne, the Eagles, and [[Toots and the Maytals]].<ref name="Eliot2004">{{Cite book |last=Eliot |first=Marc |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o_EjE6-iyQoC&pg=PA119 |title=To the Limit: The Untold Story of the Eagles |date=December 29, 2004 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=978-0-306-81398-6 |pages=119– |access-date=December 15, 2016}}{{Dead link |date=April 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> In these shows she would sing lead vocal on numerous songs including the Eagles' "[[Desperado (Eagles song)|Desperado]]" while singing background and playing tambourine and acoustic guitar on others.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK7zrQohecE |title=The Eagles Long Run Live &#124; Full Music Documentary Movie &#124; Don Henley &#124; Linda Ronstadt |website=[[YouTube]] |access-date=March 1, 2023 |archive-date=March 1, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230301234706/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK7zrQohecE |url-status=live}}</ref>

Several years before Ronstadt became what author Gerri Hirshey called the first "arena-class rock diva" with "hugely anticipated tours"<ref name="doubleplatinum" /> she began her solo career touring the North American concert circuit.

Being on the road took its toll both emotionally and professionally. In a 1976 ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' interview with [[Cameron Crowe]], Ronstadt said, "they haven't invented a word for that loneliness that everybody goes through on the road. The world is tearing by you, real fast, and all these people are looking at you.&nbsp;... People see me in my 'girl-singer' suit."<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Crowe |first=Cameron |date=December 2, 1976 |title=Linda Ronstadt: The Million-Dollar Woman |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artrs76.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706155746/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artrs76.htm |archive-date=July 6, 2008 |access-date=July 31, 2008 |magazine=Rolling Stone}}</ref> In 1974 she told [[Peter Knobler]] in ''[[Crawdaddy!|Crawdaddy]]'', "People are always taking advantage of you; everybody that's interested in you has got an angle."<ref>Knobler, Peter. [http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artcrw74.htm "Linda Ronstadt: It's Not That Easy Being the Pretty Girl on the Block"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305010004/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artcrw74.htm |date=March 5, 2016}} ''[[Crawdaddy]]'', June 1974.</ref>

There were few "girl singers" on the rock circuit at the time, and they were relegated to "groupie level when in a crowd of a bunch of rock and roll guys", a status Ronstadt avoided.<ref name="groupie">{{Cite web |last=Senoff |first=Pete |date=December 26, 1969 |title=Female Rocker Roundup: Linda Ronstadt, Lynn Carey, Lydia Pense, Nansi Nevins – Part 1 |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/intfus1.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314091408/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/intfus1.htm |archive-date=March 14, 2012 |access-date=November 25, 2012 |website=Fusion}}</ref> Relating to men on a professional level as fellow musicians led to competition, insecurity, bad romances, and a series of boyfriend-managers. At the time, she admired singers like [[Maria Muldaur]] for not sacrificing their femininity but says she felt enormous self-imposed pressure to compete with "the boys" at every level.<ref name="Soulful">{{Cite book |last=Orloff |first=Katherine |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/intwom2.htm |title=Rock 'n' Roll Woman |publisher=Nash Pub |year=1974 |access-date=May 8, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927184415/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/intwom2.htm |archive-date=September 27, 2007 |url-status=live}}</ref> She noted in a 1969 interview in ''Fusion'' magazine that it was difficult being a single "chick singer" with an all-male backup band.<ref name=groupie /> According to her, it was difficult to get a band of backing musicians because of their ego problem of being labeled sidemen for a female singer.<ref name="backupband2">{{Cite web |last=Senoff |first=Pete |date=December 26, 1969 |title=Female Rocker Roundup: Linda Ronstadt, Lynn Carey, Lydia Pense, Nansi Nevins – Part 2 |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/intfus2.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314090835/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/intfus2.htm |archive-date=March 14, 2012 |access-date=November 25, 2012 |website=Fusion Magazine}} ([http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/intfus1.htm Part 1] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314091408/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/intfus1.htm |date=March 14, 2012}})</ref>

==== Collaborations with Peter Asher ====
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| quote=In general when you fall in love with an artist and their music, the plan is a fairly simple one. .. get people to go and see them, and make a record that you think properly presents their music to the public and some of which you can get on the radio.
| source=—[[Peter Asher]], on collaborating with Ronstadt<ref name="Goldmine589" />}}

Ronstadt began her fourth solo album, ''[[Don't Cry Now]]'', in 1973, with Boylan (who had negotiated her contract with [[Asylum Records]]) and [[JD Souther|John David "JD" Souther]] producing most of the album's tracks. But needing someone willing to work with her as an equal, Ronstadt asked [[Peter Asher]], who came highly recommended to her by [[James Taylor]]'s sister [[Kate Taylor]], to help produce two of them: "Sail Away" and "I Believe in You".<ref name="producer3" />

The album featured Ronstadt's first country hit, "[[Silver Threads and Golden Needles]]", which she had first recorded on ''Hand Sown ... Home Grown''{{snds}}this time hitting the Country Top 20.

With the release of ''Don't Cry Now'', Ronstadt took on her biggest gig to date as the opening act on Neil Young's ''Time Fades Away'' tour, playing for larger crowds than ever before. Backstage at a concert in Texas, [[Chris Hillman]] introduced her to [[Emmylou Harris]], telling them, "You two could be good friends,"<ref name="goldmine">{{Cite web |date=August 2, 1996 |title=And then there were two ... Linda Ronstadt talks about her friend Emmylou Harris, and about the unhappy end of the ''Trio'' project |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/intgm.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927184553/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/intgm.htm |archive-date=September 27, 2007 |access-date=May 11, 2007 |website=[[Goldmine (magazine)|Goldmine]]}}</ref> which soon occurred, resulting in frequent collaborations over the following years. Meanwhile, the album became Ronstadt's most successful up to that time, selling 300,000 copies by the end of 1974.<ref name="producer3">{{Cite book |last=Fong-Torres |first=Ben |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=igEvYlgm4HIC&pg=PA209 |title=Not Fade Away: A Backstage Pass to 20 Years of Rock & Roll |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-87930-590-1 |pages=209–220 |chapter=Linda Ronstadt, Heartbreak on Wheels (Rolling Stone, March 27, 1975) |publisher=Hal Leonard |access-date=November 25, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111143202/http://books.google.com/books?id=igEvYlgm4HIC&pg=PA209 |archive-date=January 11, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Asher turned out to be more collaborative, and more on the same page with her musically, than any producer she had worked with previously.<ref name="MIXMag2000">{{Cite web |last=Daley |first=Dan |date=December 1, 2000 |title=Linda Ronstadt |url=http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_linda_ronstadt/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051113092247/http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_linda_ronstadt/index.html |archive-date=November 13, 2005 |access-date=May 7, 2007 |website=[[Mix (magazine)|Mix]]}}http://www.mixonline.com/news/profiles/linda-ronstadt/365380 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304234527/http://www.mixonline.com/news/profiles/linda-ronstadt/365380 |date=March 4, 2016}}</ref> Ronstadt's professional relationship with Asher allowed her to take command and effectively delegate responsibilities in the recording studio.<ref name="producer3" /> Although hesitant at first to work with her because of her reputation for being a "woman of strong opinions (who) knew what she wanted to do (with her career)", he nonetheless agreed to become her full-time producer<ref name="negativequalities">{{Cite web |last=Ryder |first=Caroline |date=October 2007 |title=Peter Asher Interview |url=http://swindlemagazine.com/issueicons/peter-asher/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071025181433/http://swindlemagazine.com/issueicons/peter-asher/ |archive-date=October 25, 2007 |access-date=November 25, 2012 |website=[[Swindle (magazine)|Swindle]]}}</ref> and remained in that role through the late 1980s. Asher attributed the long-term success of his working relationship with Ronstadt to the fact that he was the first person to manage and produce her with whom there was a solely professional relationship. "It must be a lot harder to have objective conversations about someone's career when it's someone you sleep with," he said.<ref name="producer3" />

Asher executive-produced a tribute CD called ''[[Listen to Me: Buddy Holly]]'', released on September 6, 2011, on which Ronstadt's 1976 version of [[Buddy Holly]]'s "[[That'll Be The Day]]" appears among newly recorded versions of Holly's songs by various artists.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 26, 2011 |title=Listen To Me: Buddy Holly Tribute CD Out Sept. 6th |url=http://hangout.altsounds.com/news/132169-listen-buddy-holly-tribute-cd-sept-6th.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003125925/http://hangout.altsounds.com/news/132169-listen-buddy-holly-tribute-cd-sept-6th.html |archive-date=October 3, 2012 |access-date=July 26, 2011 |publisher=AltSounds.com}}</ref>

==== Vocal styles ====
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| quote=I grew up singing Mexican music, and that's based on indigenous Mexican rhythms. Mexican music also has an overlay of West African music, based on huapango drums, and it's kind of like a 6/8 [[time signature]], but it really is a very syncopated 6/8. And that's how I attack vocals.|source=—Linda Ronstadt, on reconciling her musical instincts with rock 'n' roll.<ref name=MIXMag2000 />}}

Ronstadt captured the sounds of [[country music]] and the rhythms of [[ranchera]] music{{snds}}which she likened in 1968 to ''"Mexican bluegrass"''{{snds}}and redirected them into her rock 'n' roll and some of her pop music. Many of these rhythms and sounds were part of her [[Southwestern United States|Southwestern]] roots.<ref name="Soulful2">{{Cite web |title=Gypsy Eyes, Interview 1968 |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artdis.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808092638/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artdis.htm |archive-date=August 8, 2007 |access-date=May 8, 2007 |website=Cleveland Scene}}</ref> Likewise, a country sound and style, a fusion of country music and rock 'n' roll called [[country rock]], started to exert its influence on mainstream pop music around the late 1960s, and it became an emerging movement Ronstadt helped form and commercialize. However, as early as 1970, Ronstadt was being criticized by music "purists" for her "brand of music" which crossed many genres. ''Country Western Stars'' magazine wrote in 1970 that "Rock people thought she was too gentle, folk people thought she was too pop, and pop people didn't quite understand where she was at, but Country people really loved Linda." She never categorized herself and stuck to her genre-crossing brand of music.<ref name="CWS">{{Cite web |date=March 1970 |title=Sexy new sweetheart for country western |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/cws70-3.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080109092922/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/cws70-3.html |archive-date=January 9, 2008 |access-date=April 8, 2008 |website=Country Western Stars}}</ref>

==== Interpretive singer ====
Ronstadt is considered an "interpreter of her times",<ref name="interpreter4">{{Cite news |last=Varga |first=George |date=November 21, 2004 |title=A 'song interpreter' for her times: Linda Ronstadt is ready to give jazz another whirl |work=U-T San Diego |url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/features/20041121-9999-1a21linda.html |url-status=live |access-date=August 1, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081225022959/http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/features/20041121-9999-1a21linda.html |archive-date=December 25, 2008}}</ref> and has earned praise for her courage to put her "stamp" on many of her songs.<ref name="DeanofRock">{{Cite web |title='Courageous' singer plunges back into pop-music mainstream |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3975133.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106074443/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3975133.html |archive-date=November 6, 2012 |access-date=April 6, 2008 |website=Chicago Sun-Times}}</ref> Ronstadt herself has indicated that some of her 1970s hits were recorded under considerable pressure to create commercially successful recordings, and that she prefers many of her songs that were non-hit album tracks.<ref name=MIXMag2000 /> An infrequent songwriter, Ronstadt co-composed only three songs over her long career.

