An inspirational life and career

Linda Ronstadt is the subject of my entry today. On a whim I picked up her memoir "Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir"  and I could not put it down.  Not only is she a very good writer and storyteller, I was fascinated by her life story and career.

I learned a lot of things about her that I never knew. There are so many things about the book that I liked. Here I will list what I wrote in my journal about it:

• She was disciplined and focused on her music career and turned away from temptations of drugs and drinking. This during the 60s and 70s when many her contemporaries died of overdose. 
• She sought out new experiences to grow & learn from. She took many big risks and was always reinventing herself. 
• She readily admitted her failures and even when critics judged her harshly, she often agreed with them.
• Though she has a lot to brag about--she never does. When something amazing happened (amazing to us) she just stated it plainly as a fact. No gushing or commentary about it.
• Though she knew and spent time with lots of famous people, she never comes across as a "name dropper".
• She never gave up her resolve to take a big risk even though she did not get support from her record companies. She also risked losing momentum in her career and the huge fan base she had when she took new turns for her career.
• She comes across as humble and hard working

When she was going through her most popular time in the 70s, I was not listening or following pop music, so I never paid attention to her. I was into folk and acoustic music then. But what I learned is that she comes from a very traditional folk  background and those are her roots.

Most people know by now also that she has Parkinson's' disease and can no longer sing. I am so inspired by her life that I hope to do all I can with my musical life until I can no longer do it.