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Main >> News Listing >> June 2004 >> Article ID 5126
 Singing the songs she loves is so easy for Ronstadt | Type: Internet Article |
| | Singing the songs she loves is so easy for Ronstadt | Jun 11, 2004 | by Miriam Di Nunzio
Summary:
Linda Rostadt on Christina:
"Our culture is so shallow now. There's a wave of sexual hysteria out there that's pathetic. I'm no prude, [laughs] I mean, I'm all for sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. But it's all so shocking out there now. But singers like Christina Aguilera and Avril Lavigne have plenty of talent. Beyond that, I don't know. "
Read on for the whole article. |
In the late 1960s, the pert, doe-eyed Linda Ronstadt was among the hottest female pop singers of her day. With the Stone Poneys (Kenny Edwards and Bob Kimmel), she carefully crafted a genre of folk-infused pop, finally hitting it big in 1968 with "Different Drum."
But Ronstadt broke from the group a year later, and as a solo artist she would compile a long list of pop-rock-folk hits throughout the 1970s and '80s, including "It's So Easy," "You're No Good," "Blue Bayou," "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me," "How Do I Make You" and "When Will I Be Loved." Never one to conform to record company demands, Ronstadt eventually segued from pop to country to traditional Mexican (including the release of her critically acclaimed mariachi-infused "Canciones de mi Padre") to three forays into the Great American Songbook with the incomparable Nelson Riddle.
Along the way, she amassed a slew of Grammy nominations and awards, including her 1988 win for best country vocal, duo or group, for her collaboration with Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton on "Trio." She also has navigated the waters of Broadway ("The Pirates of Penzance") and Hollywood, where she and James Ingram collaborated on the chart-topping "Somewhere Out There" (the theme song from the animated feature "An American Tail"). By 1989, Ronstadt had come full-circle, releasing a full-out pop album featuring four duets with singer Aaron Neville, most notably the Grammy-winning "Don't Know Much" and "All My Life." Their collaborative efforts will be among the concert highlights on Saturday night when Ronstadt performs at the Chicago Theatre along with Neville and a 40-piece symphony.
Ronstadt (the mother of two pre-teens), who turns 58 in July, spoke to the Sun-Times about the upcoming release of another album of American standards, about performing in concert with her old friend, and just making the music she loves to make.
Q. What can we expect from your show this time around?
A. We'll be doing some of the hits, but it's really a chronological show. I'm presenting the 20th century American songbook, and that really starts with the Gershwins and the Rodgers & Harts and moves forward to the 1990s.
Q. How do you choose your material from a catalog that spans nearly 40 years?
A. I choose the ones that I like to sing. I don't get up onstage with material I don't like. You pick songs for all sorts of reasons. Some of the songs I'll be doing are songs you can live with the rest of your life. They're timeless. I believe we're a series of editions of ourselves, so like the songs I did with Nelson Riddle on three albums, there are some songs that can go into the future with all the editions of yourself. The songs grow up with you. Those are the songs I do.
Q. What have you learned about the music business after all these years?
A. I've learned to make the music come first, to concentrate on the music and the rest of it will fall into place. The music is always the inspiration for me, and it may or may not lead to success with the public. But if you just do what the public wants you to do, you get into trouble very fast. It takes talent to achieve stardom, and true talent never fades away.
Q. What female singers out there today have true talent?
A. Our culture is so shallow now. There's a wave of sexual hysteria out there that's pathetic. I'm no prude, [laughs] I mean, I'm all for sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. But it's all so shocking out there now. But singers like Christina Aguilera and Avril Lavigne have plenty of talent. Beyond that, I don't know. In the 1920s, the Jean Harlows of the world would wear revealing clothes but it was flattering and sexy. Now it's just nasty. [Laughs] Believe me, I don't want to see it. I'm sorry for the girl singers being sexualized at such an early age.
Q. You stayed true to your traditional music roots throughout your career. Did you care if fans didn't quite get what you were doing along the way?
A. I've always had a great love of traditional music, and I wanted to bring that into mainstream pop, which I did quite successfully. Then I gave it up entirely to sing traditional Mexican music, also with great success. Then I moved on to the Great American Songbook and that was extremely well received. But I could care less if people didn't embrace all of it along the way. People bought those three Nelson Riddle albums in overwhelming numbers. And with my Mexican albums, I got a huge Mexican following that never came to my pop concerts. ... I never thought about the response [the music] was going to get. I just try to think about what's the best song to do.
Q. Why did you and Aaron Neville click in terms of forging such a successful and ongoing musical relationship?
A. We both have extraordinarily high voices, and in terms of range we just blended beautifully from the first time we sang together. I'm a chameleon musically. [Laughs] I can sing with a commuter train and make it work musically. Aaron sings like 19th century Baroque opera because he's Creole and that's their musical roots. In truth, his amazing vocal style is closer to that than R&B.
Q. What about that elusive radio play? Does it bother you that your music might not get as much air time as many of the young divas out there today?
A. Radio play doesn't concern me. People either buy my records or they don't. |
 Source: SunTimes | |
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