ABSTRACT
American country and popular singer, born in Tucson, Arizona. She sang locally, then went to Los Angeles, forming a group called the Stone Poneys. She was successful in the country-western idiom, Motown, and New Wave, and in 1980 also in Gilbert and Sullivan (Pirates of Penzance on Broadway). She was invited to sing at the inauguration of Jimmy Carter, and had invitations from California governor Jerry Brown, her onetime boyfriend. Ronstadt had 14 chart albums between 1975 and 1985, of which the most popular were Simple Dreams (Asylum #6E-104; 1977) and Greatest Hits (Asylum #7E1092; 1980). There was also a string of chart singles, beginning with the Stone Poneys’s “Different Drum” (Capitol #2004; 1967; #13), and throughout a solo career that picked up momentum from 1970 onward. During the 1980s, Ronstadt collaborated with Nelson Riddle on a series of recordings of Big Band standards, and then returned to her “roots” by performing Mexican mariachi music. She has been less active as a recording artist or performer since the early 1990s.
