Linda Ronstadt — Tucson, Arizona Roots

Linda Ronstadt was born on July 15, 1946, in Tucson, Arizona, into a family with deep roots in the Mexican borderland — her grandfather Federico Ronstadt was a prominent Tucson businessman and musician, and her father Gilbert sang traditional Mexican music at home. The family's musical heritage, which she absorbed alongside American country and pop, would eventually lead her back to Spanish-language recordings: Canciones de Mi Padre (1987) was a landmark of Mexican ranchera music performed by an American pop star and became the best-selling non-English album in American music history at that point.

Ronstadt left Tucson for Los Angeles in 1964 and formed the Stone Poneys before launching her solo career, which produced a remarkable run of 1970s hits — 'You're No Good,' 'Heat Wave,' 'Blue Bayou,' 'It's So Easy,' 'Ooh Baby Baby' — and established her as the best-selling female rock artist of the decade. Her collaborations with producer Peter Asher were among the most commercially successful in 1970s pop. She was also instrumental in the careers of the Eagles, who began as her backing band.

Tucson has honoured Ronstadt with a street named in her honour — Linda Ronstadt Drive runs through the downtown area near the Tucson Convention Center. The city's Mexican-American cultural heritage, which gave Ronstadt her deepest musical roots, is celebrated in the barrios of South Tucson. Ronstadt was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2012, which ended her singing career.