Linda Ronstadt, The #24 Artist of the Rock Era, Part One

"She is just magic.. cool and pure..timeless..."

"Linda's voice is knock out wild. And she is pretty dreamy in many other ways. Where is someone with the natural talent, unmatched diversity, and heart and soul of Ronstadt?"

"One of the all time best female vocalists"

"Beautiful Linda ... she has the voice of an angel."

"One of the finest voices of our lifetimes."

"La Ronstadt, queen of all vocal musical modes."

"One of the great female singers of all-time."

"Clear as a bell. RONSTADT possessed an instrument of rare power and beauty. She was a virtuoso and adorably down to earth."

"Just incredible, wonderful, one of the best singers in history."

"An absolute legend."

"Superb vocalist".

"Ronstadt is my favorite singer because of her amazing versatility. She can belt out ANYTHING!!!"

"Linda could combine warmth, sadness and strength in ways rarely heard by popular singers. That voice is indeed as gorgeous as the gal."

"Linda's instrument was one of a kind."

"Her voice was like a Stradivarius and she played it to emotional perfection. Certainly one of the most creative and important set of pipes."

"She had an amazing vocal range and a beautiful voice."

"This artist and the voice shall live through eternity....and beyond."

"She could sing the hell out of anything."

"A pure, gorgeous voice. No one could touch her vocal and visual beauty."

"Such remarkable talent. There's nothing she couldn't do musically, and such a great spirit."

"Linda's voice reaches to the heavens above...unending beauty."

Born into a musical family in Tucson, Arizona, on July 15, 1946, Linda Ronstadt often sang and harmonized with other family members singing Folk, Country, gospel, opera, and Mexican music around the house.  Linda credits her mother for her appreciation of Gilbert and Sullivan and her father for introducing her to the pop and Great American Songbook that she would, in turn, help reintroduce to a new generation of listeners.

When she later blended in rock & roll and easy listening, it was this wonderful combination of musical styles that made Ronstadt one of the most diverse and most-loved performers of all-time. 

Another of Ronstadt's lasting legacies is the way she interpreted songs of others; in many cases, those remakes were more successful than the original hits.  By choosing to record those songs, Ronstadt gave critical exposure to songwriters, and a mass audience discovered their music as a result.  Many of Ronstadt's backing musicians also became well-known in their own right, the most famous of these being those who would go on to form the Eagles. 

One of Ronstadt's grandfathers (Lloyd Copeman) was a prolific inventor who held nearly 700 patents.  Copeman invented the first electric stove, many types of refrigerators, an early form of the toaster, the grease gun, and an early form of the microwave oven, and his flexible rubber ice cube tray earned him millions of dollars in royalties.  

Ronstadt's other great-grandfather, engineer Friedrich Ronstadt, immigrated to America from Germany and settled in Tucson.  Linda's grandfather, Federico Jose Ronstadt, was a wagon maker who made six mule-drawn streetcars for the city in 1903-04.  In 1991, when Tucson opened its central transit terminal, it dedicated it to Federico.

At the age of 14, Linda and siblings Peter and Gretchen formed a Folk trio known as the Union City Ramblers, playing coffeehouses, fraternity houses, and other small venues.  Ronstadt wanted to merge Folk music and Rock & Roll and after a semester at Arizona State University, 18-year-old Linda moved to Los Angeles.

Linda visited friend Bobby Kimmel in Los Angeles while on break from college in 1964 and after moving to L.A., formed a band with Kimmel and guitarist-songwriter Kenny Edwards.  The trio signed a recording deal with Capitol Records in 1966 as the Stone Poneys.  The group released three albums and scored a big hit with "Different Drum".  

Note that this special recognizes each artist as they are billed on singles and albums, and Linda's work with the Stone Poneys does not affect her ranking as a solo artist.

Linda released the solo album Hand Sown...Home Grown in 1969.  After that inauspicious debut, Linda felt as if she was "floundering as a singer", she later wrote in her memoir.  