Ronstadt's natural vocal range spans several octaves from [[contralto]] to [[soprano]], and occasionally she will showcase this entire range within a single work. Ronstadt was the first female artist in popular music history to accumulate four consecutive platinum albums (fourteen certified million selling, to date). As for the singles, ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' pointed out that a whole generation, "but for her, might never have heard the work of artists such as [[Buddy Holly]], [[Elvis Costello]], and [[Chuck Berry]]."<ref name="interpreter6">{{Cite magazine |title=Artists: Linda Ronstadt Bio, Pictures, Video |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/linda-ronstadt/biography |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202022453/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/linda-ronstadt/biography |archive-date=December 2, 2017 |access-date=November 24, 2012 |magazine=Rolling Stone}}</ref>

{{quote box
| width=25%
| align=right
| quote=Music is meant to lighten your load. By singing it ... you release (the sadness). And release yourself ... an exercise in exorcism.&nbsp;... You exorcise that emotion ... and diminish sadness and feel joy.|source=—Linda Ronstadt<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 1, 1988 |title=Linda Ronstadt's New Old Flame- Mexican Music 1. "I'm Not Good at Doing What I'm Told" |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artamway.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509065446/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artamway.htm |archive-date=May 9, 2008 |access-date=July 31, 2008 |website=American Way}}</ref>}}

Others have argued that Ronstadt had the same generational effect with her Great American Songbook music, exposing a whole new generation to the music of the 1920s and 1930s{{snds}}music which was pushed aside because of the advent of rock 'n' roll. When interpreting, Ronstadt said she "sticks to what the music demands", in terms of lyrics.<ref name="Demands1">{{Cite web |last=Caffery |first=Joshua Clegg |date=July 26, 2006 |title=Songbird Sisters: South Louisiana's Ann Savoy teams up with pop icon Linda Ronstadt for their new CD, Adieu False Heart |url=http://www.theind.com/cover2.asp?CID=-1710469275 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928000105/http://www.theind.com/cover2.asp?CID=-1710469275 |archive-date=September 28, 2007 |access-date=May 13, 2007 |website=The Independent Weekly}}</ref> Explaining that rock and roll music is part of her culture, she says that the songs she sang after her rock and roll hits were part of her soul. "The (Mariachi music) was my father's side of the soul," she was quoted as saying in a 1998 interview she gave at her Tucson home. "My mother's side of my soul was the Nelson Riddle stuff. And I had to do them both to reestablish who I was."<ref name="hersoul">{{Cite web |title=Everlasting Linda (Interview 17 June 1998 in Tucson, AZ) |url=http://www.debbiekruger.com/writer/freelance/ronstadt_transcript.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928113552/http://www.debbiekruger.com/writer/freelance/ronstadt_transcript.html |archive-date=September 28, 2007 |access-date=July 6, 2007 |website=Linda Ronstadt}}</ref>

In the 1974 book ''Rock 'N' Roll Woman'', author Katherine Orloff writes that Ronstadt's "own musical preferences run strongly to rhythm and blues, the type of music she most frequently chooses to listen to ... (and) her goal is to ... be soulful too. With this in mind, Ronstadt fuses country and rock into a special union."<ref name="Soulful" />

By this stage of her career, Ronstadt had established her niche in the field of country-rock. Along with other musicians such as [[the Flying Burrito Brothers]], [[Emmylou Harris]], [[Gram Parsons]], [[Swampwater]], Neil Young, and the Eagles, she helped free country music from stereotypes and showed rockers that country was okay. However, she stated that she was being pushed hard into singing more rock and roll.<ref name=goldmine />

==== Most successful female singer of the 1970s ====
[[Image:Zangeres Linda Ronstadt op Schiphol, Bestanddeelnr 928-8976.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Ronstadt with producer Peter Asher and her band, 1976]]

[[File:Ronstadt-Eagles-Jackson-Browne-Toots-and-the-Maytals-Poster-1975.jpg|250px|thumb|1975 concert poster from Anaheim, CA featuring Linda Ronstadt, The [[Eagles (band)]], [[Jackson Browne]], and [[Toots and the Maytals]] with whom Ronstadt toured on several dates]]

Author [[Andrew Greeley]], in his book ''God in Popular Culture'', described Ronstadt as "the most successful and certainly the most durable and most gifted woman Rock singer of her era."<ref name="Greeley">{{Cite book |last=Greeley, Andrew |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/godinpopularcult0000gree/page/214 |title=''God in Popular Culture'' |publisher=Thomas More Press |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-88347-234-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/godinpopularcult0000gree/page/214 214-] |chapter=14:Ronstadt and Mellencamp: The Search for Roots |access-date=November 25, 2012}}</ref> Signaling her wide popularity as a concert artist, outside of the singles charts and the recording studio, ''[[Dirty Linen (magazine)|Dirty Linen]]'' magazine describes her as the "first true woman rock 'n' roll superstar ... (selling) out stadiums with a string of mega-successful albums."<ref name="Linen106" /> ''[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cashbox]]'' gave Ronstadt a ''Special Decade Award'',<ref name="cashbox">{{Cite web |title=Cashbox |url=http://www.lindaronstadt.com/files/pwoi/Decade.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808223904/http://www.lindaronstadt.com/files/pwoi/Decade.html |archive-date=August 8, 2007 |access-date=June 24, 2007 |website=Special Decade Award}}</ref> as the top-selling female singer of the 1970s.<ref name="tiptheirhat" />

Her album covers, posters, magazine covers{{snds}}her entire rock 'n' roll image{{snds}}were as famous as her music.<ref name="Goldmine589">{{Cite magazine |last=DeYoung |first=Bill |date=February 21, 2003 |title=Home at Last: The Journey of Linda Ronstadt |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/gold03.htm |url-status=live |issue=589 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924092043/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/gold03.htm |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |access-date=April 28, 2014 |magazine=Goldmine}}</ref> By the end of the decade, the singer whom the ''[[Chicago Sun Times]]'' described as the "Dean of the 1970s school of female rock singers"<ref name="DeanofRock" /> became what ''[[Redbook]]'' called "the most successful female rock star in the world."<ref name="Redbook">{{Cite web |last=Kaye |first=Elizabeth |title=Linda Ronstadt: Why Is She the Queen of Lonely? |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/intrb.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808110908/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/intrb.htm |archive-date=August 8, 2007 |access-date=May 7, 2007 |website=Redbook}}</ref> "Female" was the important qualifier, according to ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine, which labeled her "a rarity ... to (have survived) ... in the shark-infested deeps of rock."<ref name="Time">{{Cite news |date=February 28, 1977 |title=Linda Down The Wind |work=Time {{subscription required}} |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,918735,00.html |url-status=dead |access-date=August 2, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080928093855/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,918735,00.html |archive-date=September 28, 2008}}</ref>

Although Ronstadt had been a cult favorite on the music scene for several years, 1975 was "remembered in the music biz as the year when 29-year-old Linda Ronstadt ''belatedly'' happened."<ref name="people75">{{Cite web |last=Windeler |first=Robert |date=November 17, 1975 |title=When Will She Be Loved? Linda Ronstadt Finds the Time, at Last, Is Now |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artpeo75.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070107041451/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artpeo75.htm |archive-date=January 7, 2007 |access-date=May 18, 2007 |website=[[People (magazine)|People]]}}</ref>

With the release of ''Heart Like a Wheel''{{nsmdns}}named after one of the album's songs, written by [[Anna McGarrigle]]{{nsmdns}}Ronstadt reached number 1 on the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]] chart;<ref name="BillboardWheelno1on200">{{Cite magazine |last=Caulfield |first=Keith |date=April 18, 2014 |title=Linda Ronstadt Rocks Highest-Charting Album in 24 Years |url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6062513/linda-ronstadt-rocks-highest-charting-album-in-24-years |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140827134919/http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/6062513/linda-ronstadt-rocks-highest-charting-album-in-24-years |archive-date=August 27, 2014 |access-date=December 8, 2014 |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]}}</ref> it was also the first of four number 1 Country Albums, and the disc was certified double-platinum<ref name="RIAAsearch">{{Cite web |last=RIAA |title=RIAA – Gold & Platinum |website=[[Recording Industry Association of America]] |url=https://www.riaa.com/gold-platinum/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180212231947/https://www.riaa.com/gold-platinum/ |archive-date=February 12, 2018 |access-date=February 28, 2016}}</ref> (over two million copies sold in the U.S.). In many instances, her own interpretations were more successful than the original recordings, and many times new songwriters were discovered by a larger audience as a result of her interpretation and recording. Ronstadt had major success interpreting songs from a diverse spectrum of artists.

''Heart Like a Wheel''{{'}}s first single release, "[[You're No Good]]"{{snds}}a rockified version of an R&B song written by [[Clint Ballard, Jr.]] that Ronstadt had initially resisted because [[Andrew Gold]]'s guitar tracks sounded too much like a "Beatles song" to her<ref name="producer3" />{{snds}}climbed to number 1 on both the ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' and ''Cash Box'' Pop singles charts.<ref name="bronson">Bronson, Fred. ''The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits''. {{ISBN|0-8230-7677-6}}</ref> The album's second single release, "[[When Will I Be Loved (song)|When Will I Be Loved]]"{{snds}}an uptempo country-rock version of a Top 10 [[Everly Brothers]] song{{snds}}hit number 1 in ''Cashbox'' and number 2 in ''Billboard''.<ref name=bronson /> The song was also Ronstadt's first number 1 country hit.<ref name=bronson />

The album's critical and commercial success was due to a fine presentation of country and rock, with ''Heart Like a Wheel'' her first of many major commercial successes that would set her on the path to being one of the best-selling female artists of all time. Ronstadt won her first Grammy Award<ref name="1stgrammy">{{Cite web |title=The GRAMMYs: Past Winners Search |url=http://www.grammy.com/nominees/search |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101225154149/http://www.grammy.com/nominees/search |archive-date=December 25, 2010 |access-date=February 28, 2016}}</ref> for [[Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance|Best Country Vocal Performance/Female]] for "[[I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You)]]" which was originally a 1940s hit by [[Hank Williams]]. Ronstadt's interpretation peaked at number 2 on the country chart. The album itself was nominated for the Album of the Year Grammy.

''[[Rolling Stone]]'' put Ronstadt on its cover in March 1975. It was the first of six ''Rolling Stone'' covers shot by photographer [[Annie Leibovitz]]. It included her as the featured artist with a full photo layout and an article by [[Ben Fong-Torres]], discussing Ronstadt's many struggling years in rock n roll, as well as her home life and what it was like to be a woman on tour in a decidedly all-male environment.

