Linda Ronstadt, Siren of the Seventies

Welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I’m Jumpin’ John, and this podcast is Part 1 of a 2 part series highlighting the illustrious career of Linda Ronstadt.  Since Linda Ronstadt was arguably the most dominant female pop singer of the 1970's, I'm calling this podcast Linda Ronstadt, Siren of the Seventies!

All podcasts on the Rock and Roll Flashback Podcast are produced by brothers-in-law Bill Price and "Jumpin' John" McDermott. The Podcast Theme Song, "You Essay", was written by John, and the basic track was recorded by Bill and John on April 1, 2004.
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Rock On!

Transcript

Welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I’m Jumpin’ John, and this podcast is Part 1 of a 2 part series highlighting the illustrious career of Linda Ronstadt.  Since Linda Ronstadt was arguably the most dominant female pop singer of the 1970's, I'm calling this podcast Linda Ronstadt, Siren of the Seventies!

Linda Maria Ronstadt was born on July 15th, 1946 in Tucson, Arizona, and she was raised on the Ronstadt family's 10-acre ranch.  Linda's early family life was filled with music and tradition.  Rock and roll, rhythm and blues, gospel, opera, country, choral, and mariachi were all musical styles that young Linda heard growing up.  She fondly recalls being exposed to that diverse selection of music during her youth, either hearing her family sing in their living room or hearing it played on the radio.  Her upbringing greatly influenced the variety of stylistic and musical choices she later made in her career.  At age 14 Linda Ronstadt formed a folk trio with her brother Peter and sister Gretchen.  The group played coffeehouses, fraternity houses, and other small venues, billing themselves as "the Union City Ramblers" and "the Three Ronstadts."  They even recorded themselves at a Tucson studio under the name "the New Union Ramblers".  Their repertoire included the music they grew up on – folk, country, bluegrass, and Mexican.  

While Linda was briefly a student at Arizona State University, she met guitarist Bob Kimmel.  In 1964 eighteen year old Ronstadt and Kimmel moved to Los Angeles, where guitarist and songwriter Kenny Edwards joined the pair to form the folk-rock trio called the Stone Poneys.  The Stone Poneys were part of California's emerging folk rock and country rock movements and were signed by Capitol Records.  The trio released three albums within a 15-month period in 1967 and 1968.  They were The Stone Poneys; Evergreen, Volume 2; and Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. III.  They had a hit single called "Different Drum" on the second album.  The song was written by Michael Nesmith prior to his joining the Monkees.  “Different Drum” reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, #12 in Cashbox magazine, #16 in Record World magazine, and #5 in New Zealand.  

Ronstadt left the Stone Poneys for a solo career at the end of 1968.  Still contractually obligated to Capitol Records, Linda released her first solo album, Hand Sown ... Home Grown, in 1969.  It has been called the first alternative country record by a female recording artist.  During this same time period, she contributed to the Music from Free Creek project, and she also provided the vocals for some commercials.  Linda's second solo album, Silk Purse, was released in March 1970.  Recorded entirely in Nashville, it was produced by Elliot Mazer, whom Ronstadt chose on the advice of Janis Joplin.  The LP gave Ronstadt her first solo hit, the single "Long, Long Time", and earned her first Grammy nomination, for Best Contemporary Vocal Performance/Female.  Silk Purse would kick off the decade of the 1970's - a decade in which Linda would dominate the pop and country music world.  

Linda's first backing band was the country-rock band Swampwater.  Swampwater backed Ronstadt during TV appearances on The Johnny Cash Show and The Mike Douglas Show, and at the 1970 Big Sur Folk Festival.  Then she took on another backing band that included Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Bernie Leadon, and Randy Meisner, all of whom went on to form the Eagles.  They toured with Linda for a short period in 1971 and played on Linda Ronstadt, her self-titled third album, which was a pivotal album, featuring more laid-back country-rock tunes.  Her producer was her then boyfriend, John Boylan.  Boylan would help Ronstadt move from Capitol Records to Asylum Records.