In 1970, Ronstadt released the album Silk Purse, produced by Elliot Mazer, who went on to produce Gordon Lightfoot and Neil Young, among others.  Mazer brought in a group of session musicians from Nashville, Tennessee known as Area Cod 615, which included bassist Norbert Putnam and violinist Buddy Spicher. 

 

On the single "Long, Long Time", Ronstadt turned heads with her amazing vocal, which earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Vocal Performance, Female.   Linda finally got her breakthrough.

 

Gene Clark from the Byrds and Bernie Leadon, who joined the Eagles the following year, teamed up to write "He Darked The Sun".

"Lovesick Blues" originally appeared in the 1922 musical Oh, Ernest.  The song has been covered by many artists including Hank Williams, with Frank Ifield's 1962 version being the most popular.  Linda delivered another outstanding vocal performance on the song.

 

Charles Tillman wrote the music to a poem by Baptist preacher M.E. Abbey in 1890 called "Life's Railway To Heaven".  The song has come to be known as "Life Is Like A Mountain Railway", remade by numerous artists including Johnny Cash, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Brad Paisley and the Oak Ridge Boys.  Ronstadt contributed to a new arrangement with Mazer.

Ronstadt was able to get top-quality backing musicians.  Her backing band for her third album included Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Leadon, and Randy Meisner, who went on to form the Eagles.

 

Linda released her self-titled album in 1971, which includes a great version of Jackson Browne's "Rock Me On The Water".

 

 Another solid track is "I Still Miss Someone", written by Johnny Cash and his nephew, Roy Cash, Jr.

Ronstadt began working with producer and boyfriend John Boylan and began talks with David Geffen about moving from Capitol to Geffen's Asylum Records.

In 1973, Linda enlisted the help of Boylan, J.D. Souther, and Peter Asher (of Peter & Gordon fame) to produce her first Asylum album Don't Cry Now.  Linda reworked a song she had recorded on her debut LP and released the single "Silver Threads And Golden Needles". 

 

The Eagles gladly gave Linda permission to record "Desperado", a classic they had recorded earlier in the year as the title of their second album.  Beginning with this song, Ronstadt began to earn a reputation for recording someone else's song and making it her own.

 

Ronstadt toured with Neil Young, getting her biggest exposure to date.  While on that tour, Linda met Emmylou Harris, who would become a good friend and future collaborator.  Written by Libby Titus and Eric Kaz, Bonnie Raitt was the first to record "Love Has No Pride".  Ronstadt turned in another amazing vocal performance and reached #6 on the Adult chart in Canada.

Meanwhile, impressed by his intuition and appreciative that he gave her more artistic freedom, Linda asked Asher to be her permanent producer.  Peter remained in that role through the late-'80's.

 

In 1975, Ronstadt released the album Heart Like a Wheel, and, although Dee Dee Warwick and Betty Everett had recorded "You're No Good" first, the definitive version belongs to Linda.  Ronstadt had been closing her live performances with the song since 1973 after her bassist and fellow former Stone Poneys member Kenny Edwards suggested it to her.  Linda's single rose to #1 in the U.S. and #7 in Canada.

 

Ronstadt hit #1 on the Album chart with Heart Like a Wheel.  Her second single was an uptempo version of the Everly Brothers hit "When Will I Be Loved".  It was a "triple crown" performer--#1 Country, #2 Popular and #3 on the Easy Listening chart.

 

Heart Like a Wheel went Double Platinum and was nominated for Album of the Year.  "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You)", Ronstadt's remake of a song by Hank Williams, won Linda her first Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance, Female.  We want to also feature her version of the J.D. Souther song "Faithless Love".

 

Buddy Holly recorded the Paul Anka song "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" in the last session before he died four months later in a plane crash.  Linda's version is another highlight of the album.

Much more to come from Linda!

The Supremes, The #25 Artist of the Rock Era, Part Two

 

(Continued from Part One)

 

"You Keep Me Hangin' On" also topped the U.S. chart and hit the Top 10 in virtually every country in the world.  Dozier created the stuttering guitar line at the open, played Robert White, one of the members of the Funk Brothers  It is another of the trio's classics in The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era*.