In September 1975, Ronstadt's album ''[[Prisoner in Disguise]]'' was released. It quickly climbed into the Top Five on the ''Billboard'' Album Chart and sold over a million copies.<ref name = RIAAsearch /> It became her second in a row to go platinum, "a grand slam" in the same year (Ronstadt would eventually become the first female artist in popular music history to have three consecutive platinum albums and would ultimately go on to have eight consecutive platinum albums, and then another six between 1983 and 1990).<ref name=people75 /> The disc's first single release was "[[Love Is A Rose]]". It was climbing the pop and country charts but "[[Heat Wave (Martha and the Vandellas song)|Heat Wave]]", a rockified version of the 1963 hit by [[Martha and the Vandellas]], was receiving considerable airplay. Asylum pulled the "Love Is a Rose" single and issued "Heat Wave" with "Love Is a Rose" on the B-side. "Heat Wave" hit the Top Five on ''Billboard''{{'}}s Hot 100 while "Love Is A Rose" hit the Top Five on Billboard's country chart.
[[File:Linda Ronstadt - Cash Box 1976.jpg|thumb|left|Ronstadt on the cover of ''[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cash Box]]''; November 13, 1976]]

In 1976, Ronstadt reached the Top 3 of ''Billboard''{{'}}s Album Chart and won her second career [[Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance]] for her third consecutive platinum<ref name = RIAAsearch /> album ''[[Hasten Down the Wind]]''. The album featured a sexy, revealing cover shot and showcased Ronstadt the singer-songwriter, who composed two of its songs, "Try Me Again" (co-authored with Andrew Gold) and "Lo Siento Mi Vida". It also included an interpretation of Willie Nelson's ballad "[[Crazy (Willie Nelson song)|Crazy]]", which became a Top 10 Country hit for Ronstadt in early 1977.

At the end of 1977, Ronstadt surpassed the success of ''Heart Like a Wheel'' with her album ''[[Simple Dreams]]'', which, after spending nine consecutive weeks at number 2 behind [[Fleetwood Mac]]'s ''[[Rumours (album)|Rumours]]'',<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=December 3, 1977|title=Billboard Dec 3, 1977 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QkUEAAAAMBAJ |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |publisher= |volume=121 |issue=2 |page=65 |access-date=February 14, 2024}}</ref> displaced it, and held the number 1 position for five consecutive weeks on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart.<ref name="Billboardsimpledreams5weeks">{{Cite magazine |date=January 17, 2009 |title=Billboard Jan 17, 2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aKAOa7WLRrYC&q=%22simple+dreams%22+Ronstadt+billboard+five+weeks&pg=PT36 |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |publisher= |volume=121 |issue=2 |page=37 |issn=0006-2510 |access-date=December 20, 2015 |archive-date=April 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416073900/https://books.google.com/books?id=aKAOa7WLRrYC&q=%22simple+dreams%22+Ronstadt+billboard+five+weeks&pg=PT36 |url-status=live}}</ref> It sold over 3{{frac|1|2}}&nbsp;million copies in less than a year in the U.S. alone – a record for a female artist. ''Simple Dreams'' spawned a string of hit singles on numerous charts. Among them were the [[RIAA]] platinum-certified single "[[Blue Bayou]]", a country-rock interpretation of a [[Roy Orbison]] song; "[[It's So Easy! (The Crickets song)|It's So Easy]]"{{snds}}previously sung by Buddy Holly{{spaced ndash}}, a cover of The Rolling Stones' "[[Tumbling Dice]]", and "[[Poor Poor Pitiful Me]]", a song written by [[Warren Zevon]], an up-and-coming songwriter of the time. The album garnered several Grammy Award nominations{{snds}}including Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance/Female for "Blue Bayou"{{snds}}and won its art director, [[Kosh (art director)|Kosh]], a Grammy Award for Best Album Cover, the first of three Grammy Awards he would win for designing Ronstadt album covers. In late 1977, Ronstadt became the first female recording artist to have two songs in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Top Ten at the same time. "Blue Bayou" was at No. 3 while "It's So Easy" was at No. 5.

''Simple Dreams'' became one of the singer's most successful albums internationally, reaching number 1 on the Australian and Canadian Pop and Country Albums charts.<ref name="international">{{Cite web |title=Ronstadt Facts, Investigative International Sales |url=http://lindaronstadt.de/facts.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101108092354/http://lindaronstadt.de/facts.htm |archive-date=November 8, 2010 |access-date=April 17, 2007 |website=Linda Ronstadt Record Sales Information Page (German Site)}}</ref> ''Simple Dreams'' also made Ronstadt the most successful international female touring artist. The same year, she completed a concert tour around Europe. As [[Country Music (magazine)|''Country Music'']] magazine wrote in October 1978, ''Simple Dreams'' solidified Ronstadt's role as "easily the most successful female rock and roll ''and'' country star at this time."<ref name=ramblers />

Also in 1977, she was asked by the [[Los Angeles Dodgers]] to sing the [[U.S. National Anthem]] at game three of the [[World Series]] against the [[New York Yankees]].<ref name="nationalanthem">{{Cite web |title=Linda Ronstadt Singing the National Anthem at Game three of World Series |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DxYYwE_ezE |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130722180424/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DxYYwE_ezE |archive-date=July 22, 2013 |access-date=August 11, 2007 |via=YouTube}}</ref>

==== ''Time'' and "rock chick" image ====
Ronstadt said she was "artificially encouraged to kinda cop a really tough attitude (and be tough) because rock and roll is kind of tough (business)".<ref name="wait wait"/> Female rock artists like her and Janis Joplin, whom she described as lovely, shy, and literate in real life and the antithesis of the "red hot mamma" she was artificially encouraged to project, went through an identity crisis.<ref name="wait wait" />

[[File:RonstadtTime.jpg|thumb|right|Ronstadt on the cover of the February 28, 1977, issue of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'']]

By the mid-1970s, Ronstadt's image became just as famous as her music.<ref name="Goldmine589" /> In 1976 and 1977, she appeared on the covers of ''Rolling Stone'' and ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]].'' The ''Rolling Stone'' cover story was accompanied by a series of photographs of Ronstadt in a skimpy red slip, taken by [[Annie Leibovitz]]. Ronstadt felt deceived, not realizing that the photos would be so revealing. She says her manager Peter Asher kicked Leibovitz out of the house when she visited to show them the photographs prior to publication. Leibovitz had refused to let them veto any of the photos, which included one of Ronstadt sprawled across a bed in her underpants.<ref name="Goldmine589" /> In a 1977 interview, Ronstadt explained, "Annie [Leibovitz] saw that picture as an exposé of my personality. She was right. But I wouldn't choose to show a picture like that to anybody who didn't know me personally, because only friends could get the other sides of me in balance."<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Rockwell |first=John |date=October 14, 1977 |title=Linda Ronstadt: Her Soft-Core Charms |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artnt77.htm |url-status=live |magazine=New Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141013002554/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artnt77.htm |archive-date=October 13, 2014 |access-date=April 26, 2014}}</ref>

Her 1977 appearance on the cover ''Time'' under the banner "Torchy Rock" was also upsetting to Ronstadt, considering what the image appeared to project about the most famous woman in rock.<ref name="wait wait" /><ref name="rockwell">{{Cite book |last=Rockwell |first=John |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/desertisle.htm |title=Stranded – Rock and Roll for a Desert Island |editor-last=Greil Marcus |chapter=Living in the USA |access-date=May 7, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071205083733/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/desertisle.htm |archive-date=December 5, 2007 |url-status=live}}</ref> At a time in the industry when men still told women what to sing and what to wear,<ref name="Asherscomment">{{Cite web |title=Homecoming Queen, April 1995 |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artmojo.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927184728/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artmojo.htm |archive-date=September 27, 2007 |access-date=May 11, 2007 |website=Mojo}}</ref> Ronstadt hated the image of her that was projected to the world on that cover,<ref name="wait wait" /> and she noted how the photographer kept forcing her to wear a dress, which was an image she did not want to project.<ref name="wait wait" /> In 2004, she was interviewed for ''[[CBS This Morning]]''<ref name="cbs">{{Cite web |date=December 5, 2004 |title=Linda Ronstadt |url=http://www.lindaronstadt.com/files/CBSNSM/CBS_SundayAM.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070809005121/http://www.lindaronstadt.com/files/CBSNSM/CBS_SundayAM.html |archive-date=August 9, 2007 |access-date=July 12, 2007 |publisher=[[CBS News]]}}</ref> and stated that this image was not her because she did not sit like that. Asher noted, "Anyone who's met Linda for 10 seconds will know that I couldn't possibly have been her [[Svengali]]. She's an extremely determined woman, in every area. To me, she was everything that feminism's about."<ref name=Asherscomment /> Qualities which, Asher has stated, were considered a "negative (in a woman at that time), whereas in a man they were perceived as being masterful and bold".<ref name="negativequalities" /> Since her solo career had begun, Ronstadt had fought hard to be recognized as a solo female singer in the world of rock, and her portrayal on the ''Time'' cover did not appear to help the situation.<ref name=backupband2 />

In 1978, ''Rolling Stone'' declared Ronstadt "by far America's best-known female rock singer."<ref name=RocksVenusSuccess /> She scored a third number 1 album on the Billboard Album Chart – at this point equaling the record set by Carole King in 1974 – with ''Living in the USA''. She achieved a major hit single with "[[Ooo Baby Baby]]", with her rendition hitting all four major singles charts (Pop, AC, Country, R&B). ''Living in the USA'' was the first album by any recording act in music history to ship double-platinum (over 2&nbsp;million advance copies).<ref name="doubleplatinum" /> The album eventually sold 3&nbsp;million U.S. copies.

At the end of that year, ''Billboard'' magazine crowned Ronstadt with three number-one Awards for the Year: Pop Female Singles Artist of the Year, Pop Female Album Artist of the Year, and Female Artist of the Year (overall).<ref name="TopFemale">{{Cite magazine |date=December 23, 1978 |title=Congratulations |url=http://www.lindaronstadt.com/files/pwoi/BB_23Dec1978_Congrats.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808224414/http://www.lindaronstadt.com/files/pwoi/BB_23Dec1978_Congrats.html |archive-date=August 8, 2007 |access-date=June 24, 2007 |magazine=Billboard}}</ref>

''Living in the USA'' showed the singer on roller skates with a newly short, permed hairdo on the album cover. Ronstadt continued this theme on concert tour promotional posters with photos of her on roller skates in a dramatic pose with a large American flag in the background. By this stage of her career, she was using posters to promote every album<ref name="Goldmine589" /> and concert – which at the time were recorded live on radio or television.

Ronstadt was also featured in the 1978 film ''[[FM (film)|FM]]'', where the plot involved disc jockeys attempting to broadcast a Ronstadt concert live, without a competing station's knowledge. The film also showed Ronstadt performing the songs "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me", "[[Love Me Tender (song)|Love Me Tender]]", and "[[Tumbling Dice]]". Ronstadt was persuaded to record "Tumbling Dice" after [[Mick Jagger]] came backstage when she was at a concert and said, "You do too many ballads, you should do more rock and roll songs."<ref name="MickJagger">{{Cite web |date=March 1978 |title=Tour Reflections and Simple Dreams |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/arthp78.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151003011350/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/arthp78.htm |archive-date=October 3, 2015 |access-date=December 29, 2010 |website=The Hit Parader Interview}}</ref>

Following the success of ''Living in the USA'', Ronstadt conducted album promotional tours and concerts. She made a guest appearance onstage with [[the Rolling Stones]] at the Tucson Community Center on July 21, 1978, in her hometown of Tucson, where she and Jagger sang "Tumbling Dice".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ronstadt and Rolling Stones, July 21, 1978 |url=http://www.iorr.org/talk/read.php?1,1222215,1222980 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613231122/http://www.iorr.org/talk/read.php?1,1222215,1222980 |archive-date=June 13, 2011 |access-date=December 9, 2010 |website=Photos |publisher=iorr.org forum}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=September 12, 2013 |title=Why Linda Ronstadt Still Matters to Tucson |url=http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/why-linda-ronstadt-still-matters-to-tucson/Content?oid=3872523 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150529030503/http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/why-linda-ronstadt-still-matters-to-tucson/Content?oid=3872523 |archive-date=May 29, 2015 |access-date=May 28, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=July 21, 1978 |title=Rolling Stones U.S. Tour 1978 |url=http://www.myetymology.com/encyclopedia/Rolling_Stones_U.S._Tour_1978.html0 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714143020/http://www.myetymology.com/encyclopedia/Rolling_Stones_U.S._Tour_1978.html0 |archive-date=July 14, 2011 |access-date=December 9, 2010 |publisher=MyEtymology.com/SpeedyLook}}</ref> On singing with Jagger, Ronstadt later said, "I loved it. I didn't have a trace of stage fright. I'm scared to death all the way through my own shows. But it was too much fun to get scared. He's so silly onstage, he knocks you over. I mean you have to be on your toes or you wind up falling on your face."<ref name=RocksVenusSuccess />

