Lisa Robinson interview with Linda Ronstadt (1982)

[Partridge]

[eddiejinnj]

It was eerie when she said "those are sort of things (stay home and learn to knit or garden) I'd like to do in my old age- when I can't sing or shake". Unless she meant "shake" as in dance though I personally never heard her refer to herself shaking /dancing. Vids at the time had her shaking some but do you think she had a vision of old age as she saw in her grandmother? eddiejinnj

[sliderocker]

Jan 15, 2017 18:36:22 GMT -5 eddiejinnj said:

It was eerie when she said "those are sort of things (stay home and learn to knit or garden) I'd like to do in my old age- when I can't sing or shake". Unless she meant "shake" as in dance though I personally never heard her refer to herself shaking /dancing. Vids at the time had her shaking some but do you think she had a vision of old age as she saw in her grandmother? eddiejinnj

It's possible although my suspicion would be that maybe Linda saw herself at some point where she would retired and not singing because she was retired. I don't think she ever suspected that she would never not be able to sing, although after her last album with Ann Savoy, she had pretty much called it a day. I also remember that before she announced she had Parkinson's disease, she had said in another interview that she had been sick and I assume that was the other problems she was having.

This interview was pretty much vintage Linda with some of the same negative railings about certain issues. Funny, one of the things I have come to believe over the years - and I think Rob may agree with me here - is that we can make ourselves sick by being so negative about our lives. Linda was a rock superstar but she hated it, and she hated much of her work. She liked the fortune but not the fame, and said she was never a prima donna, although I would think hating one's work some might take as behaving like a prima donna or diva. And she didn't like meeting her fans or new people trying to worm their way into her life. She wanted fame and success on her terms but despite what she said about her personal life and about not wanting to be married, I sometimes think she did want that but found it hard to find someone who could've put up with her lifestyle. But, I think if Dolly could do it with Carl, who has always remained content to stay in the background, and other female artists could get married and it not be a problem, why was it a problem for Linda? (I know Rob or myself would've had no trouble if one of us had been given the chance to have been married to Linda.) But, looking at all of the negativity, all of the things Linda complained about, I think all the things that bothered her set the wheels in motion for her health problems later on down the line. And I'm pretty sure science has said our negative emotions can cause us health problems, and Linda was sometimes beating herself pretty hard with negativity about her career.

[markv]

Linda is a great lady.

[LindaFan5]

I Love this interview. Each time she is asked a question she answers it with an incredible amount of candor and self-awareness. In the years after this interview she started to shut down any and all questions about her personal or romantic life in blunt, protective ways saying "I don't talk about that stuff." But here she really explains herself on topics of marriage, children and dating which later became rare. I don't find her responses negative at all. She actually strikes me as honest and comfortable in her own skin. As an artist she is restless and sets the bar very high for herself. Nothing negative about that if it exhilarates and challenges her to produce great and unexpected work. I think her mindset made her happier than many of her peers who envied her choices, freedom and success in multiple genres. She also chose her close friends very wisely, they appear to be mainly loyal, accomplished, liberal writers and intellectual types. What made the difference with this interview is that Lisa Robinson interviewed Linda before and you can tell Linda trusts her. The questions were very good and Robinsin did not let Linda off the hook with flippant replies. Lunda did not enjoy those big arena tours of 1974 through 1982 and she did something about it. She's a genius along with being practical, humble and funny. Around the time of the Parkinson's diagnosis one of her close friends was quoted as saying "Linda never despairs over anything." I kind of believe that. She just moves forward. I picture her happy and grateful, with few bug regrets.

[erik]

Quote by sliderocker:

But, I think if Dolly could do it with Carl, who has always remained content to stay in the background, and other female artists could get married and it not be a problem, why was it a problem for Linda? (I know Rob or myself would've had no trouble if one of us had been given the chance to have been married to Linda.) But, looking at all of the negativity, all of the things Linda complained about, I think all the things that bothered her set the wheels in motion for her health problems later on down the line. And I'm pretty sure science has said our negative emotions can cause us health problems, and Linda was sometimes beating herself pretty hard with negativity about her career.

