Did Linda Ever Become an Oldies/Legacy Act?

[rick]

Over on the Motown Forum, someone started a topic posing the question of "When did Diana Ross become an oldies/legacy act?" Some interesting points are brought up. I remember seeing Linda here in L.A. during the "Cry Like a Rainstorm" tour with Aaron Neville. She performed all of the duets with Aaron Neville from "Cry Like a Rainstorm," as well as other songs from that album, but she also treated the audience to "hits."

My opinion is that she worked to stay relevant/current with albums such as "Winter Light," "We Ran," "Adieu False Heart," etc. However, I remember going to concerts in those years and Linda would be singing tracks from those new albums but there were audience members who wanted to hear Linda from the 1970s and a few of them were quite vocal. I've shared this before but I can remember even in the 1990s someone asking me who I had seen the most live in concert and when I answered "Linda Ronstadt," the people looked dumbfounded as if I had said "Herman's Hermits" or "The Dave Clark Five" or something.

Here is the link for the discussion re: Diana Ross, which brings up other artists as well --


At What Point Did Diana Ross Become Primarily A Legacy/Oldies Act?

Someone posts at this link that they consider Diana Ross to be "a veteran act" not an oldies act. We're not here to discuss Diana Ross but I would say that Bonnie Raitt has remained relevant and that she is a veteran act, but not just "oldies." If Linda had not become ill, I think she would have been bored if she didn't add new songs to challenge her.

At any rate, I thought it was an interest topic for discussion here. Thank you.

[MokyWI]

Linda is considered a “Legacy” artist for sure, she was considered such way back in 95-96 when I worked at Tower Records on Sunset, and I was in charge of keeping her bins stocked and displayed. She was classified as such by record promoters and distributors as far back as “Winter Light”. “Oldies”? No, I wouldn’t consider her that, not even today.

[erik]

Quotes by rick:

My opinion is that she worked to stay relevant/current with albums such as "Winter Light," "We Ran," "Adieu False Heart," etc. However, I remember going to concerts in those years and Linda would be singing tracks from those new albums but there were audience members who wanted to hear Linda from the 1970s and a few of them were quite vocal. I've shared this before but I can remember even in the 1990s someone asking me who I had seen the most live in concert and when I answered "Linda Ronstadt," the people looked dumbfounded as if I had said "Herman's Hermits" or "The Dave Clark Five" or something.

Just for those who might not be aware, the first Linda Ronstadt concert I went to was on May 19, 1995 at the (now sadly defunct) Universal Amphitheatre here in Los Angeles, which was the Feels Like Home tour. She certainly did several songs from that album and from Winter Light, and I don't recall anybody at that concert necessarily being outspoken (which would be an act of sheer rudeness anyway).

That said, however, I don't think Linda did herself any favors by publicly putting down her 1970's material in some of the interviews she gave at the time; and I remember distinctly that she did not tour for Winter Light at all after that album came out at the end of 1993; she toured with the Mariachis, which I guess was her right to do, but by doing so she was consigning a really good pop album to commercial failure. Hearing songs like "Heartbeats Accelerating", "It's Too Soon To Know", and "A River For Him" in the context of the Feels Like Home material was quite good, but it made me wonder what would have happened to Winter Light commercially had she done those songs on tour a year earlier. And you have to wonder if the response to her 1990's albums would have been much more favorable to the audience of that time, let alone fans who had grown to love her in the 1970's and 1980's, had she not so disparaged what she had done fifteen to twenty years in the past. It could be that if the fans were vocal at all about wanting to hear her 70's material, it may have been for that reason, and for others as well (IMHO)

If Linda had not become ill, I think she would have been bored if she didn't add new songs to challenge her.

I don't dispute that at all. She certainly would have needed to challenge herself; and the fans would have likely wanted the challenge. She just would have needed to give those fans reasons to do so (IMHO).

As for whether Linda ever became an "Oldies/Legacy" act...if she had, I think we might have heard much more of her classic material on the radio, instead of next to nothing, especially here in L.A.

[rick]

Erik, interesting points. In reading your post what it made me think of is that the documentary “Sound of My Voice” REMINDED people that Linda Ronstadt existed and, that, if they think about her, they remember, “Oh, yeah, I like her. She was really something.”

I am on Instagram and Cher and Dolly Parton are all over there and on YouTube. Somehow in my YouTube logarithm, a video popped up of Cher on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” ostensibly four different perfumes she put her name on — one each from the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s. A lot of the discussion centered on Cher’s wild Bob Mackie outfits/costumes. My point is Linda really hasn’t been a self-promoter in the way that Cher or Dolly Parton is. To be honest, I like that about Linda. That instead of self-promoting (she did it when she cared about something or was contractually obligated to do so by her record company) Linda would rather have been at harmonizing with friends.

