LINDA RONSTADT

< Class of 2014

YEAR

2014

INDUCTED BY

Glenn Frey (The Eagles)

Performers

Sparkling. Rich. Versatile. Linda Ronstadt’s voice was unlike any other.

She expanded from her country- and folk-rock roots to cover nearly every genre imaginable. Ronstadt—a perfectionist and true master of her craft—never met a song she couldn’t interpret.

Linda Ronstadt

Glenn Frey Inducts and Accepts for Linda Ronstadt

"When Will I Be Loved"

Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris and Carrie Underwood perform Linda Ronstadt's "Blue Bayou"

Carrie Underwood performs Linda Ronstadt's "Different Drum"

"You're No Good"

"It's So Easy"

HALL OF FAME
ESSAY

By John Rockwell

Nearly twenty years after she became eligible, Linda Ronstadt was finally nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and, of course, was elected on the first ballot.

Linda herself (I call her Linda because we’ve been friends for nearly forty years) has never been much for awards ceremonies – Hall of Fame, Grammys, whatever.

“I don’t want to seem ungracious,” she told me, graciously. “But I’ve refused all comment about this.” One tricky aspect of her relation to the Hall of Fame is that Linda (b. July 15,1946) has long since gone beyond rock in her madly diverse musical career.