2 l December
15 - 21, 2019
Northeast Oregon TV Weekly
Linda Ronstadt and others are feted at
Kennedy Center Honors
BY JAY BOBBIN
Though they hadn’t met before this year’s Kennedy
Center Honors, Linda Ronstadt became accustomed to
being mistaken for a fellow honoree.
“I used to sign Sally Field’s autograph in the ‘60s,” the
music icon reveals. “People would come up to me and
say, ‘Could I have your autograph, Miss Field?’ I’d say I
wasn’t her, and they wouldn’t believe me, so I just signed
her name. There was about a year-and-a-half where we
really lined up in terms of our looks.”
One of the top-selling female recording artists in his-
tory, 10-time Grammy winner Ronstadt receives one of
the most prestigious of all entertainment awards in a
CBS telecast Sunday, Dec. 15. Taped the previous week-
end at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing
Arts in Washington, D.C., and hosted by past recipient
LL Cool J, the 42nd annual event also salutes two-time
Oscar winner Field and the children’s series “Sesame
Street” (which is marking its 50th anniversary), conduc-
tor Michael Tilson Thomas and music’s Earth, Wind &
Fire.
“It’s hard to accept and evaluate your own work,” the
good-humored Ronstadt reflects. “I just know it took
me a lot of years.” As for the part of receiving the honor
she may appreciate the most, she adds, “I’m so happy I
don’t have to give a speech! I’ve developed quite a stam-
Linda Ronstadt
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mer because of the Parkinson’s (disease, which Ronstadt
was diagnosed with in 2012).”
Since a brief filmed biography of the honoree is part
of the presentation, Ronstadt notes she finds any career
recap “a little daunting. I don’t want people to think the
(the work in the) ‘70s is all I did. I did my best singing
in the ‘90s, and I really only started learning how to
sing in the ‘80s.”
Fans of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Ron-
stadt might challenge that. After scoring her first success
with The Stone Poneys and the tune “Different Drum,”
she launched a parade of solo singles including “You’re
No Good,” “When Will I Be Loved,” “Heat Wave,”
“It’s So Easy,” “The Tracks of My Tears” and “Poor Poor
Pitiful Me” (and such albums as “Heart Like a Wheel,”
“Prisoner in Disguise” and “Living in the USA”). Her
work eventually covered a number of genres.
“I don’t like listening to my own stuff, because it’s
frozen in time,” explains the subject of the well-re-
viewed documentary “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of
My Voice,” which CNN will show on New Year’s Day.
“It makes me think that I was never able to sing. If I do
listen to it, I’m astonished at how much work it was and
how long it took. And the better I got, the more respect
I got.”
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