Voiceless Linda Ronstadt Recalls Early Opera Memories Of Childhood

In December 2012, Ronstadt was diagnosed with Parkinson's 
disease, which left her unable to sing. It was announced publicly
 in August 2013.

"Her deepest roots are musical. Ronstadt's paternal grandfather was a brass-band leader. Her father, a baritone, played her 78-rpm records of Grieg's Peer Gynt and the flamenco singer Pastora Pavón and took her to one of the few movies she saw as a child, Verdi's opera Aida. Her brother Peter was a boy soprano. Family singing, in a house with no TV until Ronstadt was in fifth grade, was the most readily available source of entertainment. It may also be the wellspring of her celebrated gift for harmonizing, exquisitely realized decades later in her three-part singing with Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton and duets with the Cajun singer Ann Savoy. The strict Catholic school she attended turned Ronstadt off formal education. A natural autodidact, she became a voluminous reader, with interests that range from Victorian novels to architecture to politics. Even as she enrolled at the University of Arizona, Ronstadt knew it wasn't for long. She dropped out after a semester and headed for Los Angeles at 18 to seek her musical fortune."[Source]

Mady Mesplé Living With Parkinson's Disease

The soprano in Lucia di Lammermoor

French soprano Mady Mesplé was most popular from 1950 to 1970 singing the title roles in Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti) and Lakme (Delibes) as well as Olympia in Les Contes d'Hoffmann (Offenbach) and the Königin der Nacht in Die Zauberflöte (Mozart). In the mid-90s the soprano developed Parkinson's Disease. She has written a book, La Voix du Corp, about her career and experience living life with the disease. It was released this fall in paperback. She works closely with Association France Parkinson offering her support whenever possible in order to help find a cure for the disease. Throughout her career she recorded exclusively for EMI France. This spring the label will issue a 4-CD box set to commemorate the singer's 80th birthday. Included in the release will be chansons and arias from her complete discography.

More information and photos after the jump.