 

"Love Is Here And Now You're Gone" also went to #1 and has sold over one million copies.

As has become their custom, the Supremes released a new album after the two singles had become hits, and the result was The Supremes Sing Holland-Dozier-Holland.

The group then released covers of show tunes by the songwriting duo of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart called The Supremes Sing Rodgers & Hart.  

Gordy arranged gigs for the group (shown at the Copa on May 20,1967) at clubs such as the Copacabana, which included mixing in Broadway and pop standards in with their own hits.  The Supremes broke down racial barriers and became mass appeal superstars, regularly appearing on television shows such as The Ed Sullivan Show, on which they made 17 appearances, Hullabaloo, The Della Reese Show, and The Hollywood Palace.

Ballard felt she had been relegated to a lesser role in the group.  She became depressed and began to drink heavily, gaining weight to the point where she could no longer fit comfortably in her stage outfits.  She missed recording dates and arrived at some shows too drunk to perform.  Marlene Barrow replaced her on these dates.  The friendship, as well as the working relationship with Ross, became strained.  

 

"The Happening" was written for the movie of the same name with Anthony Quinn and Faye Dunaway.  The movie was a bust, but the song went to #1 in the United States, #2 in Canada and #6 in the U.K.

In April of 1967, Gordy was looking for a more permanent replacement for Ballard, originally leaning towards Barbara Randolph, but Ross and Randolph did not get along well. Eventually, Gordy settled on Cindy Birdsong, a member of Patti Labelle and the Blue Belles.  Birdsong was brought in to begin rehearsals, and although Gordy did not fire Ballard at the time, he asked Ballard to quit on her own.  Ballard, who first founded the group, believed she was in a probationary period and did not leave.

On June 29, 1967, the group returned to the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, billed for the first time as the Supremes with Diana Ross.  Ross was being groomed for a solo career as early as 1966, but Gordy left her in the group for several more years.  The first two shows went off without a hitch, but on July 1, Ballard discovered an extra set of gowns and costumes that had been brought along for Birdsong.  Angered at this, Ballard performed the first show of the night inebriated.  This further enraged Gordy, who sent Ballard back to Detroit and fired her from the group.  Birdsong debuted as a permanent member of the group in the second show of the night.

"Reflections" is another innovative song with the oscillator-generated sound effects which were groundbreaking at the time.  "Reflections" rose to #2 in the U.S., #3 in Canada and the Netherlands and #5 in the U.K. and it too has sold over one million units.

 

"In And Out Of Love" was a bit of a departure for the group in that they recorded the song in Los Angeles rather than Detroit.

Ballard received a one-time royalty payment of $139,804.94.  She made an attempt at a solo career with ABC Records but when two singles did not chart, the arrangement was shelved.  

In 1968, the Supremes released the album Reflections, which includes the final songs the group recorded in association with their songwriting team of Holland-Dozier-Holland before the three writers and producers left Motown due to royalty and title disputes. 

The trio, now billed as Diana Ross & the Supremes, released the albums Diana Ross & the Supremes Sing and Perform 'Funny Girl' and Love Child.   

 Diana Ross & the Supremes Join the Temptations, the latter of which featured the collaborative Platinum hit "I'm Gonna' Make You Love Me"

The departure of Holland-Dozier-Holland, the genius songwriting team behind much of he Supremes' success, resulted in a drop in the quality of available material at Motown.  Only six of eleven singles from 1967-1969 made the Top 20.  Tension within the group and a strict touring schedule meant that neither Wilson nor Birdsong appeared on many of the singles during this period, replaced by session singers such as the Andantes.

Several different producers and production teams worked on the group's next album.  Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson, who had teamed to produce singles for Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, wrote and produced the album's first single, "Some Things You Never Get Used To".  But when the song stalled at #20, the Supremes' worst performance since 1963, Gordy set out to improve the group's sales.  He brought together some of the top songwriters at Motown (Frank Wilson, Pam Sawyer, Deke Richards, Henry Cosby, R. Dean Taylor, as well as Gordy himself.  

Together, they wrote "Love Child", another of the group's best, a #1 smash that has sold two million copies and a solid member of The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era*.