==== Highest-paid woman in rock ====
{{quote box
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| quote=Rock is the thumping heart of Linda's music, and the rock world is dominated by males. The biggest stars are male, and so are the back-up musicians ... rock beats are ... phallic, and lyrics ... masculine.&nbsp;... [[Janis Joplin]], the first great white woman rocker, rattled the bars ... but she died.&nbsp;... [[Joni Mitchell]] ... stylish (but can't) compete in drawing power with men ... (however) Linda Ronstadt ... has made herself one of the biggest individual rock draws in the world.|source=—''Time'' magazine, in 1977<ref name="Time" />}}
[[File:LindaRonstadtPerforming.jpg|thumb|left|Ronstadt at the [[New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum]], August 16, 1978<ref name="NEWHAVEN1978">[http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/linda-ronstadt/photography/fine-art-print/NHC780816-02-16.html "Linda Ronstadt: Black & White Photo Aug 16, 1978 New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum (New Haven, CT)"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304192801/http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/linda-ronstadt/photography/fine-art-print/NHC780816-02-16.html |date=March 4, 2016}}, ''wolfgangsvault.com''</ref>]]
By the end of 1978, Ronstadt had solidified her role as one of rock and pop's most successful solo female acts, and owing to her consistent platinum album success, and her ability as the first woman to sell out concerts in arenas and stadiums hosting tens of thousands of fans,<ref name="tiptheirhat" /> Ronstadt became the "highest-paid woman in rock".<ref name="doubleplatinum" /> She had six platinum-certified albums, three of which were number 1 on the ''Billboard'' album chart, and numerous charting pop singles. In 1978 alone, she made over $12&nbsp;million<ref name="tiptheirhat" /> ({{Inflation|US|12000000|1978|fmt=eq|r=-6}})<ref name="CPI1">{{Cite web |title=The Inflation Calculator |url=http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529155647/http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl |archive-date=May 29, 2008 |access-date=August 10, 2009 |website=The following form adjusts any given amount of money for inflation, according to the Consumer Price Index}}</ref> and in the same year her albums sales were reported to be 17&nbsp;million{{snds}}grossing over $60&nbsp;million<ref name="Ward1978">{{Cite web |last=Ward |first=Ed |date=February 21, 1978 |title=The Queens of Rock: Ronstadt, Mitchell, Simon and Nicks talk of their men, music and life on the road |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DHJkAAAAIBAJ&pg=1859,3122645&dq=none+of+the+beatles+are+female+neither+are+any+of+the+rolling+stones+nor+were&hl=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016215805/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DHJkAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7X0NAAAAIBAJ&pg=1859,3122645&dq=none+of+the+beatles+are+female+neither+are+any+of+the+rolling+stones+nor+were&hl=en |archive-date=October 16, 2015 |access-date=November 25, 2012 |website=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> ({{Inflation|US|60000000|1978|fmt=eq|r=-6}}).<ref name=CPI1 />

As ''Rolling Stone'' dubbed her "Rock's Venus",<ref name=RocksVenusSuccess /> her record sales continued to multiply and set records themselves. By 1979, Ronstadt had collected eight gold, six platinum, and four multi-platinum certifications for her albums, an unprecedented feat at the time. Her 1976 ''[[Greatest Hits (Linda Ronstadt)|Greatest Hits]]'' album would sell consistently for the next 25 years, and it was certified by the [[RIAA]] for seven-times platinum in 2001<ref name=RIAAsearch /> (over seven million U.S. copies sold). In 1980, ''[[Greatest Hits, Volume 2 (Linda Ronstadt album)|Greatest Hits, Volume 2]]'' was released and certified platinum.<ref name=RIAAsearch />

In 1979, Ronstadt went on an international tour, playing in arenas across Australia to Japan, including the [[Melbourne Cricket Ground]] in [[Melbourne]], and the [[Nippon Budokan|Budokan]] in Tokyo. She also participated in a benefit concert for her friend [[Lowell George]], held at [[The Forum (Inglewood, California)|the Forum]], in Los Angeles.

By the end of the decade, Ronstadt had outsold her female competition; she had five straight platinum LPs{{snds}}''Hasten Down the Wind'' and ''Heart Like a Wheel'' among them.<ref name="PeopleMagazine">{{Cite web |date=October 24, 1977 |title=On the Charts and in Men's Hearts Linda Ronstadt is No. 1 With a Bullet |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artpeo77.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808043812/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artpeo77.htm |archive-date=August 8, 2007 |access-date=May 7, 2007 |website=[[People (magazine)|People]]}}</ref> ''[[Us Weekly]]'' reported in 1978 that Ronstadt, [[Joni Mitchell]], [[Stevie Nicks]], and [[Carly Simon]] had become "The Queens of Rock"<ref name=Ward1978 /> and "Rock is no longer exclusively male. There is a new royalty ruling today's record charts."<ref name=Ward1978 />

She would go on to parlay her mass commercial appeal with major success in interpreting [[The Great American Songbook]]{{snds}}made famous a generation before by [[Frank Sinatra]] and [[Ella Fitzgerald]]{{snds}}and later the Mexican folk songs of her childhood.

==== From rock to operetta ====
{{quote box
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| quote=Rampant eclecticism is my middle name.|source=—Linda Ronstadt<ref name=Windy />}}
[[File:19810800-05-LindaRonstadt.jpg|left|thumb|Linda Ronstadt at Six Flags Over Texas, August 1981.]]
In February 1980, Ronstadt released ''[[Mad Love (Linda Ronstadt album)|Mad Love]]'', her seventh consecutive platinum-selling album. It was a straightforward rock and roll album with post-punk, new wave influences, including tracks by songwriters such as Elvis Costello, [[the Cretones]], and musician [[Mark Goldenberg]] who played on the record himself. As part of the album's promotion, a live concert was recorded for an HBO special in April. A partial soundtrack for this special (omitting most of the ''Mad Love'' tracks) was released as her first official live album in February 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 9, 2019 |title=Years after giving up singing, Linda Ronstadt is back on the charts with 'Live in Hollywood' |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-linda-ronstadt-live-hollywood-parkinsons-20190209-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190715225124/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-linda-ronstadt-live-hollywood-parkinsons-20190209-story.html |archive-date=July 15, 2019 |access-date=July 15, 2019 |website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref>

She also made the cover of ''Rolling Stone'' for a record-setting sixth time. ''Mad Love'' entered the ''Billboard'' Album Chart in the Top Five its first week (a record at that time) and climbed to the number 3 position. The project continued her streak of Top 10 hits with "[[How Do I Make You]]", originally recorded by [[Billy Thermal]], and "[[Hurt So Bad]]", originally a Top 10 hit for [[Little Anthony & the Imperials]]. The album earned Ronstadt a 1980 [[Grammy Award]] nomination for [[Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance|Best Rock Vocal Performance/Female]] (although she lost to [[Pat Benatar]]'s ''[[Crimes of Passion (Pat Benatar album)|Crimes of Passion]]'' album). Benatar praised Ronstadt by stating, "There are a lot of good female singers around. How could I be the best? Ronstadt is still alive!"<ref name="recordreview">{{Cite web |title=Pat Benatar: Rock's Reluctant Sex Symbol |url=http://www.lemuseumdebenatar.com/vintage4.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928040922/http://www.lemuseumdebenatar.com/vintage4.html |archive-date=September 28, 2007 |access-date=July 5, 2007 |website=Record Review, December 1980}}</ref>

In the summer of 1980, Ronstadt began rehearsals for the first of several leads in Broadway musicals. [[Joseph Papp]] cast her as the lead in the [[New York Shakespeare Festival]] production of [[Gilbert and Sullivan]]'s ''[[The Pirates of Penzance]]'', alongside [[Kevin Kline]].<ref name="Pirates">{{Cite web |date=September 1981 |title=Rock Queen Conquers Broadway and Lives Happily Ever After |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/arthp81.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927184223/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/arthp81.htm |archive-date=September 27, 2007 |access-date=May 8, 2007 |website=Hit Parader}}</ref> She said singing Gilbert and Sullivan was a natural choice for her, since her grandfather Fred Ronstadt was credited with having created [[Tucson]]'s first orchestra, the ''Club Filarmonico Tucsonense'', and had once created an arrangement of ''The Pirates of Penzance''.<ref name=AARP-07 />

''The Pirates of Penzance'' opened for a limited engagement in New York City's [[Central Park]], eventually moving its production to Broadway, where it became a hit, running from January 8, 1981, to November 28, 1982.<ref name="imbd">{{Cite web |title=Linda Ronstadt |url=http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?id=58306 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071015170003/http://ibdb.com/person.asp?id=58306 |archive-date=October 15, 2007 |access-date=May 8, 2007 |publisher=[[Internet Broadway Database]]}}http://www.ibdb.com/Person/View/58306 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160321105056/http://www.ibdb.com/Person/View/58306 |date=March 21, 2016}}</ref> ''[[Newsweek]]'' was effusive in its praise: "... she has not dodged the [[coloratura]] demands of her role (and Mabel is one of the most demanding parts in the G&S canon): from her entrance trilling 'Poor Wand'ring One,' it is clear that she is prepared to scale whatever soprano peaks stand in her way."<ref name=bronson /> Ronstadt co-starred with Kline and [[Angela Lansbury]] in the 1983 operetta's film version; this was her only acting role in a motion picture (her other film appearances, such as in the 1978 drama, ''[[FM (film)|FM]]'', being concert footage as herself). Ronstadt received a [[Golden Globe]] nomination for the role in the film version. She garnered a nomination for the [[Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical]] and ''[[The Pirates of Penzance]]'' won several Tony Awards, including a [[Tony Award for Best Revival]].

As a child, Ronstadt had discovered the opera ''[[La bohème]]'' through the silent film with [[Lillian Gish]] and was determined to someday play the part of Mimi. When she met the opera superstar [[Beverly Sills]], she was told, ''"My dear, ''every'' soprano in the world wants to play Mimi!"'' In 1984, Ronstadt was cast in the role at Joseph Papp's [[Public Theater]]. However, the production was a critical and commercial disaster, closing after only a few nights.<ref name="Mimi">{{Cite web |last=Kroll |first=Jack |date=December 10, 1984 |title=A Pop Star Goes Puccini |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artnw84.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927184423/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artnw84.htm |archive-date=September 27, 2007 |access-date=May 8, 2007 |website=[[Newsweek]]}}</ref>

In 1982, Ronstadt released the album ''[[Get Closer (Linda Ronstadt album)|Get Closer]]'', a primarily rock album with some country and pop music as well. It remains her only album between 1975 and 1990 not to be officially certified platinum. It peaked at number 31 on the ''Billboard'' Album Chart. The release continued her streak of Top 40 hits with "Get Closer" and "[[I Knew You When (Billy Joe Royal song)|I Knew You When]]"{{snds}}a 1965 hit by [[Billy Joe Royal]]{{snds}}while the [[Jimmy Webb]] song "Easy For You To Say" was a surprise Top 10 Adult Contemporary hit in the spring of 1983. "Sometimes You Just Can't Win" was picked up by country radio, and made it to number 27 on that listing. Ronstadt also filmed several music videos for this album which became popular on the fledgling MTV cable channel. The album earned Ronstadt two Grammy Award nominations: one for Best Rock Vocal Performance/Female for the title track and another for Best Pop Vocal Performance/Female for the album. The artwork won its art director, Kosh, his second Grammy Award for [[Grammy Award for Best Recording Package|Best Album Package]].

