Post by erik on Jul 15, 2023 20:50:35 GMT -5
Today marks the 77th birthday of pop music icon Linda Ronstadt, so this week's Pop Music Hits Spotlight focuses in on a Grammy-winning duet she made with New Orleans R&B legend Aaron Neville.
ALL MY LIFE (Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville; Elektra; 1989)—In a career that had begun during the folk-rock era of the late 1960’s and had concluded in the second decade of the 21st century with her unfortunate retirement due to Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, Linda Ronstadt had not only forged a reputation for being powerful in her voice and eclectic in her song and musical genre choices, she also had forged friendships with fellow artists that kept going on long after her retirement. One such friendship had been forged during the early 1970’s when she met California-based singer/songwriter Karla Bonoff, who was only ever able to attain modest success on her own (partly because of the shadow that Linda had somehow managed to cast), but whose songwriting acumen caught Linda’s ear. On her 1976 album Hasten Down The Wind, Linda covered three of Karla’s songs to brilliant effect (“Lose Again”; “If He’s Ever Near”; “Someone To Lay Down Beside Me”). Over the ensuing thirteen years, Linda delved into various other forms, including opera, American standards, and Mexican rancheras, while Karla managed to get a Top 20 hit with the song “Personally” (which she ironically didn’t even write) in mid-1982. Then in 1989, for her album Cry Like A Rainstorm, Howl Like The Wind, she covered several more of Karla’s songs: “Trouble Again”; “Goodbye My Friend”; and, in a duet with Aaron Neville, “All My Life”. Like much of the album, “All My Life” was significantly different from what Linda had done ten to fifteen years earlier, due to Linda’s fascination with merging orchestral elements into her pop-rock sound. Linda and Aaron had already had a solid #2 pop/#1 Adult Contemporary hit at the end of 1989 with “Don’t Know Much” from the album; and “All My Life” proved to be another winner for the pair. “All Me Life” reached #11 on the Hot 100 in March 1990, and stayed atop Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart for five weeks, earning the pair a Grammy for that duet in February 1991. It was, however, to be Linda’s (as of 2023) final Top 40 hit; and she would have (again, as of 2023) no further Hot 100 hits after the #77 placement of “When Something Is Wrong With My Baby” in May 1990 (also an Aaron Neville duet). Her continuing musical eclecticism baffled music audiences in the 1990’s and into the early 2000’s. Still, she persevered; and though her voice had been destroyed by PSP, she achieved post-retirement success with her 2014 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; the 2019 documentary film The Sound Of My Voice, and word, in July 2023, that her life’s story would be made into a movie, said to star Selena Gomez.
ALL MY LIFE (Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville; Elektra; 1989)—In a career that had begun during the folk-rock era of the late 1960’s and had concluded in the second decade of the 21st century with her unfortunate retirement due to Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, Linda Ronstadt had not only forged a reputation for being powerful in her voice and eclectic in her song and musical genre choices, she also had forged friendships with fellow artists that kept going on long after her retirement. One such friendship had been forged during the early 1970’s when she met California-based singer/songwriter Karla Bonoff, who was only ever able to attain modest success on her own (partly because of the shadow that Linda had somehow managed to cast), but whose songwriting acumen caught Linda’s ear. On her 1976 album Hasten Down The Wind, Linda covered three of Karla’s songs to brilliant effect (“Lose Again”; “If He’s Ever Near”; “Someone To Lay Down Beside Me”). Over the ensuing thirteen years, Linda delved into various other forms, including opera, American standards, and Mexican rancheras, while Karla managed to get a Top 20 hit with the song “Personally” (which she ironically didn’t even write) in mid-1982. Then in 1989, for her album Cry Like A Rainstorm, Howl Like The Wind, she covered several more of Karla’s songs: “Trouble Again”; “Goodbye My Friend”; and, in a duet with Aaron Neville, “All My Life”. Like much of the album, “All My Life” was significantly different from what Linda had done ten to fifteen years earlier, due to Linda’s fascination with merging orchestral elements into her pop-rock sound. Linda and Aaron had already had a solid #2 pop/#1 Adult Contemporary hit at the end of 1989 with “Don’t Know Much” from the album; and “All My Life” proved to be another winner for the pair. “All Me Life” reached #11 on the Hot 100 in March 1990, and stayed atop Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart for five weeks, earning the pair a Grammy for that duet in February 1991. It was, however, to be Linda’s (as of 2023) final Top 40 hit; and she would have (again, as of 2023) no further Hot 100 hits after the #77 placement of “When Something Is Wrong With My Baby” in May 1990 (also an Aaron Neville duet). Her continuing musical eclecticism baffled music audiences in the 1990’s and into the early 2000’s. Still, she persevered; and though her voice had been destroyed by PSP, she achieved post-retirement success with her 2014 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; the 2019 documentary film The Sound Of My Voice, and word, in July 2023, that her life’s story would be made into a movie, said to star Selena Gomez.
