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Ronstadt at the New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum, August 16, 1978.
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There are two types of men in this world: those who are in love with Linda and those who have never met her.
—Willie Nelson
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Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is an American popular music singer. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, and numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums. She has also earned nominations for a Tony Award and a Golden Globe award.
Linda Ronstadt whose first hit song was Michael Nesmith penned "Differnt Drum" in 1964 with the Stone Poneys has since collaborated with artists from a diverse spectrum of genres including Bette Midler, Billy Eckstine, Frank Zappa, Rosemary Clooney, Flaco Jiménez, Philip Glass, Carla Bley, The Chieftains, Warren Zevon, Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons, Dolly Parton, Neil Young, Johnny Cash, Aaron Neville, and Nelson Riddle. She has lent her voice to over 120 albums and has sold more than 100 million records, making her one of the world's best-selling artists of all time. Christopher Loudon of Jazz Times noted in 2004, Ronstadt is "Blessed with arguably the most sterling set of pipes of her generation ... rarest of rarities...a chameleon who can blend into any background yet remain boldly distinctive ... It's an exceptional gift; one shared by few others."
In total, she has released over 30 studio albums and 15 compilation or greatest hits albums. Ronstadt charted 38 Billboard Hot 100 singles, with 21 reaching the top 40, 10 in the top 10, three at #2, and "You're No Good" at #1. This success did not translate to the UK, where her Aaron Neville duet "Don't Know Much" reached #2 but "Blue Bayou" was her only other hit to reach the UK Top 40. In addition, she has charted 36 albums, 10 top-10 albums and three #1 albums on the Billboard Pop Album Chart.
She's sung in just about every style imaginable short of hip-hop or Gregorian chant: rock, country, new wave, adult contemporary, pop standards, operetta, Mexican and Cuban music, and so on. She's also perhaps the ultimate queen of the Cover Version, with several of her major hits, including "You're No Good" (Betty Everett), "When Will I Be Loved" (The Everly Brothers), "Ooh Baby Baby" (Smokey Robinson), "It's So Easy" (Buddy Holly), "Blue Bayou" (Roy Orbison), and "Don't Know Much" (previously done by Bill Medley and also by Bette Midler), even eclipsing the originals in popularity.
In a 2011 interview with the Arizona Daily Star she said, "I am 100 percent retired and I'm not doing anything any more". It was announced publicly in August 2013 that Linda had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in December 2012, which left her unable to sing.
Her autobiography, Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir, was released in September 2013. It debuted in the Top 10 on The New York Times Best Sellers List.
Linda Ronstadt was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April, 2014.
On Monday, July 28, 2014, President Obama awarded Linda Ronstadt one of twelve 2013 National Medals of Arts and Humanities. He also stated that he had had a crush on her when he was younger.