Along with the release of her ''Get Closer'' album, Ronstadt embarked on a North American tour, remaining one of the top rock-concert draws that summer and fall. On November 25, 1982, her "Happy Thanksgiving Day" concert was held at the [[Reunion Arena]] in Dallas and broadcast live via satellite to [[National Broadcasting Company|NBC]] radio stations in the United States.<ref name="dallas">{{Cite magazine |year=1982 |title=Linda Ronstadt Live. On Radio [advertisement] |url=http://www.lindaronstadt.com/files/scans/1982_dallas_radio_concert.jpg |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128102836/http://www.lindaronstadt.com/files/scans/1982_dallas_radio_concert.jpg |archive-date=November 28, 2007 |access-date=November 4, 2007 |magazine=Billboard |publisher=The Source (NBC)}}</ref>

In 1988, Ronstadt returned to Broadway for a limited-run engagement in the musical show adaptation of her album celebrating her Mexican heritage, ''Canciones De Mi Padre{{snds}}A Romantic Evening in Old Mexico''.<ref name="imbd2">{{Cite web |title=Linda Ronstadt's Canciones |url=http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=4514 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713233420/http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=4514 |archive-date=July 13, 2007 |access-date=May 8, 2007 |publisher=[[Internet Broadway Database]]}}http://www.ibdb.com/Person/View/58306 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160321105056/http://www.ibdb.com/Person/View/58306 |date=March 21, 2016}}</ref>

=== Artistic aspirations ===
Ronstadt has remarked that in the beginning of her career she "was so focused on folk, rock and country" that she "got a bit bored and started to branch out, and ... [has] been doing that ever since."<ref name="bored12">{{Cite news |last=Saitowitz |first=Paul |date=May 31, 2007 |title=Linda Ronstadt to Play at Fantasy Springs |work=[[The Press-Enterprise|Press-Enterprise]] |location=Riverside, California |url=http://www.pe.com/entertainment/stories/PE_Ent_Guide_D_ronstadt01.19591ed.html |url-status=dead |access-date=June 6, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929095508/http://www.pe.com/entertainment/stories/PE_Ent_Guide_D_ronstadt01.19591ed.html |archive-date=September 29, 2007}}</ref> By 1983, her estimated worth was over $40&nbsp;million<ref name="Reported worth">{{Cite web |date=March 26, 1984 |title=What's New with Linda Ronstadt? She's Singing Her Love Songs to ''Star Wars'' Czar George Lucas |url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20087434,00.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227172203/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20087434,00.html |archive-date=February 27, 2012 |access-date=November 24, 2012 |website=[[People (magazine)|People]] |volume=21 |issue=12}}</ref> mostly from records, concerts and merchandising.

In the early 1980s, Ronstadt was criticized for accepting $500,000 to perform at the South African resort [[Sun City (South Africa)|Sun City]], violating [[Apartheid#Cultural boycott|the cultural boycott]] imposed against South Africa because of its policy of [[apartheid]].<ref>Latham, Aaron (August 18, 1983). "Linda Ronstadt: Snow White in South Africa". ''[[Rolling Stone]]''. Retrieved January 29, 2013. {{subscription required}}</ref><ref>[[Robert Christgau|Christgau, Robert]] (1990) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/bk-cg80/further.php "Subjects for Further Research"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160327014939/http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/bk-cg80/further.php|date=March 27, 2016}}. ''Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s'' Pantheon Books, {{ISBN|0-679-73015-X}} (via robertchristgau.com). Retrieved January 29, 2013.</ref><ref>Santoro, Gene (March 12, 1988). [https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-6441785 "Miriam Makeba. (Music) (column)"]{{dead link|date=July 2021}}. ''The Nation''</ref> At the time, she stated, "the last place for a boycott is in the arts" and "I don't like being told I can't go somewhere".<ref>Wilson, John M. (May 19, 1985). [https://www.chicagotribune.com/1985/05/19/uns-register-of-performers-raises-blacklist-spectre-in-s-africa-boycott/ "UN`s `Register` Of Performers Raises Blacklist Spectre In S. Africa Boycott"] . ''[[Chicago Tribune]]''. Retrieved January 29, 2013.</ref> [[Paul Simon]] was criticized for including her on his 1986 album ''[[Graceland (album)|Graceland]]'', recorded in South Africa, but defended her: "I know that her intention was never to support the government there ... She made a mistake. She's extremely liberal in her political thinking and unquestionably antiapartheid."<ref name="Odyssey">{{Cite magazine |last=Fricke |first=David |author-link=David Fricke |date=October 23, 1986 |title=Paul Simon: African Odyssey |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/paul-simon-african-odyssey-104029/ |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |access-date=April 29, 2020 |archive-date=August 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220802131846/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/paul-simon-african-odyssey-104029/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

Ronstadt eventually tired of playing arenas.<ref>{{cite web| title=Goldmine, #589, February 21, 2003| work=Home at Last: The Journey of Linda Ronstadt| first=Bill| last=DeYoung| url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/gold03.htm| accessdate=July 31, 2008| archive-date=September 24, 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924092043/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/gold03.htm| url-status=live}}</ref> She had ceased to feel that arenas, where people milled around smoking marijuana cigarettes and drinking beer, were "appropriate places for music". She wanted "angels in the architecture"{{snds}}a reference to a lyric in the Paul Simon song "[[You Can Call Me Al]]" from ''Graceland''. (Ronstadt sang harmony with Simon on a different ''Graceland'' track, "[[Under African Skies]]". The second verse's lyrics pay tribute to Ronstadt: "Take this child, Lord, from Tucson, Arizona.&nbsp;..."). Ronstadt has said she wants to sing in places similar to the [[theatre of ancient Greece]], where the attention is focused on the stage and the performer.<ref name="angels">{{Cite web |last=Boone |first=M. |date=July 18, 2007 |title=Great Musicians and Their Legions of Paying Fans Deserve a Great Venue |url=http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=3d66e8e0-b5c8-4106-a56b-95d023c067c3 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071015160703/http://canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=3d66e8e0-b5c8-4106-a56b-95d023c067c3 |archive-date=October 15, 2007 |access-date=July 20, 2007 |website=Gazette (Montreal)}}</ref>

Ronstadt's recording output in the 1980s proved to be just as commercially and critically successful as her 1970s recordings. Between 1983 and 1990, Ronstadt scored six additional platinum albums; two are triple platinum (each with over three million U.S. copies sold); one has been certified double platinum (over two million copies sold), and one has earned additional certification as a Gold (over 500,000 U.S. copies sold) double-disc album.<ref name="certifications" />

=== Jazz/pop trilogy ===
In 1981, Ronstadt produced and recorded an album of pop standards (later marketed in [[bootleg recording|bootleg]] form) titled ''Keeping Out of Mischief'' with the assistance of producer [[Jerry Wexler]]. However, Ronstadt's displeasure with the result led her, with regrets, to scrap the project. "Doing that killed me," she said in a ''Time'' magazine interview.<ref name="Time interview">{{Cite magazine |last1=Cocks |first1=Jay |last2=Worrell |first2=Denise |date=September 26, 1983 |title=Linda Leads the Band |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,949833-2,00.html |url-status=dead |access-date=June 6, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107142714/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,949833-2,00.html |archive-date=November 7, 2012}}</ref> But the appeal of the album's music had seduced Ronstadt, as she told ''[[DownBeat]]'' in April 1985, crediting Wexler for encouraging her.<ref name="Jerry Wexler">{{Cite web |last=Bloom |first=Steve |date=July 1985 |title=An Intimate Conversation with Linda Ronstadt |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artdb85.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509164217/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artdb85.htm |archive-date=May 9, 2008 |access-date=August 18, 2008 |website=[[DownBeat]]}}</ref> Nonetheless, Ronstadt had to convince her reluctant record company, [[Elektra Records|Elektra]], to approve this type of album under her contract.<ref name="lindaronstadtwithnelsonrddle" />

By 1983, Ronstadt had enlisted the help of 62-year-old conductor Nelson Riddle. The two embarked on an unorthodox and original approach to rehabilitating the Great American Songbook, recording a trilogy of [[traditional pop]] albums: ''[[What's New (Linda Ronstadt album)|What's New]]'' (1983{{nsmdns}}U.S. 3.7&nbsp;million as of 2010); ''[[Lush Life (Linda Ronstadt album)|Lush Life]]'' (1984{{nsmdns}}U.S. 1.7&nbsp;million as of 2010); and ''[[For Sentimental Reasons (Linda Ronstadt album)|For Sentimental Reasons]]'' (1986{{nsmdns}}U.S. 1.3&nbsp;million as of 2010). The three albums have had a combined sales total of nearly seven million copies in the U.S. alone.

{{quote box
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| quote=I now realize I was taking a tremendous risk, and that Joe Smith (the head of Elektra Records, and strongly opposed) was looking out for himself, and for me. When it became apparent I wouldn't change my mind, he said: "I love Nelson so much! Can I please come to the sessions." I said "Yes." When the albums ... were successful, Joe congratulated me, and I never said "I told you so." |source=—Linda Ronstadt<ref>{{Cite web |last=Varga |first=George |date=November 2004 |title=A 'song interpreter' for her times |url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/features/20041121-9999-1a21linda.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081225022959/http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/features/20041121-9999-1a21linda.html |archive-date=December 25, 2008 |access-date=August 1, 2008 |website=U-T San Diego}}</ref>}}

The album design for ''What's New'' by designer Kosh was unlike any of her previous disc covers. It showed Ronstadt in a vintage dress lying on shimmering satin sheets with a [[Walkman]] headset. At the time, Ronstadt received some chiding for both the album cover and her venture into what was then considered "elevator music" by cynics, but remained determined to record with Riddle, and ''What's New'' became a hit. The album was released in September 1983 and spent 81 weeks on the ''Billboard'' Album Chart and held the number three position for a month and a half (held out of the top spot only by [[Michael Jackson]]'s ''[[Thriller (Michael Jackson album)|Thriller]]'' and [[Lionel Richie]]'s ''[[Can't Slow Down (Lionel Richie album)|Can't Slow Down]]'') and the [[RIAA]] certified it triple platinum<ref name = RIAAsearch /> (over three million copies sold in the U.S. alone). The album earned Ronstadt another [[Grammy]] nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and critical raves, with ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine calling it "one of the gutsiest, most unorthodox and unexpected albums of the year."<ref name="TimeWhatsNewReview">{{Cite magazine |date=September 26, 1983 |title=Music: Linda Leads the Band |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] {{subscription required}}|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,949833,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307090521/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,949833,00.html|archive-date=March 7, 2008|url-status=dead|access-date=September 29, 2007}}</ref>

Ronstadt faced considerable pressure not to record ''What's New'' or record with Riddle. According to jazz historian [[Peter Levinson]], author of the book ''September in the Rain{{snds}}a Biography on Nelson Riddle'', Joe Smith, president of Elektra Records, was terrified that the Riddle album would turn off Ronstadt's rock audience.<ref name="lindaronstadtwithnelsonrddle">{{Cite web |title=The Peter Levinson Interview |url=http://www.jerryjazzmusician.com/mainHTML.cfm?page=levinson.html |access-date=June 14, 2007 |website=Jerry Jazz Musician |date=April 20, 2002 |archive-date=April 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416073856/https://jerryjazzmusician.com/nelson-riddle-biographer-peter-levinson/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Ronstadt did not completely turn her back on her rock and roll past, however; the video for the title track featured [[Danny Kortchmar]] as the old beau that she bumped into during a rainstorm.

