Wednesday March 9, 2022 “I Knew You When” Linda Ronstadt
I had planned to do a ‘Linda Ronstadt Week’ covering all the songwriters, artists and groups that she was associated with and might still do that but in the meantime here’s a great song written by Joe South which Linda Ronstadt has made her own.
Before we get to Linda though, songwriter Joe South is an interesting side story. He would have a number one hit and Grammy winning Song of the Year with “Games People Play'' and in addition to that song he would write today’s “I Knew You When”, “Hush” (Deep Purple), “(I never Promised You A) Rose Garden” and “Walk a Mile in My Shoes” all of which have been recorded by multiple artists.
As for Linda Ronstadt, she left home at seventeen and became part of the band The Stone Poneys in 1966 who would have a top ten hit with the Michael Nesmith written song “Different Drum”. She would leave that group and as a solo artist in the early 1970s she would recruit Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Randy Meisner, and Bernie Leadon to be part of her touring band. Those four would go on to form their own rock band - the Eagles.
Linda Ronstadt would become the highest paid female artist in rock music as her Grammy Award winning album Heart Like a Wheel would remain on the charts for fifty one weeks. It included number one singles like “You’re No Good” and “When Will I Be Loved”.
Ronstadt has released twenty four studio albums and fifteen compilation or greatest hits albums, has charted thirty eight US Billboard Hot 100 singles. Twenty-one of those singles reached the top 40, ten reached the Top 10 and she has sold more than one hundred million records worldwide.
Sadly Linda Ronstadt revealed in a 2013 interview that she had Parkinson's disease, which left her unable to sing. The symptoms emerged eight years earlier and affected her singing; she performed for the last time in 2009 but didn't announce her retirement until 2011.
Stay safe and well…and that looks like Andrew Gold (“Lonely Boy” and “Thank You for Being a Friend”) on piano in the video.