 

The Supremes released the album of the same name in 1968, with help from Motown producers Smokey Robinson, Johnny Bristol, and Harvey Fuqua.  The group followed up with the album Let the Sunshine In, which featured the single "I'm Livin' In Shame", the sequel to "Love Child".

The Supremes and Temptations teamed up for a second time for the album Together.  

In 1969, after seeing Jean Terrell perform in Florida, Gordy decided that was the time for Ross to begin making the transition to a solo career, and Terrell was the person to replace her in the Supremes.  Terrell began recording with Wilson and Birdsong during the day, while Wilson and Birdsong toured with Ross at night.  In November, Ross and Gordy made a public announcement that she was leaving the group for a solo career.

 

Ross recorded "Someday We'll Be Together" as her first solo single, but since Gordy wanted one final #1 for the Supremes, the song was released with the banner Diana Ross & the Supremes, although neither Wilson nor Birdsong contributed to the song.  The group released the album Cream of the Crop and performed with Ross on The Ed Sullivan Show on December 21.  Diana Ross & the Supremes performed for the final time on January 14, 1970 at the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas.

 

The Supremes continued to record and perform in the '70's. Frank Wilson did much of the production work on the album Right On, which featured the Top 10 hit "Up The Ladder To The Roof".

 Borrowing from their earlier collaborations with the Temptations, the New Supremes, as they were being billed, recorded The Magnificent 7 with the Four Tops, another of Motown's premier acts.  The two supergroups released "River Deep--Mountain High".

"Stoned Love", the plea for peace and love written by Wilson, was the lead single on the album New Ways but Love Stays.

In 1971, Ballard sued Motown for $8.7 million, charging that Gordy and Ross had conspired to forcer her out of the group.  Motown won the case, and Ballard eventually sank into poverty and died of coronary thrombosis on February 22, 1976 at the age of 32.

The Supremes released three albums in 1971 produced by Wilson, The Return of the Magnificent 7, with the Four Tops, Touch, featuring the contributions of many Motown artists and writers, and Dynamite, a third collaboration with the Four Tops.

Smokey Robinson wrote and produced the final Top 20 hit for the Supremes, "Floy Joy", featured on the album of the same name.

Birdsong left the group after recording the album, replaced in the group by Lynda Laurence, a former backing singer for Stevie Wonder.  The group released the album The Supremes Produced and Arranged by Jimmy Webb, but it was not well received.  Laurence urged Wonder to write and produce a hit for the group, but that attempt, "Bad Weather", stalled at #87, and a self-titled album didn't catch on either.

Laurence left the group to start a family, with Birdsong coming back to the Supremes.  Terrell also left and was replaced by Scherrie Payne.  Although their recording success had dried up, the group was still a popular live act, especially in the U.K. and Japan.  But Birdsong left in 1976 and was replaced by another backing singer with Wonder, Susaye Greene.

The final iteration of the Supremes released two more albums, High Energy and Mary, Scherrie & Susaye.  On June 12, 1977, the Supremes performed for the final time at the Drury Lane Theater in London and disbanded.

The Tony Award-winning musical Dreamgirls, loosely based on the history of the Supremes, opened in 1981 on Broadway and included 1,522 performances.  A movie version of the play starring Beyonce, Jennifer Hudson, Jamie Foxx, and Eddie Murphy was released in 2006.

The Supremes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1994, and became members of the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998.  Three of the group's classics--"Where Did Our Love Go", "You Keep Me Hangin' On" and "Stop!  In The Name Of Love" have been accepted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.  

The Supremes were a great influence on female groups which followed, such as the Three Degrees, the Emotions, the Pointer Sisters, En Vogue, TLC, and Destiny's Child.

Ideas about a reunion tour circulated in the years that followed, and Ross, Wilson, and Birdsong performed "Someday We'll Be Together" on the television show honoring Motown in 1983--Motown 25:  Yesterday, Today, Forever.

This incredible trio piled up 45 career hits, with an astounding 21 of those going Top 10 and an even more incredible 12 reaching #1.  They have sold over 100 million albums worldwide.

