Sad news for any Ronstadt fans.....
NEW YORK, Aug 23 (Reuters)
Grammy-winning singer Linda Ronstadt is suffering from Parkinson's disease and says she can no longer "sing a note," the group AARP said on Friday.
In an interview with AARP to be published next week, Ronstadt, 67, said the Parkinson's diagnosis she received eight months ago had given her an answer to why she couldn't sing.
"No one can sing with Parkinson's disease," she is quoted as saying in her interview with the lobbying group for older Americans. "No matter how hard you try." AARP said she has poles to help her walk on uneven ground and uses a wheelchair when traveling.
"Parkinson's is very hard to diagnose, so when I finally went to a neurologist and he said, 'Oh, you have Parkinson's disease,' I was completely shocked. I wouldn't have suspected that in a million, billion years," she says in the interview.
Ronstadt has won nearly a dozen Grammy awards and sold more than 100 million albums worldwide, according to Simon & Schuster, which is due to publish her memoir this year.
The Arizona-born singer's 1974 record, "Heart Like a Wheel," yielded hits including "You're No Good," "When Will I Be Loved" and "It Doesn't Matter Anymore."
I still do.
Must have fell off of a cliff last night,because I woke up this morning feeling like I'm 60 years old. Then I looked at my drivers license and it confirmed it. Turning 60 today. I guess I should wait until about 7:30 tonight to be more precise about it. I was told I was born about 6:30 p.m., but I don't think they were using Daylight Saving Time in 1953.
I still do.
Happy Birthday, bud.
55 was the milepost for me where I realized where the roller-coaster ride was going to end...somewhere up ahead. But I still felt young at heart.
60 came and went and my bag-of-bones hurts a lot more than it did a few years ago. The ears are just about gone and my eyes are not far behind...but I still have good appetite. Lord knows how I'll feel when that wains. :-/
BTW, How old are you in cow years?
Happy Birthday!
From one 1953 kid to another. I changed the tens digit at the end of April.
So far, 60 looks just fine to me. I can still hike up and down mountains (though no longer as fast as my son), and am still able to do pretty much all the field work I used to. I now tend to work shorter field days, however, and whenever I get the chance to squeeze a nap into the afternoon, I jump at it.
Life remains good.
Happy Birthday!
NAH!! You are ALL still a bunch of young whippersnappers!! It's like Groucho said, "You are only as old as the woman you are feeling." 😉 Enjoy it while you've got it. I turn 66 on September 7, and each morning my eyes pop open is a rush. o.O
I'll feel even older next week
My youngest child will turn 30 on the first of September. All three will be in their 30's until next March when the oldest will hit 40.
I'll feel even older next week
I not a youngster either, and it really hit home when I ran across, earlier this year, this family photo of my kin folk 
on the Texas prairie.
The man standing with the white shirt, holding a hat, between the two women is my grandpa. The man sitting who is holding the child with the white dress is my great-grandfather who was a Civil War veteran. This photo is 100 years old this year.
John Harmon
almost Texas...
..just North of the Red at Dougherty, Indian Territory, 1897.
My Great-Grandfather's homestead. My Grandmother was a twin. She's one of the two little girls standing together wearing their pretty white dresses. Must have been a real special occasion.
I love old photos.
You descendants of rich people
have pictures to look at.
Seriously, I finally saw one picture of one set of my great-grandparents just last year. A second cousin had it. I have a book showing relatives of one line that includes one great-grandmother and her parents. Otherwise, I know of no photos of any of my great-grandparents. My grandparents were born in 1876, 1881, 1884 and 1893. One great-grandfather died in the 1880's and one great-grandmother died in 1897. Four of the other six great-grandparents died in the 1920's, either prior to or shortly after the birth of my parents, so they didn't know them either. The remaining two great-grandparents died about 1940, but moved to Idaho many years earlier, prior to the birth of my father, so he never saw them.
You descendants of rich people
Most of the old photos of that period were taken by traveling photographers who would go from place to place after leaving handouts to advertise his coming. Cameras
were simply new technology that the average family could not afford.
John Harmon
For Paden
Exactly where is Dougherty, OK.
John Harmon
Another pic
This pic of family members after a wedding. House is my great-grandfather on mothers side of family.
My grandfather is the second man from the left wearing a hat, grandmother and their first child, my uncle, are beside him. Photo is 101 year old.
John Harmon
Dougherty is...
a little further North of the river than I remembered. It's a little north and east of Ardmore, Ok.
Ronstadt has scheduled a what is apparently a short book tour next month, mostly on both coasts.
I saw here several times, most memorably at a small club out on Long Island called "My Father's Place", just after the "Heart Like A Wheel" came out.
As a related topic, we recently saw Karla Bonoff (who wrote a good number of songs Ronstadt covered) on a rare East Coast visit. She was in fine voice, and it was great to hear those songs again live.
I wish the best for both of them.
