Singer Linda Ronstadt Looks Back At Life Of 'Simple Dreams'

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Since Parkinson's disease left her unable to sing, pop and folk singer Linda Ronstadt has a new way of channeling her love for music.

KNX 1070's Margaret Carrero had a chance to speak with the Grammy Award-winning songstress following her nomination to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

It was in a chance meeting 20 years ago on the streets of Richmond in the Bay Area that she calls home where Linda Ronstadt discovered a new avenue for musical inspiration.

"There's a group that I work with here...called Los Cenzontles," said Ronstadt. "They teach and have taught generations of children how to do traditional Mexican singing, playing and dancing, and also visual art."

Of her memoir, Simple Dreams, the 67-year-old says she wrote it to express the reasoning behind her eclectic repertoire.

"I wanted to show why I made those choices, that they weren't arbitrary," she said. "The foundation for them was in my childhood."

Having grown up in the Sonoran Desert near the Arizona-Mexico border, Ronstadt identifies deeply as Mexican-American and considers songs of the culture like old friends.

"I felt that way about a lot of the songs that I did that were favorites of my father and my grandfather," said Ronstadt.
"It's just a different experience when you sing it."

Ronstadt was named last week among first-time nominees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Inductees will be announced in December and a ceremony will be held next April in New York.