Linda Ronstadt has said in an interview with AARP that she has Parkinson’s Disease and it has made her unable to sing.
The full interview with the singer will be published next week but, in an excerpt, Ronstadt revealed that her first clue was that she was unable to sing. “I couldn’t sing and I couldn’t figure out why. I knew it was mechanical. I knew it had to do with the muscles, but I thought it might have also had something to do with the tick disease that I had. And it didn’t occur to me to go to a neurologist. I think I’ve had it for seven or eight years already, because of the symptoms that I’ve had. Then I had a shoulder operation, so I thought that’s why my hands were trembling.”
Parkinson’s is a degenerative disease of the central nervous system. It is generally a genetic disease but has been associated with exposure to pesticides, head injury and living in the country or farming.
The disease has progressed to the point where Ronstadt is forced to use poles when walking on uneven ground and uses a wheelchair when traveling.
Linda’s memoir, Simple Dreams, comes out on September 17 although the book does not address her symptoms or diagnosis.
Read more at VVN Music
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