As part of her early solo career, Ronstadt toured the North American concert circuit and began to contribute her singing to albums by other artists.  Being on the road as a female singer took its toll both emotionally and professionally, but Linda persevered.  She began her fourth solo album, Don't Cry Now, in 1973, with Boylan and new boyfriend John David Souther producing most of the album's tracks.  Not totally satisfied, Ronstadt contacted Peter Asher to help her finish the album.  Asher produced the songs "Sail Away" and "I Believe in You".  The completed album featured Linda Ronstadt's first country hit, "Silver Threads and Golden Needles," which reached the Country Top 20.  With the release of Don't Cry Now, Ronstadt took on her biggest gig to date as the opening act on Neil Young's Time Fades Away tour, playing for larger crowds than ever before.  It was backstage at a 1973 concert in Texas that Linda met Emmylou Harris.  Her friendship with Emmylou would lead to frequent collaborations over the following years.  Meanwhile, Don't Cry Now became Ronstadt's most successful LP up to that time, selling 300,000 copies by the end of 1974.

Peter Asher turned out to be more collaborative, and more on the same page with her musically, than any producer Linda had worked with previously.  Ronstadt's professional relationship with Asher allowed her to take command and effectively delegate responsibilities in the recording studio.  Asher became her full-time producer and remained in that role for over 16 years, producing several of Linda's successful albums.

In 1975, Ronstadt performed shows with Jackson Browne and the Eagles.  In these shows she would sing lead vocal on numerous songs, including the Eagles' "Desperado," while singing background and playing tambourine and acoustic guitar on others.  1975 was the year that the 29-year-old Ronstadt achieved major commercial success, and Rolling Stone put Ronstadt on its cover in March 1975.  On February 15th, 1975 Linda's 5th LP, Heart Like a Wheel, reached #1 on the Billboard 200 chart.  It was also the first of her four #1 Country Albums, and the disc was certified double-platinum with over two million copies sold in the U.S.  The album's critical and commercial success was due to the appealing blend of country and rock.  Heart Like a Wheel became Linda's first of many major commercial successes that would set her on the path to being one of the best-selling female artists of all time.  Heart Like a Wheel's first single release, "You're No Good," climbed to #1 on both the Billboard and Cashbox Pop singles charts by February 1975.  "You're No Good" would reside in the Top 40 for a total of 10 weeks.  By May 1975 the album's second single release, the Phil Everly song "When Will I Be Loved," hit #1 in Cashbox and #2 in Billboard.  That song was also Ronstadt's first #1 country hit.  Another single from the album, the Hank Williams song "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You)," peaked at #2 on the country chart and won Ronstadt her first Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance/Female.  The Heart Like a Wheel album itself was nominated for the Album of the Year Grammy.  

In September 1975, Ronstadt's album Prisoner in Disguise was released.  It quickly climbed into the Top Five on the Billboard Album Chart and sold over a million copies, becoming her second in a row to go platinum.  Linda Ronstadt would eventually become the first female artist in pop music history to have three consecutive platinum albums and would ultimately go on to have eight consecutive platinum albums, and then another six between 1983 and 1990.  The LP's first single release was "Love Is A Rose".  It was climbing the pop and country charts but "Heat Wave" was also receiving considerable airplay.  Asylum pulled the "Love Is a Rose" single and issued "Heat Wave" with "Love Is a Rose" on the B-side.  "Heat Wave" hit the Top Five on Billboard's Hot 100 while "Love Is A Rose" hit the Top Five on Billboard's country chart.

In 1976, Ronstadt reached the Top 3 of Billboard's Album Chart and won her second career Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for her third consecutive platinum album Hasten Down the Wind.  The album showcased Ronstadt the singer-songwriter, as she composed two of its songs, "Try Me Again" (co-authored with Andrew Gold) and "Lo Siento Mi Vida".  It also included an interpretation of Willie Nelson's ballad "Crazy", which became a Top 10 Country hit for Ronstadt in early 1977.  Also in 1977, she was asked by the Los Angeles Dodgers to sing the U.S. National Anthem at game three of the World Series against the New York Yankees.