With respect to Dolly and Linda, I think it goes back to the fact that the two of them are very different women. Dolly is the flamboyant personality that she is, because her growing up in extreme poverty made her so driven to succeed that she would do anything, short of appearing in X-rated movies, to achieve that success. Linda is very reticent and shy (understandably so, in my opinion).

Is it possible that the basic insecurities that Linda had throughout her career could have done something to her health? Yes. But at the same time, I would say that such insecurity then should have inhibited her artistic expansion in the 1980s, with the Nelson Riddle albums, the first Trio album, and Canciones De Mi Padre. All of those were massive artistic risks that, at any point, could have derailed and destroyed her career (and she acknowledged just as much in her book), and all of them then proceeded to become massive success stories.

I don't doubt that negative emotions about us can cause health problems in the long term, and Linda was being unnecessarily hard on herself. But as with so much in life, the causes and effects are probably much more complex than we can wrap our minds around, even when we are dealing with our own selves.

[markv]

It is wrong to speculate on Linda causing her own health problems.

[eddiejinnj]

mark, I think that slide was making more of the mind/body relation a direct cause with Linda than you were comfortable with and maybe that is a mistake (but maybe not at least entirely) but it seems out of concern and not ill will. Overall, people with positive outlooks tend and I stress tend to be healthier people but there can be so many variants. I certainly believe the mind/body approach theory is one aspect of health important to consider. Also, like has been pointed out maybe Linda is an overall happy well adjusted person. Her lack of I HAVE to be in the spotlight I believe is a good thing for Linda. Maybe she vented most of her conflicts and unhappiness through her music. Linda has said that she has a very good life with lots of friends etc. eddiejinnj

[PoP80]

Linda is on the cover of "Energy Times" Jan/Feb 2017 issue with a nice article on Parkinson's and life after her singing career. Much of it includes comments from her recent appearance at Tilles Center.

[the Scribe]

Linda has had many "stand-out" interviews in her life and this is one of them. I think everyone's observations here are correct to some degree. She has a fascinating mind and an ability to control it as she did her voice. She was very open early in her career about her personal life but extreme fame and popularity smothered that proclivity and while she still stays mum about her relationships she has come full circle to discussing most of the other stuff again, including her health. I think it is very important for her to share her illnesses, especially the Parkinson's. I had posted a thread called Linda On The Couch but I think it was on the old forum so I can't get to it. It contained some insight from past interviews and the Esquire interview was especially revealing.

www.ronstadt-linda.com/artesq.htm

I was only able to find this thread here which was a psychic/astrological synopsis of Linda. I think it is very accurate:

ronstadt.proboards.com/search/results?captcha_id=captcha_search&where_thread_title=on+the+couch&who_only_made_by=0&display_as=0&search=Search

It is clear, at least to me that Linda has mastered the skill of detachment to a great degree. The mind-body connection as slide mentioned is very strong as medical and psychological specialists are discovering. I listened to one such doctor the other night who is having amazing results. It is a must read. It is the second post on page two of this thread titled CHRONIC PAIN.

ronstadt.proboards.com/thread/427/cancer-mms-health-alternatives?page=2

There is so much more to Linda Ronstadt than just a great voice. She is a study in psychology especially for young upcoming talent who need to get their shit together if they want to survive their alternate existence in the entertainment field.

[lawrence]

Does anyone have any more information about the production of "The Seven Deadly Sins" that they reference at the beginning of the article?

[eddiejinnj]

We can all try and look online for that production (1982) but I don't think it occurred with Linda in it. I believe the many Linda historians of which I would include myself would have heard that she did this production. I could be wrong. Let's see what we can find out. eddiejinfl

[PoP80]

This article mentions both Seven Deadly Sins and City of Mahagonny, but neither production ever came to fruition as far as I know.