As far as being played on the radio, a lot of what is on the over-the-air radio nowadays is junk, in my opinion. I do feel that when one of the few Linda songs in radio rotation comes on, I think people do respond with, “Oh, yeah, I like her.” Gave a friend a custom-made Linda CD, and I don’t think he had thought about her for quite a while, but he responded: “Who doesn’t love Linda Ronstadt?!”

[erik]

Quote by rick:

My point is Linda really hasn’t been a self-promoter in the way that Cher or Dolly Parton is. To be honest, I like that about Linda. That instead of self-promoting (she did it when she cared about something or was contractually obligated to do so by her record company) Linda would rather have been at harmonizing with friends.

Obviously, of course, Cher and Dolly do what they do because it's what they want to do, and one can't begrudge them for that (unlike, say, Miley Cyrus or Taylor Swift, who often seem they are out there more or less prostituting themselves). That was never Linda's way at all, even at the apex of her popularity; and I don't think fans ever really had any problems with that.

That said, however, nothing can convince me that releasing Winter Light and doing what seemed to be a half-hearted promotion for it (just a few TV appearances) was in any way, shape, or form a good way to promote what was clearly one of the best albums she had ever made, instead doing a Mexican music tour. Nor do I think doing interviews in which she seemed to disparage so much of her past material helped sell that album at all. People can argue that those fans that abandoned her were "fair weather" fans, or that those who criticized the way she made and/or promoted her albums after 1991 were "Debbie downers" (terms that I abhor, by the way), but that doesn't tell anywhere close to the whole story of how Linda's popularity fell off a cliff at the end of the 1990's.

Anyone who knows my history here on Tony's forums knows that I don't do Political Correctness, I call balls and strikes. But I definitely don't like to criticize Linda, even when I think it is necessary to do so.

[rick]

Although I think radio play is one indicator, I think it also has to do with how important it is to the performer to be out there and making deals. Was just thinking about Springsteen on Broadway or now *gulp* The Jonas Brothers are doing a limited run in a Broadway theater. We’ll see what Irving Azoff does with Linda’s music. There have been full-blown musicals about Cher, Tina Turner, Michael Jackson, Neil Diamond, Donna Summer, The Four Seasons, etc. Some performers love being celebrities and being “on.” I am not faulting Cher or Dolly for working so hard to have a “brand,” but it doesn’t mean Linda was wrong to make the albums she made in the 1990s and beyond. She made the albums she wanted to make. She had been right many times about what was right for her and her audience followed and she gained new fans. Could she have basically repeated herself with “Cry Like a Rainstorm II” and had new duets with Aaron Neville? We’ll never know if that might have kept her more in the public eye.

[erik]

Quote by rick:

I am not faulting Cher or Dolly for working so hard to have a “brand,” but it doesn’t mean Linda was wrong to make the albums she made in the 1990s and beyond. She made the albums she wanted to make. She had been right many times about what was right for her and her audience followed and she gained new fans. Could she have basically repeated herself with “Cry Like a Rainstorm II” and had new duets with Aaron Neville? We’ll never know if that might have kept her more in the public eye.

Whether Linda was right or wrong to make the kinds of albums she made in the 1990's is an issue that can and, in my opinion, should be discussed. Could she have continued doing duets with Aaron Neville and be successful? Like you said, rick, we'll never know. Personally, I think it would have become redundant.

But we will also never know just how much bigger some of these 1990's albums, Winter Light in particular, might have done had she just done a few more concerts, doing them the way she had always done them, and at the same time avoided denigrating what she had done twenty years earlier. I just think there was a lot of indifference towards basically everything Linda did after 1991--not necessarily from the critics, but from the general music-buying public, and even a lot of Linda's fans. And as painful as it is for me to say this, I also think Linda engendered that indifference.

