As a member of the first class of Boomers—born July 15th, 1946—Linda Ronstadt fully embraced the golden era of rock n’ roll, covering songs by The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, and Roy Orbison.
Linda was a star right out of the box, her repertory expanding from lead singer of 1967’s “Different Drum” by the Stone Poney’s, (written by one-time Monkee Michael Nesmith) to include a run on Broadway in “Pirates of Penzance,” an album of traditional Mexican ballads, recorded in Spanish, (Canciones de Mi Padre), to her hits of standards from the American songbook.
Ronstadt’s in good company, as several of her peers have also recently hit the Big 7-OH: Dolly Parton, Bette Midler, Debbie Harry and Cher.
In 1978, nearly 20 years after Chuck Berry had a hit with “Back In The U.S.A.” Ronstadt got it flying back on the Top 40 chart.
Happy birthday, Linda. Your remarkable body of work has given the world hundreds of hours of joy.