Love the part about her appreciation of Shirley Temple's talent!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Ronstadt! On to Opera!The Pop Singer's New Vision for Her Voice

By Richard Harrington November 11, 1982
Linda Ronstadt, rock 'n' roll's perennial sweetheart, wants to be an opera star, too.

Along with other rock stars, her record sales have slowed, and she can no longer fill the big arenas as a matter of course.

But rather than simply recycling and refining her successful pop formulas, Ronstadt has gone back to school, learning to sing all over again. And while Mick Jagger is still her hero -- and her friend -- she has found new inspiration in the life and work of legendary opera singer Rosa Ponselle.

Linda Ronstadt, who looks at you with eyes that don't seem to tire in directness, is resting after a six-night run at Radio City Music Hall. Tonight she is to be in Washington for a one-night Capital Centre benefit for the Ronald McDonald House.

Her hotel room is in disarray, a work home away from the private apartment she keeps on the edge of Central Park. Somewhere under the open suitcases, breakfast remains, rented videotapes, cracked books and emptied purses is the key to Ronstadt's safety deposit box. Not a thing to lose, but a thing to rejoice in finding, which she does. The most popular female rock singer of the late '70s settles back and packs up a night's worth of videotapes: "Carrie," "Ragtime" ("a friend of mine did the soundtrack, it's great") and two Shirley Temple movies.

"I got hooked on Shirley Temple when I was sick two years ago," Ronstadt says, flicking back a loose strand of hair. "She was good -- I'm not kidding. She learned all those lines, she could sing and dance; and she sang really in tune, a little 3-year-old singing great. And she could really tap. I know a little about tap dancing . . . I know a whole lot about singing . . . and I know a whole lot about doing movies where you lip-sync. But she had to lip-sync and tap in sync, too, because all the tapping was prerecorded. It was astonishing, that she was able to do it and still look pretty natural."

Ronstadt's familiarity with singing goes back -- professionally -- to 1964 and the Stone Ponies; the tapping is a mystery, but the lip-syncing was done for the upcoming movie version of Gilbert and Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance," the show in which Ronstadt moved from pop to Papp (Joseph, that is) and astounded critics and fans alike with her facility for light opera. That move kept her out of the pop eye for most of a year. Her recent album, "Get Closer," was Ronstadt's first studio album since 1980, and although it recently turned gold, it might not extend her streak of platinum albums, a string that stretches back to 1976.

It looks for now as if Ronstadt will follow her lifelong habit of not listening to her own records by not watching her own film.

"It was so tedious," she says of the lip-synching process. "There isn't anything more tedious to do. You could make five regular movies for that effort." She knows she's not happy with her costumes; she's also not sure that she took advantage of instincts brought out during the six-month run of "Penzance."

"I'm positive I did it better in the theater," she says. "I'm just certain I did. I loved doing eight shows a week, enjoyed every single instant of it, every minute of rehearsals." When her selection as the Victorian ingenue was first announced, there had been audible guffaws in many segments of the theater world. But she won her critics over and ended up with renewed control and maturity.

Throughout her career, Ronstadt has done her share of second-guessing, mostly on a personal, rather than a professional, level. But those days seem solidly behind her now, and while she is far from abandoning her pop career, she is willing to take some artistic chances.

She will work with Papp again this summer, doing a more challenging repertory program of Bertolt Brecht-Kurt Weill works, "The Seven Deadly Sins" and "The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny." The pay will probably match her $400 a week for "Penzance." ("I did it for love. It costs me money every time I talk to Papp.") She will finish an album of '30s and '40s pop standards with longtime Frank Sinatra arranger Nelson Riddle. And she may eventually tackle opera without the lightness. But more on that later.

Her current tour, she insists, is not a pop swan song. "There's room for everything," she insists, "and I've got plenty of time. I don't think my audience is going to go away because I didn't put out an album for a year and a half. It just can't be the same thing all the time. It can, of course, but I've always loved that other kind of music, and I've always sung it in one form or another."

