Editing Linda Ronstadt (section)

=== 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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| 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
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| 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
| width=25%
| align=right
| 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
| width=<!-- blank = fit text. it's short -->
| align=left
| 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>