Linda Ronstadt: Parkinson’s disease has left me unable to sing

Linda Ronstadt, the one-time “First Lady of Rock”, is no longer able to sing due to Parkinson’s disease.

Grammy-winning singer Ronstadt, 67, is suffering from Parkinsonís disease and says she can no longer Grammy-winning singer Linda Ronstadt, 67, is suffering from Parkinsonís disease and says she can no longer “sing a note” Credit: Photo: REUTERS

The 67-year-old, who sold more than 100 million albums worldwide and is widely regarded as the most successful female rock singer of the 1970s, said she was diagnosed eight months ago and “can’t sing a note”.

“No one can sing with Parkinson’s disease. No matter how hard you try,” she said.

Linda Ronstadt: Parkinson's disease has left me unable to sing

Linda Ronstadt, c1980

In an interview with AARP Magazine, the rock and country singer said she began to show symptoms eight years ago, but initially dismissed it as something to do with an unspecified tick-borne illness she has. When her hands then began to tremble, she said she thought the shaking was due to a recent shoulder operation.

“I couldn’t sing and I couldn’t figure out why,” she told the magazine. “I knew it was mechanical. I knew it had to do with the muscles, but I thought it might have also had something to do with the tick disease that I had. And it didn’t occur to me to go to a neurologist.”

When she was finally diagnosed, she said she was “completely shocked”.

“I wouldn’t have suspected that in a million, billion years,” she added.

She now uses poles to walk on uneven ground a wheelchair when travelling, according to the magazine.

During her career, Ronstadt, who was born in Arizona, won 11 Grammy Awards as well as two Country Music Awards and an Emmy. She was also nominated for a Tony Award for her role in the 1981 musical The Pirates of Penzance.

Her 1977 song ‘Blue Bayou’ peaked at No. 3 in the British charts, while her duet with Aaron Neville, ‘Don’t Know Much’, reached No. 4 in 1989. In 1978, she made an estimated $12 million, the equivalent to $43 million (£27 million) today. Dubbed “Rock’s Venus” by Rolling Stone magazine, she also featured on the front pages of numerous publications throughout her career.

She was also known for her relationship with Jerry Brown, the governor of California, at a time when he ran for the Democratic presidential ticket in 1980. In the mid-1980s she was engaged to George Lucas, the creator of the Star Wars franchise. Although she never married, she adopted daughter Mary in 1990 and son Carlos in 1994.

Her autobiography, Simple Dreams, is due to be released next month, although it reportedly does not deal with her Parkinson’s and loss of voice.