Simple dreams : a musical memoir / Linda Ronstadt.
Material type: TextPublisher: New York : Simon & Schuster, 2013Edition: First Simon & Schuster hardcover editionDescription: x, 242 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 22 cmContent type:- text
- unmediated
- volume
- 1451668724
- 9781451668728
- 782.42164092 B 23
- ML420.R8753 A3 2013
Item type | Current library | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Book | Bedford Public Library Biography | Biography | BIO RONSTADT RON | Available | 31964001671650 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Tracing the timeline of her remarkable life, Linda Ronstadt, whose forty-five year career has encompassed a wide array of musical styles, weaves together a captivating story of her origins in Tucson, Arizona, and her rise to stardom in the Southern California music scene of the 1960s and '70s.
Linda Ronstadt was born into a musical family, and her childhood was filled with everything from Gilbert and Sullivan to Mexican folk music to jazz and opera. Her artistic curiosity blossomed early, and she and her siblings began performing their own music for anyone who would listen. Now, in this beautifully crafted memoir, Ronstadt tells the story of her wide-ranging and utterly unique musical journey.
Ronstadt arrived in Los Angeles just as the folkrock movement was beginning to bloom, setting the stage for the development of country-rock. As part of the coterie of like-minded artists who played at the famed Troubadour club in West Hollywood, she helped define the musical style that dominated American music in the 1970s. One of her early backup bands went on to become the Eagles, and Linda went on to become the most successful female artist of the decade.
In Simple Dreams , Ronstadt reveals the eclectic and fascinating journey that led to her long-lasting success, including stories behind many of her beloved songs. And she describes it all in a voice as beautiful as the one that sang "Heart Like a Wheel"-longing, graceful, and authentic.
Includes discography (page 203-225) and index.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
In this memoir, iconic singer Linda Ronstadt weaves together a captivating story of her origins in Tucson, Arizona, and her rise to stardom in the Southern California music scene of the 1960s and '70s.
Excerpt provided by Syndetics
Reviews provided by Syndetics
Library Journal Review
The publisher of this memoir wants readers to know the book wasn't ghostwritten, that Ronstadt can write with skill. Indeed, the swift prose is conversational and informed, much like Ronstadt's music. But it's difficult to call her a writer because her first book leaves so much left unsaid This isn't a tell-all autobiography, it's simply Ronstadt's quick recollections of her life from childhood to rising country rock star to Grammy-winning conduit of traditional Mexican music, all with a tone as welcoming as the singer's sweet face and emotive voice. But where her songs often showed traces of turmoil or unrest, this title doesn't touch anything more complicated than the passing of friends and family. Most alarming, there's no insight, or even mention, of how this lifelong singer is coping with the effects of Parkinson's disease on her singing abilities. The title is nothing beyond a musician's journey through a career in song, suspiciously devoid of pitfalls and depression. This is disappointing, because the lore of Ronstadt often seemed more interesting than her music: the romantic life that shifted from musicians to politicians; the public activism; and the burdens and delights of being the highest paid woman in music. Those aspects of her life aren't here. It's curious, as that's something a true writer would not omit. Verdict Ronstadt superfans and musicians who want to get inside the creative process of a "star" will love this book. For everyone else, keep your expectations at bay or wait for a more fulfilling bio.-Rob Morast, Norfolk, VA (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.Publishers Weekly Review
Born in 1946 in Tucson, Ariz., Ronstadt counted among her relatives a grandfather who wrote an arrangement of Pirates of Penzance generations before she starred in it on Broadway, and an aunt whose collection of folk songs, Canciones de me Padre, would lend its title to Ronstadt's first Spanish-language album. As a kid, she listened to opera at her grandparents' house and mariachi rancheras on Mexican radio, and she harmonized with her siblings while singing Hank Williams songs. All this resulted in Ronstadt's gift for musical genealogy and an almost scholarly dedication to learning the music of different cultures, combined with an insatiable desire to emulate what she heard. Reading Simple Dreams, one sees why its author, a perpetual student of her craft, was awarded an honorary doctorate by Berklee College of Music: the book is a well-written glimpse into musical history as it was being made by Ronstadt and her peers. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.Booklist Review
Ronstadt's memoir is remarkable but not for reasons that readers might think; it is remarkable because of its very ordinariness. There are no tales of parental cruelty or substance abuse. She is lucky that her life has been exceedingly normal, or as normal as it can be for someone as talented and famous as she is, having sold more than a million records. Retired from performing since 2009, Ronstadt now looks back fondly to her childhood in Arizona her Mexican heritage comes from her father's side and shares anecdotes about life on the road, including her first gigs at area coffeehouses and her decision when still a teenager to move by herself to Los Angeles because that was where the music was. She writes about her work with the folk-rock band the Stone Poneys, becoming a solo act, exploring the Great American Songbook, recording traditional Mexican folk songs with Ruben Fuentes, and her famous musical friendships, including those with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris. Ronstadt's fans will love this refreshingly nice and gracious musical memoir.--Sawyers, June Copyright 2010 BooklistKirkus Book Review
A personable and engagingly written memoir, though reticent and short on personal revelation. The subtitle reinforces the focus, but even readers who don't want to wallow in gossip might be expecting more than, "I was keeping company with then-governor Jerry Brown" and, "I was keeping steady company with journalist Pete Hamill," without any context about how these and other relationships began or developed. The epilogue begins, "I live these days with my two children," which is the first mention of them. Yet for those content with an illumination of the artist's musical eclecticism, and what music means to her, the book is informative and heartfelt. It suggests (without the singer ever belaboring the point) that Ronstadt deserves more credit than she often receives for popularizing country rock, for taking the then-daring but now commonplace initiative to interpret the pre-rock Great American Songbook, to follow her instincts wherever they might lead her, from The Pirates of Penzance to traditional Mexican mariachi. "I never felt that rock and roll defined me," she writes. "There was an unyielding attitude that came with the music that involved being confrontational, dismissive, and aggressive--or, as my mother would say, ungracious." She also explains, "I felt some stagnation setting in, and the relentless touring and endless repetition of the same songs over and over again promoted a creeping awareness that my music had begun to sound like my washing machine.I was beginning to feel miserable. And trapped." So she made choices that others considered unwise, or at least noncommercial, and reaped all sorts of rewards. Whatever's missing (including more context of how popular music was changing while her own music was changing), what's here is consistently interesting.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.Author notes provided by Syndetics
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.
(Bowker Author Biography)