Linda Ronstadt: 7 Facts You Might Not Have Known About the Singer and ’70s Icon

In the '70s, there were few singers more beloved than Linda Ronstadt. With her boho style and powerful voice, she enchanted countless listeners with hit songs like " You're No Good ," " When Will I Be Loved " and " Blue Bayou ," and showed an impressive range, incorporating elements of rock, pop, folk, country, jazz, opera, Latin music and much more in her eclectic repertoire.

Sadly, Ronstadt retired from music in 2011, as she lost her ability to sing due to Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, a degenerative disease similar to Parkinson's. Her legacy, which includes dozens of albums released between 1969 and 2006, many of which went Platinum; 11 Grammys; 34 songs in the Billboard Hot 100 and a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, remains unparalleled.

Over 50 years after she made her debut, Ronstadt remains beloved by fans of all ages, and has won over a new audience thanks to the inclusion of one of her songs on the popular show The Last of Us and the recent announcement that pop star Selena Gomez will be playing her in an upcoming biopic about her fascinating life.

Ronstadt isn't just a singer, she's a cultural icon. Here are 7 Linda Ronstadt facts you might not have known.

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1. Linda Ronstadt has had many musical collaborations

While Ronstadt is best known as a solo artist, she's collaborated with all kinds of musicians. In 1987, she famously formed Trio, a supergroup with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris , and outside of that, she sang with James Taylor , Neil Young , Paul Simon , Warren Zevon , Bette Midler , Frank Sinatra and much more. To give an idea of just how musically connected she was, none other than the Eagles started out as her backing band!

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2. She's paid tribute to her roots

Ronstadt is of Mexican descent and was raised in a ranch in Tucson, Arizona. She grew up listening to and singing Mexican music, and in 1987, she released Canciones de mi padre , an album of traditional Mexican Mariachi music that remains the bestselling non-English language album in the history of American music.

She released two more Spanish-language albums in 1991 and 1992, and in 2022, she published Feels Like Home: A Song for the Sonoran Borderlands , a book detailing her upbringing and the importance of Mexican culture in her life, complete with Ronstadt family recipes.

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3. Linda Ronstadt performed on Broadway

In 1981, Ronstadt starred in Gilbert and Sullivan 's The Pirates of Penzance opposite Kevin Kline , and earned a Tony nomination for her role. Many credited her with introducing traditional music and operatic vocals to a new audience, and she often spoke about the impact of music from an earlier generation on her own work.

4. She only wrote 3 songs

Ronstadt may have come up during the singer-songwriter scene of the late '60s and early '70s, but she only wrote three songs, " Lo siento mi vida ," " Try Me Again " and " Winter Light " (all of which had cowriters). She's primarily known as an interpreter of music written by others, from her hip contemporaries to the songwriting greats of decades past.

As she put it, "People that write songs, they write songs. They wake up early in the morning and know an idea and they write it down. I don’t work that way . I’ve written songs. Anybody can write a song, but it’s really hard to write a good song, and it’s almost impossible to write a great song. And I had people who were writing great songs around me." And besides, no one can argue with a voice like that!

5. Linda Ronstadt had some high-profile relationships

In the late '70s, Ronstadt got even more media attention when she dated Jerry Brown , the governor of California. In 1983, she briefly dated Jim Carrey when he was an up-and-coming comedian. She then dated Star Wars creator George Lucas from 1983 to 1988, and the couple were briefly engaged.

While Ronstadt had high-profile relationships, she never married, saying, " I have no talent for it . Not a shred. I don’t like to compromise. If I want a pink sofa and somebody doesn’t want a pink sofa, I’m not going to go for that. I want the pink sofa.” In the early '90s, she adopted two children.

6. She had mixed feelings about her sex symbol image

Ronstadt's cool hippie chick style and doe-eyed look made her a major sex symbol of the '70s, but she admitted she had mixed feelings about being seen this way.

In a 1976 interview, she said, "I don't know how good a sex symbol I am, but I do think I'm good at being sexy. The sexual aspect of my personality has been played up a lot, and I can't say it hasn't been part of my success. But it's unfair in a way, because I don't think I look as good as my image . Sometimes I feel guilty about it, sometimes I feel embarrassed about it, sometimes I feel I have to compete with it. But that's part of the fun, too — that's part of the charade."

7. Linda Ronstadt was one of the first solo female superstars

In the world of Taylor Swift and Beyoncé , we're very used to seeing women sell out arenas, but long before them, Ronstadt was the first to reach this wild level of success. She was often called "the Queen of Rock" and was the first women to have four albums go Platinum in a row. Early in her career, she battled sexism and people underestimating her abilities, but she proved herself many times over — and blazed a new trail for female singers that still inspires today.

Read on for more of our favorite female musicians of the '70s !

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