![\"Linda](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Linda-Ronstadt-Singer-Musician-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ Linda Ronstadt)<\/p>\n
Sun 18 January 2026 18:30, UK <\/p>\n
Few artists can count on such an easy balance of countercultural pedigree and commercial peaks as powerhouse singer Linda Ronstadt<\/a>.<\/p>\n Her CV is littered with a host of disparate musical greats. Cutting razor commercials with Frank Zappa, touring with The Doors, and lending her vocals to Carla Bley\u2019s jazz-rock odyssey Escalator over the Hill just as easily as duets with Bette Midler and operetta turns in The Pirates of Penzance. Until her voice sadly left her in the early 2010s due to progressive supranuclear palsy, Ronstadt was one of the 1960s\u2019 most enduring artists, and can count over 100 million records sold.<\/p>\n The untold amount of session work Ronstadt lent her lungs to means her voice was a dependable and adaptive instrument for any song or project presented to her. Such dextrous vocals meant she was perfect for a good duet. In 2014, the Duets compilation was released, collating a select smattering of the artists she\u2019d joined forces with in the studio, boasting everybody from Don Henley, James Taylor, and even \u2018Ol\u2019 Blue Eyes\u2019 Frank Sinatra.<\/p>\n Ronstadt has also jumped into the world of supergroups. First conceiving the idea back in the mid-1970s, and cutting material across the years that wound up on respective solo releases, the acclaimed Trio country venture finally found the light of day in 1987, Ronstadt teaming up with Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton for the roosty, southern-inspired covers album, winning the Trio II follow-up in 1994.<\/p>\n Yet, Ronstadt had also entertained other ideas of a three-piece collaboration. Teaming up with Midler in 2003 for her own covers album, the two cut the Irving Berlin classic \u2018Sisters\u2019 from 1954\u2019s White Christmas as a salute to the festive feature\u2019s main star, Rosemary Clooney<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI wish Rosemary could have heard that, because I knew her really well,\u201d Ronstadt revealed to Parade in 2014. \u201cI always wanted to get the three of us together, but every time I\u2019d go to LA, one of us would be out of town. We never got to have that great dish on the sofa, which would\u2019ve been more fun than anything.\u201d<\/p>\n Midler didn\u2019t just cut one cover, but dedicated an entire album, 2003\u2019s Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook, with Barry Manilow in the producer\u2019s chair, just a year after Clooney\u2019s death. Reportedly, Manilow conceived of the project after a dream not long after the Hollywood veteran\u2019s death, eagerly nabbing Midler for the record of reimagined Clooney numbers from \u2018This Ole House\u2019, \u2018Tenderly\u2019, and \u2018Mambo Italiano\u2019.<\/p>\n