The Supremes, the #25 Artist of the Rock Era, Part One

In 1958, junior high school student Florence Ballard in Detroit met Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams, who were in a group then known as the Primes.  Milton Jenkins, manager of the Primes, was impressed by Ballard's singing ability and set out to create a female counterpoint to the Primes that would be called the Primettes.  

Williams' girlfriend, Betty McGlown, was interested in joining the group, and Ballard invited her best friend Mary Wilson, who in turn recruited classmate Diana Ross.  Under the direction of Jenkins, the Primettes began performing at sock hops and talent shows around the Detroit area, singing covers of artists such as Ray Charles and the Drifters.  Guitarist Marvin Tarplin was added to the group so as to allow the three gals to sing live rather than lip-synching.

The Primettes won a local talent contest and in 1960, Ross asked an old neighbor, Smokey Robinson (lead singer of the Miracles) if he would help the group get an audition with Motown executive Berry Gordy.  Robinson arranged the audition, but hired Tarplin for his group with the permission of the Primettes.  Gordy felt the girls were too young and urged them to come back when they graduated from high school.  The Primettes recorded the single "Tears Of Sorrow" for Lu Pine Records, which went nowhere.  McGlown became engaged and left the group, replaced by Barbara Martin.

The Primettes were determined to win Gordy over and went to his Hitsville U.S.A. recording studio every day after school.  Finally, they persuaded Gordy to let them contribute background vocals and hand claps for other Motown artists such as Marvin Gaye and Mary Wells.  In 1961, Gordy signed the group to Motown with the stipulation that they change their name.  Ballard suggested the Supremes and it stuck.

In the spring of 1962, Martin left the group shortly after recording some of he songs on the album Meet the Supremes, leaving a trio of Ballard, Wilson, and Ross.  They recorded six singles mostly written by Gordy and Robinson in the next two years, none of which were successful, leading to the label of the "no-hit Supremes" around the offices of the record label.  Meanwhile, the group continued to help out on songs recorded by Gaye and their friends the Primes, who by now had changed their name to the Temptations.

Brothers Eddie and Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier by this time had become established songwriting and production stars in the Motown stable.  Eddie's single "You" in 1958 was produced by Gordy for Mercury Records, Brian was a staff songwriter who penned the Marvelettes' #1 song "Please Mr. Postman", while Dozier had recorded for several labels in the late 1950's and early 1960's, including Anna Records (owned by Gordy's sister) and Motown subsidiary Mel-o-dy.  

 

The three, who became known as Holland-Dozier-Holland, would go on to write some of the biggest hits of the Rock Era while at Motown, and helped the Supremes to finally score a Top 40 hit in 1963 with their song "When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes".  When they broke through, the Supremes were touring on one of Motown's revues with third billing, behind Martha and the Vandellas and the Contours.  The gals were backed by the incredible rhythm section of bassist James Jamerson and drummer Benny Benjamin as well as saxophonist Mike Terry.  

Gordy selected Diana Ross to be the official lead singer of the group, though Ballard and Wilson were given solos on several songs on the Supremes' albums.  Holland-Dozier-Holland wrote "Where Did Our Love Go" for the Marvelettes, who rejected it.

 

A breakup inspired Dozier to write the lyrics.  He had just split from a woman who "wanted more than a casual fling", Dozier said, and he wasn't ready to commit to her.  When he was playing the piano, the phrase "where did our love go" came to him.  "It hit me thinking about how something so strong as love could be so fragile and then go poof, just like that," Dozier said.  

Dozier ran through the list of artists on the Motown roster and thought of the Supremes.  But they didn't want to record it either.  It may have gone unrecorded were it not for Lamont's persistence:

     I told them it was tailor-made for them, knowing that 

     they had nothing going on at the time and needed a 

     song. Much to my surprise, they said no. Gladys told

     them I was looking for someone to record it. I wasn’t 

     giving up. Brian (Holland), Eddie (Holland) and I 

     finally persuaded them to do it, convincing them that 

     it was their saving grace and they couldn’t refuse it. 