''What's New'' brought Riddle to a younger audience. According to Levinson, "the younger audience hated what Riddle had done with [[Frank Sinatra]],<ref name="nelsonriddle">{{Cite web |title=Peter Levinson (Interview) |date=April 20, 2002 |url=http://www.jerryjazzmusician.com/mainHTML.cfm?page=levinson.html |access-date=June 14, 2007 |publisher=jerryjazzmusician.com |archive-date=April 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416073856/https://jerryjazzmusician.com/nelson-riddle-biographer-peter-levinson/ |url-status=live}}</ref> which in 1983 was considered 'Vintage Pop'". Working with Ronstadt, Riddle brought his career back into focus in the last three years of his life.<ref name=nelsonriddle /> [[Stephen Holden]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote, ''What's New'' "isn't the first album by a rock singer to pay tribute to the golden age of the pop, but is ... the best and most serious attempt to rehabilitate an idea of pop that [[Beatlemania]] and the mass marketing of rock LPs for teenagers undid in the mid-60s.&nbsp;... In the decade prior to Beatlemania, most of the great band singers and crooners of the 40s and 50s codified a half-century of American pop standards on dozens of albums ... many of them now long out-of-print."<ref name="nytimes">{{Cite news |last=[[Stephen Holden|Holden, Stephen]] |date=September 4, 1983 |title=Linda Ronstadt Celebrate the Golden Age of Pop |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/04/arts/linda-ronstadt-celebrates-the-golden-age-of-pop.html |url-status=live |access-date=May 10, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305070632/http://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/04/arts/linda-ronstadt-celebrates-the-golden-age-of-pop.html |archive-date=March 5, 2016}}</ref> ''What's New'' is the first album by a rock singer to have major commercial success in rehabilitating the [[Great American Songbook]].<ref name=nytimes />

In 1984, Ronstadt and Riddle performed these songs live, in [[concert halls]] throughout Australia, Japan, and the United States, including multi-night performances at historic venues [[Carnegie Hall]], [[Radio City Music Hall]], and [[Pine Knob]].

In 2004, Ronstadt released ''[[Hummin' to Myself (Linda Ronstadt album)|Hummin' to Myself]]'', her album for [[Verve Records]]. It was her first foray into [[traditional jazz]] since her sessions with Jerry Wexler and her records with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, but this time with an intimate [[jazz]] [[musical ensemble|combo]]. The album was a quiet affair for Ronstadt, giving few interviews and making only one television performance as a promotion. It reached number 2 on Billboard's Top Jazz Albums chart but peaked at number 166 on the main Billboard album chart. Not having the mass distribution that [[Warner Music Group]] gave her, ''Hummin' To Myself'' had sold over 75,000 copies in the U.S. as of 2010. It also achieved some critical acclaim from the jazz cognoscenti.<ref name="JazzTimes2" />

=== "Trio" recordings ===
{{quote box
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| quote=When (we) sang, it was a beautiful and different sound I've never heard before. We (recorded the vocals) as individual parts, because we didn't have the luxury of spending a lot of time together on a tour bus ... and knowing each other's (vocal) moves ... takes years.|source=—Linda Ronstadt<ref name=MIXMag2000 />}}

In 1978, Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, and Emmylou Harris, friends and admirers of one another's work (Ronstadt had included a cover of Parton's "[[I Will Always Love You]]" on ''Prisoner in Disguise'') attempted to collaborate on a ''Trio'' album. Unfortunately, the attempt did not pan out. Ronstadt later remarked that not too many people were in control at the time and everyone was too involved with their own careers. (Though the efforts to complete the album were abandoned, a number of the recordings were included on the singers' respective solo recordings over the next few years.) This concept album was put on the back burner for almost ten years.

In January 1986, the three eventually did make their way into the recording studio, where they spent the next several months working. The result, ''[[Trio (1987 album)|Trio]]'', which they had conceived ten years earlier, was released in March 1987. It was a considerable hit, holding the number 1 position on Billboard's Country Albums chart for five weeks running and hitting the Top 10 on the pop side also. Selling over three million copies in the U.S. and winning them a [[Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal]], it produced four Top Ten Country singles including "[[To Know Him Is to Love Him]]" which hit number 1. The album was also a nominee for overall Album of the Year, in the company of Michael Jackson, [[U2]], [[Prince (musician)|Prince]], and [[Whitney Houston]].

In 1994, the three performers recorded a follow-up to ''Trio''. As was the case with their aborted 1978 effort, conflicting schedules and competing priorities delayed the album's release indefinitely. Ronstadt, who had already paid for studio time{{nsmdns}}and owed her record company a finished album{{nsmdns}}removed Parton's individual tracks at Parton's request, kept Harris's vocals, and produced a number of the recordings, which she subsequently released on her 1995 return to country rock, the album ''[[Feels Like Home (Linda Ronstadt album)|Feels Like Home]]''.

However, in 1999, Ronstadt, Parton, and Harris agreed to release the ''[[Trio II]]'' album, as was originally recorded in 1994. It included an ethereal cover of Neil Young's "[[After The Gold Rush (song)|After The Gold Rush]]" which became a popular music video. The effort was certified Gold (over 500,000 copies sold) and won them a [[Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals]] for the track. Ronstadt co-produced the album with [[George Massenburg]] and the three women also received a nomination for the [[Grammy Award for Best Country Album]].

===''Canciones de Mi Padre''===

{{main article|Canciones de Mi Padre}}

At the end of 1987, Ronstadt released ''Canciones de Mi Padre'', an album of traditional Mexican folk songs, or what she has described as "world class songs". Keeping with the Ronstadt history theme, her cover art was dramatic, bold, and colorful; it shows Ronstadt in full Mexican regalia. Her musical arranger was mariachi musician [[Rubén Fuentes]].

These ''[[canciones]]'' were a big part of Ronstadt's family tradition and musical roots. In January 1946, the [[University of Arizona]] published a booklet by [[Luisa Espinel]] entitled ''Canciones de mi Padre''.<ref name="MyFathersSongs">{{Cite web |last=Griffith |first=James S. |title=The Singing Ronstadts and Canciones de mi Padre – A Musical Family |url=http://parentseyes.arizona.edu/ronstadtfamily/music/cancintr.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070615124049/http://parentseyes.arizona.edu/ronstadtfamily/music/cancintr.html |archive-date=June 15, 2007 |access-date=May 30, 2007 |website=Tucson'sRonstadtFamily}}</ref> Luisa Espinel, Ronstadt's aunt, was an international singer in the 1920s and 1930s. Espinel's father was Fred Ronstadt, Linda Ronstadt's grandfather, and the songs she had learned, transcribed, and published were some of the ones he had brought with him from [[Sonora]]. Ronstadt researched and extracted from the favorites she had learned from her father Gilbert and she called her album by the same name as her aunt's booklet and as a tribute to her father and his family. Though not fully bilingual, she has a fairly good command of the Spanish language, allowing her to sing Latin American songs with little discernible U.S. accent; Ronstadt has often identified herself as Mexican-American.<ref name="MexAm">{{Cite web |title=American Way |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artamway.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808111245/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artamway.htm |archive-date=August 8, 2007 |access-date=May 7, 2007 |website=Linda Ronstadt's New Old Flame- Mexican Music}}</ref> Her formative years were spent with her father's side of the family.<ref name="rollingstone">{{Cite magazine |last=Herbst |first=Peter |title=The Rolling Stone Interview |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/intrs78.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061022112308/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/intrs78.htm |archive-date=October 22, 2006 |access-date=October 19, 2006 |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]}}</ref> In fact, in 1976, Ronstadt had collaborated with her father to write and compose a traditional Mexican folk ballad, ''"Lo siento mi vida"''{{snds}}a song that she included on ''Hasten Down the Wind''. Ronstadt has also credited Mexican singer [[Lola Beltrán]] as an influence on her own singing style, and she recalls how a frequent guest to the Ronstadt home, [[Lalo Guerrero|Eduardo "Lalo" Guerrero]], father of [[Chicano]] music, would often serenade her as a child.<ref name="AARP-07" />

''Canciones de Mi Padre'' won Ronstadt a Grammy Award for [[Grammy Award for Best Mexican/Mexican-American Album|Best Mexican-American Performance]]. In 2001, it was certified double-platinum by the RIAA for shipments of over 2&nbsp;million copies in the United States, making it the best-selling non-English-language album in U.S. music history. The album and later theatrical stage show served as a benchmark of the Latin cultural renaissance in North America.

{{quote box
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| quote=(I obtained) enough clout and ... after years and years of making commercial records, I was entitled to experiment ... the success of the (Nelson Riddle albums) ... entitled me to try the Mexican stuff.
|source=—Linda Ronstadt<ref name="Windy" />}}

Ronstadt produced and performed a theatrical stage show, also titled ''Canciones de mi Padre'', in concert halls across the U.S. and Latin America to both Hispanic and non-Hispanic audiences. These performances were later released on DVD. Ronstadt elected to return to the Broadway stage, four years after she performed in ''La bohème'', for a limited-run engagement. [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS's]] ''Great Performances'' aired the stage show during its annual fund drives and the show was a hit with audiences, earning Ronstadt a [[Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program]].

Ronstadt recorded two additional albums of Latin music in the early 1990s. Their promotion, like most of her albums in the 1990s, was a quieter affair, with Ronstadt making only a limited number of appearances to promote them. They were not nearly as successful as ''Canciones De Mi Padre'', but were critically acclaimed in some circles. In 1991, she released ''[[Mas Canciones]]'', a follow-up to the first ''Canciones''. For this album, she won a Grammy Award for [[Grammy Award for Best Mexican/Mexican-American Album|Best Mexican/Mexican-American Album]]. The following year, she stepped outside of the mariachi genre and decided to record well-known Afro-Cuban songs. This album was titled ''[[Frenesí (album)|Frenesí]]''. Like her two previous Latin recordings ventures, it won Ronstadt a Grammy Award, this time for [[Grammy Award for Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album|Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album]].

In 1991, Ronstadt acted in the lead role of archangel San Miguel in ''La Pastorela'', or ''A Shephard's Tale'', a musical filmed at ''[[San Juan Bautista, California|San Juan Bautista]]''. It was written and directed by [[Luis Valdez]]. The production was part of the PBS ''Great Performances'' series.

