Big Band Standards for Females - Volume 2

Linda Maria Ronstadt was born on July 15, 1946 in Tucson, Arizona. She is an American pop music singer who is known internationally because of her many multi-platinum-selling albums. Ronstadt's family is noteworthy in Arizona for their contribution to the state's history, including wagon making, commerce, pharmacies and music. The family is detailed as such in the library at the University of Arizona.

Ronstadt's parents were of German, English and Mexican ancestry. She established her career in the 1960s and became the lead singer of a group called The Stone Poneys. Ronstadt toured with The Doors, Neil Young and Jackson Browne. In the 1970s, she became a solo artist and rose to become the top-grossing female concert artist of the decade. She appeared six times on the cover of Rolling Stone, as well as on Newsweek and Time. Some of her bestselling albums included: Don't Cry Now, Hasten Down the Wind, Heart Like a Wheel, Prisoner in Disguise and Simple Dreams.

In the 1980s, Ronstadt appeared on Broadway in The Pirates of Penzance, and earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Lead Actress in a musical, as well as a nomination at the Golden Globe Awards in 1983. She has had over 15 Grammy Award nominations, and won the lifetime achievement award in 2011 from the Latin Recording Academy. In 2013 she wrote her autobiography entitled: Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir.

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