Linda Ronstadt
Iconic performer and ten time Grammy award winner, Linda Ronstadt, was born on July 15th, 1946 to her parents Gilbert and Ruth Mary Copeman Ronstadt in Tucson, Arizona. She grew up listening to her father’s favorite Spanish-language music along with many other genres, including gospel, country, and the top 40’s. She began performing at a young age alongside her brother and sister at local pizza parlors and teen clubs. After attending the University of Arizona for only a couple of months, she decided to take action in pursuing her music career and headed to Los Angeles.
Linda has covered many different genres in her career and is known as “The First Lady of Rock” due to her extremely successful rock and roll career in the 1960s and 1970s. She has released a plethora of albums and received her first Grammy in 1975 for her album, “I Can't Help It If I'm Still In Love With You." Her many musical ventures even include Broadway. In 1980, she was cast as the lead in New York Shakespeare Festival’s production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s, “The Pirates of Penzance.”
In 1987, she released her first album of covers of her father’s favorite Mexican songs. The album is entitled, “Canciones de Mi Padre”, which translates into, “My Father's Songs.” In 1988, Ronstadt returned to Broadway, for a limited run of the musical show adaptation of the album. The album garnered Linda a Grammy Award for “Best Mexican-American Performance” and sold over 2 million copies of the double platinum RIAA disc. Although she was not fully bilingual, that did not stop her from learning these songs and their true meaning with the help of Linda’s aunt, Luisa Espinel, who was an international singer in the 1920’s. In 1993, Linda’s follow up album “Mas Canciones” earned her another Grammy Award for “Best Mexican/Mexican-American Album”. Thanks to Linda, traditional Mexican music reached the hearts of many unlikely audiences in the US.
Linda went on to release albums in the country, blues, and rock genre and continued to earn Grammy Awards among many other accolades. In 2011, Linda announced her retirement due to her suffering from Parkinson's disease which made her unable to continue singing. Although she no longer puts out new music, we continue to share in the treasures she released for the world to enjoy. From her well known and loved rendition of, “Blue Bayou” to the all time classic mariachi hit “Los Laureles”, she will always be known as the “First Lady of Rock,” and “The Queen of Rancheras”.
By Dominique Mesa
Podcast
Ep 2: Linda Ronstadt
A conversation between Diana Olivares and Las Azaleas
Enjoy our version of “Palomita de Ojos Negros” in tribute to Linda Ronstadt.
Andrea - 2nd violin
Yasmine - Lower voice harmony and 1st violin
Dominique - 1st violin
Azul - Lead voice and guitar
Diana - 3rd violin