In December 2020, it was announced that ''Canciones de Mi Padre'' had been inducted into the [[Grammy Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{cite web |title=GRAMMY Hall Of Fame Welcomes 2021 Inductions: A Tribe Called Quest, Billie Holiday, Journey, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen And More |date=December 21, 2020 |url=https://www.grammy.com/press-releases/grammy-hall-fame-2021-inductions-welcomes-recordings-tribe-called-quest-billie-holiday-journey-linda |publisher=Recording Academy |access-date=February 16, 2021 |archive-date=March 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301191303/https://www.grammy.com/press-releases/grammy-hall-fame-2021-inductions-welcomes-recordings-tribe-called-quest-billie-holiday-journey-linda |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Returning to the contemporary music scene===
By the late 1980s, while enjoying the success of her big band jazz collaborations with Riddle and her surprise hit mariachi recordings, Ronstadt elected to return to recording mainstream pop music once again. In 1987, she made a return to the top of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart with "[[Somewhere Out There (James Horner song)|Somewhere Out There]]", which peaked at number 2 in March.<ref name=bronson /> Featured in the animated film ''[[An American Tail]]'', the sentimental duet with James Ingram was nominated for several Grammy Awards, ultimately winning the [[Grammy Award for Song of the Year]]. The song also received a nomination for the [[Academy Award for Best Original Song]] and achieved high sales, earning a million-selling gold single in the U.S.{{snds}}one of the last 45s ever to do so. It was also accompanied by a popular music video. On the heels of this success, [[Steven Spielberg]] asked Ronstadt to record the theme song for the animated sequel titled ''[[An American Tail: Fievel Goes West]]'', which was titled "[[Dreams to Dream]]". Although "Dreams to Dream" failed to achieve the success of "Somewhere Out There", the song did give Ronstadt an Adult Contemporary hit in 1991.

In 1989, Ronstadt released a mainstream pop album and several popular singles. ''[[Cry Like A Rainstorm, Howl Like The Wind]]'' became one of the singer's most successful albums{{snds}}in production, arrangements, sales, and critical acclaim. It became Ronstadt's tenth Top 10 album on the ''Billboard'' chart, reaching number 7 and being certified triple-platinum<ref name=RIAAsearch /> (over three million copies sold in the U.S.). The album also received Grammy Award nominations.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Artist Linda Ronstadt |url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/linda-ronstadt |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200102051512/https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/linda-ronstadt |archive-date=January 2, 2020 |access-date=October 23, 2018 |website=Recording Academy Grammy Awards}}</ref> Ronstadt included New Orleans soul singer Aaron Neville on several of the album's songs.

Ronstadt incorporated the sounds of the [[Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir]], [[Tower of Power]] horns, the Skywalker Symphony, and numerous musicians. It included the duets with Aaron Neville, "[[Don't Know Much]]" (''Billboard'' Hot 100 number 2 hit, Christmas 1989<ref name=bronson />) and "[[All My Life (Linda Ronstadt song)|All My Life]]" (''Billboard'' Hot 100 number 11 hit), both of which were long-running number 1 Adult Contemporary hits. The duets earned several Grammy Award nominations. The duo won both the 1989 and 1990 Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal awards. Ronstadt's last known live Grammy Award appearance was in 1990 when she and Neville performed "Don't Know Much" together on the telecast.<ref name=kqed /> ("Whenever I sing with a different artist, I can get things out of my voice that I can't do by myself", Ronstadt reflected in 2007. "I can do things with Aaron that I can't do alone.")<ref>Thibodeaux, Ron (February 11, 2007). "Home Grown". ''[[The Times-Picayune]]''.</ref>

In December 1990, she participated in a concert held at the [[Tokyo Dome]] to commemorate [[John Lennon]]'s 50th birthday, and to raise awareness of environmental issues. Other participants included [[Miles Davis]], [[Lenny Kravitz]], [[Hall & Oates]], [[Natalie Cole]], [[Yoko Ono]], and [[Sean Lennon]]. An album resulted, titled ''Happy Birthday, John''.<ref name="Lennon">{{Cite web |last1=Suzuki |first1=Hisataka |last2=MacKenzie |first2=Shiona |date=November 9, 2001 |title=John Lennon Super Live – Japan |url=http://www.jeclique.com/onoweb/dreampower2001.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070528170756/http://www.jeclique.com/onoweb/dreampower2001.html |archive-date=May 28, 2007 |access-date=May 12, 2007 |website=Dream Power}}</ref>

=== Return to roots music ===
Ronstadt released the highly acclaimed ''[[Winter Light (Linda Ronstadt album)|Winter Light]]'' album at the end of 1993. It included New Age arrangements such as the lead single "[[Heartbeats Accelerating]]" as well as the self-penned title track and featured the glass harmonica. It was her first commercial failure since 1972, and peaked at number 92 in Billboard, whereas 1995's ''[[Feels Like Home (Linda Ronstadt album)|Feels Like Home]]'' was Ronstadt's much-heralded return to country-rock and included her version of [[Tom Petty]]'s classic hit "[[The Waiting (song)|The Waiting]]". The single's rollicking, fiddle-infused flip side, "Walk On", returned Ronstadt to the Country Singles chart for the first time since 1983. An album track entitled "The Blue Train" charted 10 weeks in ''Billboard''{{'}}s Adult Contemporary Top 40. This album fared slightly better than its predecessor, reaching number 75. Both albums were later deleted from the Elektra/Asylum catalog. Ronstadt was nominated for three [[Premio Lo Nuestro 1993|Lo Nuestro Awards]] in 1993: Female Regional Mexican Artist of the Year, Female Tropical/Salsa Artist of the Year, and her version of the song "Perfidia" was also listed for Tropical/Salsa Song of the Year.<ref name="billboardmag">{{Cite magazine |last=Lannert |first=John |date=March 30, 1993 |title=Secada Lead Latin Noms Following Grammy Win |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0w8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA10 |url-status=live |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |volume=105 |issue=10 |page=10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160103033249/https://books.google.com/books?id=0w8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA10&dq=no+se+tu+luis+miguel&hl=es-419&sa=X&ei=_PzlUJ3QOcKsjALfhYEQ&ved=0CFAQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=no%20se%20tu%20luis%20miguel&f=false |archive-date=January 3, 2016 |access-date=January 3, 2013}}</ref>

In 1996, Ronstadt produced ''[[Dedicated to the One I Love (album)|Dedicated to the One I Love]]'', an album of classic rock and roll songs reinvented as lullabies. The album reached number 78 in ''Billboard'' and won the [[Grammy Award for Best Musical Album for Children]].

In 1998, Ronstadt released ''[[We Ran]]'', her first album in over two years. The album harkened back to Ronstadt's country-rock and folk-rock heyday. She returned to her rock 'n' roll roots with vivid interpretations of songs by [[Bruce Springsteen]], [[Doc Pomus]], [[Bob Dylan]], and [[John Hiatt]]. The recording was produced by [[Glyn Johns]]. A commercial failure, the album stood at 57,897 copies sold at the time of its deletion in 2008. It is the poorest-selling studio album in Ronstadt's Elektra/Asylum catalog. ''We Ran'' did not chart any singles but it was well received by critics.

Despite the lack of success of ''We Ran'', Ronstadt kept moving towards this adult rock exploration. In the summer of 1999, she released the album ''[[Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions]]'', a folk-rock-oriented project with Emmylou Harris. It earned a nomination for the Grammy Award for the Best Contemporary Folk Album and made the Top 10 of ''Billboard''{{'}}s Country Albums chart. Still in print as of December 2016, it has sold 223,255 copies per [[Nielsen SoundScan]].{{citation needed|date=December 2016}}

Also in 1999, Ronstadt went back to her concert roots when she performed with the Eagles and Jackson Browne at [[Staples Center]]'s 1999 New Year's Eve celebration kicking off the December 31 end-of-the-millennium festivities. As Staples Center Senior Vice President and general manager Bobby Goldwater said, "It was our goal to present a spectacular event as a sendoff to the 20th century", and "Eagles, Jackson Browne, and Linda Ronstadt are three of the most popular acts of the century. Their performances will constitute a singular and historic night of entertainment for New Year's Eve in Los Angeles."<ref name="NewYearsEve">{{Cite web |date=May 6, 1999 |title=The Eagles to Perform at Staples Center |url=http://www.staplescenter.com/news/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=103445&itype=&iCategoryID=0 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928135754/http://www.staplescenter.com/news/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=103445&itype=&iCategoryID=0 |archive-date=September 28, 2007 |access-date=November 25, 2012 |publisher=Staples Center}}</ref>

In 2000, Ronstadt completed her long contractual relationship with the [[Elektra Records|Elektra/Asylum label]]. The fulfillment of this contract commenced with the release of ''[[A Merry Little Christmas (Linda Ronstadt album)|A Merry Little Christmas]]'', her first holiday collection, which includes rare choral works, the somber Joni Mitchell song "[[River (Joni Mitchell song)|River]]", and a rare recorded duet with the late [[Rosemary Clooney]] on Clooney's signature song, "[[White Christmas (song)|White Christmas]]".

Since leaving Warner Music, Ronstadt has gone on to release one album each under [[Verve Records|Verve]] and [[Vanguard Records]].

{{quote box
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| quote=Your musical soul is like facets of a jewel, and you stick out one facet at a time ... (and) I tend to work real hard on whatever it is I do, to get it up to speed, up to a professional level. I tend to bury myself in one thing for years at a time.
| source=—Linda Ronstadt<ref name="Goldmine589" />}}

In 2006, recording as the ZoZo Sisters, Ronstadt teamed with her new friend, musician and musical scholar [[Ann Savoy]], to record ''[[Adieu False Heart]]''. It was an album of roots music incorporating pop, Cajun, and early-20th-century music and released on the Vanguard Records label. But ''Adieu False Heart'' was a commercial failure, peaking at number 146 in the U.S. despite her touring for the final time that year. It was the last time Linda Ronstadt would record an album, having begun to lose her singing ability as a result of a degenerative condition later determined to be progressive supranuclear palsy, but initially diagnosed as Parkinson's disease, in December 2012. ''Adieu False Heart'', recorded in [[Louisiana]], features a cast of local musicians, including Chas Justus, Eric Frey and Kevin Wimmer of [[the Red Stick Ramblers]], Sam Broussard of [[the Mamou Playboys]], [[Dirk Powell]], and [[Joel Savoy]], as well as an array of Nashville musicians: fiddler [[Stuart Duncan]], mandolinist [[Sam Bush]], and guitarist [[Bryan Sutton]]. The recording earned two Grammy Award nominations: [[Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album|Best Traditional Folk Album]] and [[Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical|Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical]].

In 2007, Ronstadt contributed to the compilation album ''[[We All Love Ella: Celebrating the First Lady of Song]]''{{snds}}a tribute album to jazz music's all-time most heralded artist{{snds}}on the track "[[Miss Otis Regrets]]".<ref>[http://www.rockonthenet.com/artists-r/lindaronstadt.htm Linda Ronstadt] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161024115915/http://www.rockonthenet.com/artists-r/lindaronstadt.htm |date=October 24, 2016}} Rock on the Net.</ref>

In August 2007, Ronstadt headlined the [[Newport Folk Festival]], making her debut at this event, where she incorporated jazz, rock, and folk music into her repertoire. It was one of her final concerts.

In 2010, Ronstadt contributed the arrangement and lead vocal to "A La Orilla de un Palmar" on [[the Chieftains]]' studio album ''[[San Patricio (album)|San Patricio]]'' (with [[Ry Cooder]]). This remains her most recent commercially available recording as lead vocalist.

