Sunday, August 25, 2013

Linda Ronstadt: The Songs Now Sing to Her

Linda Ronstadt has Parkinson's.  And cannot sing a note.  It has robbed many people of many things, but this is the ultimate insult.  The world has lost one of the great voices.  But I'll let Nez jump in.

From Nez' FB post today (8/25/2013):

The awful news about Linda losing her voice to Parkinson's is terrible but it can never diminish the legacy she has created for us in the songs she has sung for all of us. 

Because of her these songs will live as long as people listen to songs and these songs will always sing with the same power and beauty that she was and is.

Like all great gifts, these songs now sing to her as they once sang with her.

Listen to them. You will hear what she has done. What she has given us.
Her voice is far from stilled. It lives and sings forever down the halls of time.

Linda did more for Different Drum than I ever did -- or ever could have.

She breathed eternal life into it.


Linda is one of the integral figures who reveals the impact of The Monkees on the larger field of music.  She's the first mainstream Country-Rock act, and began with "Different Drum". Written and performed on The Show by Nez- a wink that goes unexplained on the show, but the airplay of the song made the mystery persist.


Through her voice, I fell in love with the sound of the Great American Songbook ("What's New?") and the sound of Nelson Riddle.  (Check out the last clip there, Keely Smith is incredible!)

Her career spanned pop, musicals ("Pirates of Penzance" at Shakespeare in the park!) and even Mariachi Music.    I could go on and on.

(Update on 8/2/8/13) This NYTimes piece includes references to Michael J.Fox and Michael Pollen (brothers in law??) and a whole list of musical friends she mentions in her memoir, Simple Dreams.

We are incredibly lucky to have the magic of recorded music and to have her songs sing to us for now and ever more.

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