[MokyWI]

One thing that keeps getting repeated through the years on here that is simply NOT true is that she decided to do a Mariachi tour INSTEAD of touring Winter Light. Many times when others write this they make it sound like she released Winter Light, then instead of touring the album she did a mariachi tour instead at that point. NOT THE CASE. Linda did a mariachi tour in 92-93, some dates, a few at most she did in the summer of 93, Winter Light was released in September of 93’. She did not tour the album. Most of us know tours are booked well in advance, and release dates of albums are subject to chance OFTEN. And when record companies merge, which Linda’s had just done around this time, some artists get put on the back burner, shelved for a later date, or even pushed forward though not as much as being held back, I have no idea if that factored into TIMING of Winter Light but I do believe that factored into the albums promotion. Once the album sunk quickly from the highest position of #93 on the top 200 I am pretty sure Linda’s record company wasn’t real interested in a tour. Add to the fact the mariachi tour from 92-93 was not a big tour like she did with the first Mexican album. Linda also was a new single mother of two young children, health issues of her own. I don’t believe she said gee I will release Winter Light but I would rather do a Mexican show so I will just go do that instead. I doubt VERY SERIOUSLY that was her plan. Just check her tour dates for 92-93 and you will see. Also remember she had Ira Koslow now managing her, not Peter, though out of same office. I think it all came down to timing, the record company changing and she got shifted along with her health issues, home life demands, and energy levels to the back burner. Who knows maybe Linda might have toured Winter Light in early 94’ had it done better. I do know the day I flew up to Tower on Sunset after reading of Winter Lights release in Rolling Stone and Tower’s sign they listed a few dates of popular artists in LA area, Linda was listed for the Hollywood Bowl for Winter Light concert, I then flew up to Bowl’s box office and they told me they knew nothing about it. Tower took the date off their sign by next day and I never found out what the issue was. It was before I worked at Tower on Sunset so no inside info on what the mishap was. I also think releasing an album titled Winter Light in September could lead many to believe it was a seasonal/holiday release, that don’t sell well in mid September. Remember she had released two albums in a row in another language before this, not to mention her Riddle albums and the first Mariachi album in 87’, many shoppers might have just figured Linda was doing yet another type of music than what was on Winter Light. The first singe “Heartbeats Accelerating” was different, further leading casual fans to pass. I
believe this may well of played into its failure sales wise.

Whatever the reason it failed on the charts, it is one of her best albums she ever recorded. Might be my all time favorite.

[erik]

Winter Light was released in November 1993, and not September. I do remember that distinctively because that was when I found out about the release and went out and brought it. I also remember seeing an interview she gave in Billboard magazine upon the release of the album and reading that, instead of touring for that album, she was going to do a Mariachi tour.

[MokyWI]

Feb 28, 2023 9:40:21 GMT -5 erik said:

Winter Light was released in November 1993, and not September. I do remember that distinctively because that was when I found out about the release and went out and brought it. I also remember seeing an interview she gave in Billboard magazine upon the release of the album and reading that, instead of touring for that album, she was going to do a Mariachi tour.

Yes you are correct, my bad Erik. I had just moved to LA, so my memory of it at the time doesn’t bring November to mind coming from east coast. But you are correct, right before Thanksgiving in fact. More reason for people to think seasonal album with that release date, title, and all the different types of music she had been doing, I think many blew it off as a holiday album.

[erik]

A little bit more on the issue of Linda supposedly being an "Oldies/Legacy Act":

As rick said, he had seen a topic that posed the question of when Diana Ross supposedly became an oldies/legacy act, and that others consider her to be a Veteran Act instead. Personally, I think it is the Veteran Act tag that should be put on Diana, as well as on Linda; because the "Oldies" label almost seems like poison in this era of Corporate Radio.

On a much more cynical note: Even dropping dead suddenly is not necessarily the best thing for an artist any longer, unless you're Prince, Whitney Houston, or Michael Jackson. I don't hear much of The Byrds or Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young on the radio, even though David Crosby passed away. Nor do you hear any posthumous radio love being given to Lisa Marie Presley, though it'd be nearly impossible for her to get the kind of love that was given to her father in the immediate aftermath of his passing in 1977. So guess how much harder it has been for Linda to get any more love, even as she struggles with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, a condition that could indirectly lead to her demise at some point.

[Dianna]

Feb 26, 2023 20:16:46 GMT -5 erik said:

(unlike, say, Miley Cyrus or Taylor Swift, who often seem they are out there more or less prostituting themselves). .

Speaking of Miley. She has a really good song out right now.. "Flowers." Most of the new music I hear today, I tune out.. I couldn't tell you what songs Rihanna, Beyonce ect have out. Sorry to get off topic...Just had to mention Miley's song.

[eddiejinnj]

I think with the documentary, bands like "Heart Like a Wheel" and "Ronstadt Revue" have been given more of the respect they deserve in introducing Linda's very substantial, eclectic career to existing but also hopefully many new fans as well. eddiejinfl