=== Retirement ===
In 2011, Ronstadt was interviewed by the ''[[Arizona Daily Star]]'' and announced her retirement.<ref name="retirement">{{Cite news |last=Burch |first=Cathalena E. |date=April 22, 2011 |title=Ronstadt: Legacy 'Belongs 100 Percent to Nelson' |url=http://azstarnet.com/entertainment/blogs/caliente-tuned-in/ronstadt-legacy-belongs-percent-to-nelson/article_17e2d7b2-6ca0-11e0-b37e-001cc4c002e0.html |url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130722141521/http://azstarnet.com/entertainment/blogs/caliente-tuned-in/ronstadt-legacy-belongs-percent-to-nelson/article_17e2d7b2-6ca0-11e0-b37e-001cc4c002e0.html |archive-date=July 22, 2013 |access-date=January 12, 2025|newspaper=[[Arizona Daily Star]]}}</ref> In August 2013, she revealed to [[Alanna Nash]], writing for [[AARP]], that she had [[Parkinson's disease]] and could "no longer sing a note."<ref>[[Brian Mansfield|Mansfield, Brian]] (August 23, 2013). [https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2013/08/23/linda-ronstadt-parkinsons-disease/2694053 "Linda Ronstadt has Parkinson's Disease{{snds}}The Grammy-Winning Singer Revealed Her Condition to AARP Friday"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818215454/https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2013/08/23/linda-ronstadt-parkinsons-disease/2694053/ |date=August 18, 2017}}. ''[[USA Today]]''. Retrieved September 4, 2013.</ref> Her diagnosis was subsequently re-evaluated as [[progressive supranuclear palsy]].<ref name="mccarthy1" /> Her memoir ''Feels Like Home: A Song for the Sonoran Borderlands'' was published in 2022.<ref name="memoir">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/singer-linda-ronstadt-reflects-on-her-roots-in-new-book |publisher=[[PBS]] |language=en-US |date=October 5, 2022 |access-date=October 5, 2022 |work=[[PBS NewsHour]] |last1=Brown |first1=Jeffrey |last2=Jackson |first2=Lena I. |title=Singer Linda Ronstadt reflects on her roots in new book |archive-date=October 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006010859/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/singer-linda-ronstadt-reflects-on-her-roots-in-new-book |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Selected career achievements ===
[[File:Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt Honorary Doctorate From Berklee Presentation.jpg|thumb|right|Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris receiving honors from Berklee, 2009]]
On April 10, 2014, Ronstadt was inducted into the [[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]].<ref>" [http://www.rockhall.com/inductees/linda-ronstadt/ Linda Ronstadt] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160824234854/http://www.rockhall.com/inductees/linda-ronstadt/|date=August 24, 2016}}. "Linda Ronstadt : inducted in 2014 | The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum".</ref> In July 2019, Ronstadt was selected as a [[Kennedy Center Honors|Kennedy Center Honoree]].<ref name="vari_Sall" /> On May 7, 2022, during the International Mariachi Conference, the Tucson Music Hall at the [[Tucson Convention Center]] was officially renamed as The Linda Ronstadt Music Hall.<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 8, 2022 |author=Kelly Presnell |title=The Tucson Music Hall renamed for Grammy and Emmy Award winner Linda Ronstadt |url=https://tucson.com/news/local/photos-the-tucson-music-hall-renamed-for-grammy-and-emmy-award-winner-linda-ronstadt/collection_0ac716ea-ce7f-11ec-b585-6f12cad9c54f.html |work=The Arizona Daily Star |access-date=May 8, 2022 |archive-date=May 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220508034401/https://tucson.com/news/local/photos-the-tucson-music-hall-renamed-for-grammy-and-emmy-award-winner-linda-ronstadt/collection_0ac716ea-ce7f-11ec-b585-6f12cad9c54f.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

As of 2019, Ronstadt had earned three number-one pop albums, 10 top-ten pop albums, and 38 charting pop albums on the ''Billboard'' Pop Album Charts. She has 15 albums on the [[Top Country Albums|''Billboard'' Top Country Albums]] chart, including four that hit number one. Ronstadt's singles have earned her a number-one hit and three number-two hits on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] chart, with 10 top-ten pop singles and 21 reaching the Top 40. She has also scored two number-one hits on the [[Hot Country Songs|''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs]] chart, and two number-one hits on the [[Adult Contemporary (chart)|''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary]] chart. ''Rolling Stone'' wrote that a whole generation "but for her, might never have heard the work of [[Buddy Holly]], [[Chuck Berry]], or [[Elvis Costello]]."<ref name="interpreter6" />

She has recorded and released over 30 studio albums and has made guest appearances on an estimated 120 albums by other artists. Her guest appearances included the classical minimalist [[Philip Glass]]'s album ''[[Songs from Liquid Days]]'', a hit classical record with other major pop stars either singing or writing lyrics (Ronstadt's two tracks on the album saw her singing lyrics written by [[Suzanne Vega]] and [[Laurie Anderson]]). She also appeared on Glass's follow-up recording ''[[1000 Airplanes on the Roof]]''. She appeared on [[Paul Simon]]'s ''[[Graceland (album)|Graceland]]'', where she sang a duet with Simon, "[[Under African Skies]]". In that song, there is a verse dedicated to Ronstadt, her voice and harmonies and her birth in Tucson, Arizona. She voiced herself in ''[[The Simpsons]]'' episode "[[Mr. Plow]]" and sang a duet, "[[Funny How Time Slips Away]]", with [[Homer Simpson]] on ''[[The Yellow Album]]''.

Ronstadt has also appeared on albums by a vast range of artists including Emmylou Harris, [[the Chieftains]], [[Dolly Parton]], Neil Young, [[JD Souther]], [[Gram Parsons]], [[Bette Midler]], [[Nitty Gritty Dirt Band]], [[Earl Scruggs]], the Eagles, [[Andrew Gold]], [[Wendy Waldman]], [[Hoyt Axton]], [[Kate and Anna McGarrigle]], [[Ann Savoy]], [[Karla Bonoff]], [[James Taylor]], Jimmy Webb, [[Valerie Carter]], [[Warren Zevon]], [[Maria Muldaur]], [[Randy Newman]] (specifically his [[Randy Newman's Faust|musical adaptation of Faust]]), [[Nicolette Larson]], [[Seldom Scene|the Seldom Scene]], [[Rosemary Clooney]], Aaron Neville, [[Rodney Crowell]], [[Hearts and Flowers]], [[Laurie Lewis]] and [[Flaco Jiménez]]. As a singer-songwriter, Ronstadt has written songs covered by several artists, such as "Try Me Again", covered by [[Trisha Yearwood]]; and "Winter Light", which was co-written and composed with Zbigniew Preisner and Eric Kaz, and covered by [[Sarah Brightman]].

Her three biggest-selling studio albums to date are: her 1977 release ''[[Simple Dreams]]'', 1983's ''[[What's New (Linda Ronstadt album)|What's New]]'', and 1989's ''[[Cry Like A Rainstorm, Howl Like The Wind]]''. Each one has been certified by the [[Recording Industry Association of America]] for over three million copies sold. Her highest-selling album to date is the 1976 compilation ''[[Greatest Hits (Linda Ronstadt)|Greatest Hits]]'', certified for over seven million units sold as of 2001.<ref name="RIAAsearch" /> Ronstadt became music's first major touring female artist to sell out sizeable venues; she was also the top-grossing solo female concert artist for the 1970s.<ref name="doubleplatinum" /> She remained a highly successful touring artist into the 1990s, at which time she decided to scale back to smaller venues. In the 1970s, ''[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cashbox]]'' magazine, a competitor of ''Billboard'' during that time period, named Ronstadt the "#1 Female Artist of the Decade".<ref name="tiptheirhat" /> "[[Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time]]" included ''Heart Like a Wheel'' (1974) at number 164 and ''The Very Best Of Linda Ronstadt'' (2002) at number 324.<ref>[https://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5938174/the_rs_500_greatest_albums_of_all_time "The RS 500 Greatest Albums of All Time"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090104131142/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5938174/the_rs_500_greatest_albums_of_all_time|date=January 4, 2009}}. ''[[Rolling Stone]]''.</ref> The 2012 revision kept only the compilation, but raised it to the place once occupied by ''Heart Like a Wheel''.

Ronstadt's album sales have not been certified since 2001. At that time, Ronstadt's U.S. album sales were certified by the Recording Industry Association of America at over 30&nbsp;million albums sold; however, Peter Asher, her former producer and manager, placed her total U.S. album sales at over 45&nbsp;million.<ref name="Asheralbumsales" /> Likewise, her worldwide albums sales are in excess of 100&nbsp;million albums sold, according to the former president of Warner Bros. Records, Joe Smith, now a jury member of the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 4, 2016 |title=Linda Ronstadt – Hit Parade Hall of Fame |url=http://hitparadehalloffame.com/linda-ronstadt/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304083702/http://hitparadehalloffame.com/linda-ronstadt/ |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |access-date=August 24, 2018}}</ref> Her RIAA certification (audits paid for by record companies or artists for promotion) tally as of 2001 totaled 19 Gold, 14 Platinum and 7 Multi-Platinum albums.<ref name="RIAAsearch" /> She was the first female in music history to score three consecutive platinum albums and ultimately racked up a total of eight consecutive platinum albums.<ref name="certifications" /> Her album ''Living in the USA'' was the first album by any recording artist in U.S. music history to ship double platinum (over two million advanced copies).<ref name="doubleplatinum" /> Her first Latin release, the all-Spanish 1987 album ''[[Canciones De Mi Padre]]'', stands as the best-selling non-English-language album in American music history. As of 2013, it had sold over 2{{frac|1|2}}&nbsp;million U.S. copies.

Ronstadt has served as producer on albums from various musicians that include her cousin, [[David Lindley (musician)|David Lindley]], Aaron Neville and singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb.<ref name="producer">{{Cite web |date=April 1995 |title=Homecoming Queen |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artmojo.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927184728/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/artmojo.htm |archive-date=September 27, 2007 |access-date=May 13, 2007 |website=Mojo}}</ref> She produced ''Cristal – Glass Music Through the Ages'', an album of classical music using glass instruments with [[Dennis James (musician)|Dennis James]], where she sang on several of the arrangements.<ref name="Cristal">{{Cite web |last=Bailey |first=Rich |date=January 2002 |title=Dennis James interview |url=http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/djames.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070317220915/http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/djames.html |archive-date=March 17, 2007 |access-date=May 8, 2007}}</ref> In 1999, Ronstadt also produced the Grammy Award-winning ''[[Trio II]]''. She has received a total of 27 Grammy Award nominations in various fields that include rock, country, pop and [[Tropical (radio format)|Tropical Latin]], and has won 11 [[Grammy Award]]s in the categories of Pop, Country, Tropical Latin, Musical Album for Children and Mexican-American. In 2016, Ronstadt was again honored by the [[National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences]] with the Lifetime Achievement Grammy.

She was the first female solo artist to have two Top 5 singles simultaneously on ''Billboard'' magazine's Hot 100: "Blue Bayou" and "It's So Easy". By December of that year, both "Blue Bayou" and "It's So Easy" had climbed into ''Billboard''{{'}}s Top 5 and remained there for the month's last four weeks.<ref>McAleer, Dave (2001). ''The Book of Singles{{snds}}Top 20 Charts 1984 to Present Day''. {{ISBN|0-87930-666-1}}</ref> In 1999, Ronstadt ranked number 21 in [[VH1]]'s ''100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll''. Three years later, she ranked number 40 in [[Country Music Television|CMT's]] ''40 Greatest Women in Country Music''. In 2023, ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' ranked Ronstadt at No. 47 on their list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.<ref>{{Cite magazine|date=January 1, 2023|title=The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-singers-all-time-1234642307/linda-ronstadt-3-1234643128/|access-date=August 31, 2023|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US}}</ref>