Linda Ronstadt

Despite strong roots in country music, Linda Ronstadt has operated in many different musical genres and has a host of awards to prove it. Of Mexican heritage Ronstadt grew up in Tucson, Arizona, but embarked on her music career after gravitating to California in the mid-1960s. She became lead singer in the folk-rock group Stone Poneys (who also featured Bob Kimmel and Kenny Edwards and had a hit with Different Drum), releasing her first solo album Hand Sown... Home Grown in 1969 - an influential fusion of rock and country that subsequently became known as the first alternative country album. Chart-topping albums Heart Like A Wheel, Simple Dreams and Living In The USA established her as one of America's biggest stars and, after gaining status as a country queen, she also became known as the first lady of rock. Bold collaborations with composer Phillip Glass and conductor Nelson Riddle expanded Ronstadt's appeal further, making her one of the best-selling acts of the 1970s. In the 1980s she moved into stage musicals and in 1987 she collaborated with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris on the hugely successful Trio album, following it up with Trio 2 in 1999. She also struck gold with an album of traditional Mexican folk songs Canciones De Mi Padre with arrangements by Ruben Fuentes and spread her wings further with albums of classic rock & roll and big band jazz. In 2006 Ronstadt teamed up with Ann Savoy as the ZoZo Sisters to make the album Adieu False Heart, and the following year she contributed to an Ella Fitzgerald tribute and headlined the Newport Folk Festival. In 2011 Ronstadt announced her retirement from the music business, revealing two years later her diagnosis of Parkinson's disease.

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