At the end of 1977, Ronstadt surpassed the success of Heart Like a Wheel with her album Simple Dreams.  That album held the #1 position for five consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200 chart.  It sold over 31⁄2 million copies in less than a year in the U.S. alone, which was then a record for a female artist.  Simple Dreams spawned a string of hit singles on numerous charts.  Ronstadt became the first female recording artist to have two songs in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Top Ten at the same time.  By December 1977 both Roy Orbison's "Blue Bayou" and "It's So Easy" had climbed into Billboard's Top 5 and remained there for the month's last four weeks.  "Blue Bayou" peaked at #3 while "It's So Easy" peaked at #5.  Simple Dreams became one of the singer's best-selling international-selling albums as well, reaching #1 on the Australian and Canadian Pop and Country Albums charts.  The album garnered several Grammy Award nominations, including Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance/Female for "Blue Bayou."  Simple Dreams also made Ronstadt the most successful international female touring artist, and she followed it up with a concert tour around Europe.  As Country Music magazine would write in October 1978, Simple Dreams solidified Ronstadt's role as [and I quote] "easily the most successful female rock and roll and country star at this time" [end quote].  

By the mid-1970s, Ronstadt's image became just as famous as her music.  In 1976 and 1977, she appeared on the covers of Rolling Stone and Time magazines.  The Rolling Stone cover story was accompanied by a series of photographs of Ronstadt in a skimpy red slip, taken by Annie Leibovitz.  Ronstadt felt deceived, not realizing that the photos would be so revealing.  Her 1977 appearance on the cover of Time under the banner "Torchy Rock" was also upsetting to Linda, considering what the image appeared to project about the most famous woman in rock.  It was a time in the music industry when men still told women what to sing and what to wear, and Ronstadt hated the image of her that was projected to the world on that cover.  Since her solo career had begun, Ronstadt had fought hard to be recognized as a solo female singer in the world of rock, and her portrayal on the Time cover did not appear to help the situation. 

In 1978, Rolling Stone declared Ronstadt to be [and I quote] "by far America's best-known female rock singer" [end quote].  She achieved a third #1 album on the Billboard Album Chart with Living in the USA.  The hit single "Ooo Baby Baby", hit all four major singles charts:  Pop, Adult Contemporary, Country, and R&B.  Living in the USA was the first album by any recording act in music history to ship double-platinum with over 2 million advance copies.  The album eventually sold 3 million U.S. copies.  At the end of that year, Billboard magazine recognized Linda Ronstadt with three #1 Awards for the Year:  Pop Female Singles Artist of the Year, Pop Female Album Artist of the Year, and Overall Female Artist of the Year.  Linda was also featured in the 1978 film FM, where the plot involved DJ's attempting to broadcast a Ronstadt concert live.  That film also showed Ronstadt performing the songs "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me", "Love Me Tender", and "Tumbling Dice".  Following the success of Living in the USA, Ronstadt conducted several album promotional tours and concerts.

By the end of the 1970's, Linda Ronstadt had solidified her role as one of rock and pop's most successful solo female acts.  Her consistent platinum album success and her ability as the first woman to sell out concerts in arenas and stadiums made Linda Ronstadt the highest-paid woman in rock.  With the release of chart-topping albums such as Heart Like a Wheel, Simple Dreams, and Living in the USA, Linda Ronstadt had become the first female arena class rock star.  She set records as one of the top-grossing concert artists of the decade.  Three of her albums had hit #1 on the Billboard album chart, and she had produced numerous charting pop singles.  In 1978 alone, she made over $12 million and in the same year her albums sales were reported to be 17 million units and grossing over $60 million.  By then Rolling Stone magazine was calling her "Rock's Venus."  

By 1979, Linda Ronstadt had collected eight gold, six platinum, and four multi-platinum certifications for her albums, an unprecedented feat at the time.  She had outsold her female competition and some were referring to her as the "First Lady of Rock" and the "Queen of Rock".  Her 1976 Greatest Hits album would sell consistently for the next 25 years, and it was certified by the RIAA for seven-times platinum in 2001 with over seven million U.S. copies sold.  Cashbox gave Ronstadt a Special Decade Award, as the top-selling female singer of the 1970's.  Linda's entire rock and roll image, from her album covers to posters to numerous magazine covers, were as famous as her music.  

This has been another podcast episode of Rock and Roll Flashback!  In this episode, called Linda Ronstadt, Siren of the Seventies, I discussed the early career of the American female singer and pop superstar, Linda Ronstadt!  However, even more success was in store for Linda Ronstadt beyond the 1970's.  Be sure to check out our companion podcast, "Linda Ronstadt, The 1980's & Beyond," where I review the last two decades of Linda Ronstadt's stellar and diverse career, as well as cover some of her numerous awards and accolades.  I'm Jumpin' John McDermott, and - until next time - ROCK ON!