The difference, Ronstadt feels, is that now she's beginning to sing it well. For "Penzance" she took the first voice lessons of her career, "a real revelation, just about the most important thing that's ever happened to me. I'm glad I never studied before, because it would have made it harder to evolve whatever it is about my style that makes it unique. Seeing a voice teacher is about as hard a seeing a shrink," she laughs. "And it's a very hard thing to teach, because while there is a real, tangible physical apparatus that controls what you do, you can't really see it or feel it or touch it."

Her teacher is Marjorie Rivingston, who has worked with singers as disparate as Beverly Sills and Bette Midler. "She's articulate, with a teacher's gift for using either positive reinforcement or being brutally frank without being destructive. I see all this as a remake of '42nd Street,' where a girl comes to Broadway and desperately needs help, a teacher to show her what to do. I've learned how to do stuff in rock 'n' roll, how to hit notes without making a legit sound but using some tricks. I've learned techniques from within so that I have way more range than before without having to scream as hard. It's just so interesting. Every time I go in there, I learn how to improve a tiny bit."

Somewhere down the line, when confidence is joined by mastery, Ronstadt hints that she wants to do real opera. "I don't like light opera, I wish I did. 'Penzance' was darling and fun, but that stuff isn't written for a singer in the way a Puccini opera -- where the vocal facility is written into the music -- would be. It's written purely for entertainment. I'd rather sing a Puccini aria any day. I'm very interested in opera, but not the way it's been performed over the last 60 or 70 years. I want to make it accessible, less ponderous. I'm going to try . . ." Her voice trails off as if too much has been said. Might it be Puccini? "Well, he is most accessible to me and the public . . ."

Ronstadt still confesses to nightly stage fright, but she rolls her eyes at the mention of Carly Simon's similar phobia; it's Rosa Ponselle whom she cites as a model. Like Ponselle, "I conquer it every night by going out on stage." Ponselle fought the situation for 30 years; Ronstadt's only been at it for 18. She seems determined to proceed as a singer -- not as a star, a role she has never been comfortable with. Her risk-taking on Broadway and in the studio enhance this approach.

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She's not interested in more movies, though early reports indicate she's excellent in "Penzance." Movies represent more of the "static" art she's trying to avoid; it's why she can't listen to her own records. "It's not natural," she insists. "When anybody sings, it's alive, different every time. To have it frozen where it will never change is like watching a sunset instead of a photo of a sunset that never changes."

She is, she insists, a singer from the start, a singer to the end. "When I was 2, I was a singer, not a star. I don't think I chose it, it chose me. When I was in the first grade, intimidated by the nuns, I couldn't even add. Couldn't walk up to the blackboard to do sums. But if they asked me to sing songs, I'd jump up and sing right out. You can't walk around starring all day long, but you can walk around singing. You don't star in the shower, but you sing."

Things change. Once a yearly cover story in Rolling Stone, she has missed for the first time since 1976. She used to be called the million-dollar singer, but nobody's million buys what it used to. Still, the pop career that ballooned in the '70s is not about to disappear (Ronstadt is working hard to make sure her natural pop tendencies don't get trained out). She's not worried that there have been empty seats on heavily advertised shows where once word-of-mouth could guarantee sellouts. She's not thrilled with arena rock, either as performer or fan -- "I stopped seeing a lot of my friends in concert when they stopped doing smaller venues," she says.

"It used to be a sense of the event," the 35-year-old Ronstadt says of her concerts. "But my fans have grown up; they're mailmen and dentists and housewives and bankers. They have children, they don't want the hassle of parking and baby sitters and arenas."

They've settled down, and Ronstadt insists she has, too. "I've been settled for the last 15 years in my career. People have a tendency to think of settling down as living in one place or with one person, but I'm like a sailor who settles down to live at sea."