     We had already had Top 40 hits with Martha and the               Vandellas but they hadn’t had recordings of any                       significance yet.

Instead, the Supremes turned it into Gold and the first of what would be a record five consecutive #1 songs in the U.S.  The talented group also recorded a great German version.  The song also hit #3 in the U.K.

 

Now on their way, the Supremes recorded songs to complete the album Where Did Our Love Go.  The trio promoted the album touring with Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars and released their second single "Baby Love", #1 in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and New Zealand.

"Baby Love" became the Supremes' first Gold record.  Wilson told The Guardian newspaper in 2014 what the song meant to her:

The upbeat feeling of the music is counterbalanced by the lyrics: someone pleading with a lover not to leave them. It's the Motown way: the music is beautiful but the words are stories about life and hurt, which reflect the way life is. The combination of the two made the music last.

"Baby Love" was nominated for Best R&B Song at the Grammys.  One month after releasing the single "Come See About Me", the Supremes made their debut on The Ed Sullivan Show promoting the song.  The trio went on to perform 19 more times on the show, more than any other artist.  "Come See About Me" made it three consecutive #1's in the U.S., and it also went to #1 in Canada and #2 in New Zealand.

The Supremes then recorded the album A Bit of Liverpool, featuring songs made popular by the Beatles, the Dave Clark Five, and the Animals.  Early in 1965, the group released the album The Supremes Sing Country, Western, and Pop, which included covers of country songs.  The trio followed that up with the tribute album We Remember Sam Cooke, featuring covers of songs made popular by the star who died the previous December.

In July, the group released the album More Hits by the Supremes.

 

The Supremes released the single "Stop!  In The Name Of Love", nominated for a Grammy for Best Contemporary Rock & Roll Group Vocal Performance.  Yet another #1 for the legendary group, which stretched their streak to four, the first time that feat had ever been achieved. 

  

 

The Supremes made it an incredible five straight #1 songs with "Back In My Arms Again", a record that still stands.  The group performed the song on The Mike Douglas Show twice and on the NBC show Hullabaloo!

 

The original title of this song was "I Can't Break Away".  "Nothing But Heartaches", released just prior to the Supremes' first appearance at the Copacabana nightclub in New York City,  stopped just short of the Top 10 at #11.

 

By now, the Supremes were superstars and toured the world.  They appeared in the movie Beach Ball.  Their prolific year concluded with their fourth album of the year, Merry Christmas, which included two songs that have become holiday standards.  The first is "Silver Bells".

 

Also included on the Christmas album is the Supremes' cover of the Julie Andrews song in the classic movie The Sound of Music, "My Favorite Things".

 

The album is approaching two million in sales.  The Supremes released the single "I Hear A Symphony", which returned them to #1.  Dozier told Songfacts:

     I used to go to the movies and I would see that the 

     main stars had their own theme songs. When they                   appeared on the screen, you would hear this

     melody behind them - they had their own little melody

     each time they appeared in the movie. So the lyrics,                 "Whenever you are near, I hear a symphony," it was

      about this guy. Whenever he came around, in her

     mind she got this feeling and she heard this melody. 

     He brought out the music in her.

 

"My World Is Empty Without You" became the group's next big hit, going to #1 in the United States and Canada.

Those two singles were included on the Supremes' next album I Hear a Symphony.

Holland-Dozier-Holland wrote "Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart" at a time when the Holland brothers were going through terrible times in their personal lives.  "The lyrics were coming from two broken hearts," Eddie said to Songfacts.  "Love isn't only yearning and burning in the heart, it's an itching that you can't make go away - it taunts you."

 

The group's unprecedented run of consecutive #1 songs had been broken, so what did they do?  The began another streak of four straight with "You Can't Hurry Love".

No artist has ever had five #1 songs in a row, and no one in history has had two runs of five consecutive #1's and then another run of four straight.  These were truly historic times.  The Supremes A' Go-Go, featuring those two singles,  became the first album by an all-female group to reach #1 in the U.S., knocking the classic Beatles album Revolver out of the top slot.  

There has never been anyone like them--join us for Part Two of the Supremes!