I veered outside of chronological order when I wrote about Linda Ronstadt’s Spanish-language releases last week, so today I’m returning to the timeline.
Two years after the major success of Canciones de Mi Padre, Ronstadt struck gold again with 1999’s triple-Platinum Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind. The album won three Grammys and joined Simple Dreams and What’s New as her top-selling releases.
Continuing my Deep Dive into the discography of Linda Ronstadt…
I’m going to hop around in the chronology a little bit today to highlight a quartet of albums that found Ronstadt collaborating with other women.
Ronstadt has had a 50+ year friendship and creative partnership with two of the greats, Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris. Early in her career, she had covered their songs and featured them on her records, and the three artists discussed recording a full album together.
Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald held the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 the week of June 21, 1986, with ‘On My Own.’ It was the second of three weeks the song spent at #1.
Just behind it was Billy Ocean’s ‘There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry),’ which eventually reached #1 and spent a single week there. It timed that achievement well, becoming the 600th #1 hit on the Hot 100.
Throwing back to the week of June 20, 1976, we find Wings holding on to the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Silly Love Songs.’
In the #2 slot, where it peaked, was ‘Get Up and Boogie (That’s Right)’ by the German disco act Silver Convention. We last heard from Silver Convention when their song ‘Fly, Robin, Fly‘ topped the Hot 100 in early December of 1975. This single immediately followed that one, and was the last of their songs to get higher than #60 on the chart.
Linda Ronstadt’s tour through the Great American Songbook was inspired by the records her mother played for her as a child. In the late 80s, she decided it was time to honor the music of her father.
Ronstadt’s Mexican roots trace back through her father, Gilbert, whose grandfather emigrated from Germany to Mexico and met his wife there. Mexican music was a major part of both Gilbert’s and Linda’s childhoods.
Meet Me In Montauk 