The singer Linda Ronstadt knew was out of her league: “Over my head”
When we think of legends of the 1960s and 1970s, it’s easy to celebrate the usual suspects, like the revolutionary impact of The Beatles or how The Rolling Stones transformed rock ‘n’ roll into an entirely new blues-inspired beast. However, another star who was arguably just as significant to the landscape of rock was Linda Ronstadt.
When Ronstadt first moved to LA at 18, she likely hadn’t realised how much of a trailblazer of the scene she’d become. With little else other than her father’s 1898 Martin guitar and a dream to become a singer, Ronstadt pursued anything she could get, understanding that, so long as she was able to sing anywhere, that was all that mattered.
As she rather bluntly said so herself, “I never wanted to be anything but a singer. I thought that I would be singing at pizza parlours or Holiday Inns, or something like that. As long as I could make a living as a singer. I didn’t have an ambition when I started.”
A big part of becoming a singer was moving from Arizona to “get to where the music was”. Of course, being as young as she was, her parents weren’t entirely convinced at first. But once they realised how much it meant to her, her father briefly disappeared before returning with his Martin guitar, which his own father had bought in 1898.
When she finally made it to LA, it was during the first stages of the counterculture scene. At first, Ronstadt fell in love with all corners of culture, from art films to up-and-coming bands performing at The Ash Grove. That was where “all the good folk music was”, she said, and a place she’d become endeared to after realising she could observe the variety of new musical acts and learn how to become a better musician herself.
At the same time, Ronstadt already had it in her to become one of the most unique stars the rock world had ever seen. Not only did she have the talent (even if she didn’t believe she did until much later), but she also had tenacity, which, in this business, is one of the most significant qualities a musician can have. And it also meant that Ronstadt was never going to do anything she didn’t want to do.
At the same time, it meant that if there was something she did want to do, she would go ahead and do it, even if others told her it wasn’t a good move or it didn’t make sense professionally. After all, most people would’ve likely told her not to pursue the sounds of her heritage if she wanted to maintain commercial success, but she always knew that was her calling, and believing as much eventually led to one of the most significant records of her entire career.
Early on, she was also told to pursue a career in opera, but she knew that opera wasn’t her area of expertise or something she’d care about enough to actually put in the work. But it also didn’t mean she’d never be able to entertain the idea in some way or another, as proven in 1984 when she appeared as Mimì in the New York Shakespeare Festival’s production of Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème.
This endeavour also opened a door for her to perform alongside one of opera’s most significant figures, Plácido Domingo, who, of course, also starred as Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Bohème, a move most consider to be one of the most notable roles in his career. Recalling the opportunity to sing with Domingo, Ronstadt recognised just how special the moment was and how her singing was no match for one of the most defining voices in opera.
“I got to sing it one time with Plácido Domingo, though, cause he came to our show,” Ronstadt told Debbie Kruger in 1998. “He came to our Bohème, and then we did a show together once, and I sang the end of Act I with him, and it was beautiful, and I just had a great time doing it, but you know, I knew I was over my head.”
