Ronstadt a silenced songbird

Linda Ronstadt has revealed that she can no longer sing a note; she has Parkinson’s.

She ushered in a pretty fair era in music in the late ’60s and early’70s, along with James Taylor, Carole King, and the Eagles: folk rock. She was the decade’s highest-paid female singer and it wasn’t because of the high-glitz antics of those who came after her. She just stood in front of a microphone, sang, and created the soundtrack for the lives of baby boomers.

“No one can sing with Parkinson’s disease,” Ronstadt told AARP in an interview to be published next week. “No matter how hard you try.”

This would be a perfect weekend to pull out the dusty old Ronstadt albums — every boomer has them — and hook up the turntable again.