Skip to content

People didn’t have a clue I was Mexican unless they grew up with me…I heard plenty of it…I’d straighten them out fast.

— Linda Ronstadt

Another quote →

Source and credibility

Wikiquote does not flag this quote as disputed or misattributed.

Source: On people saying derogatory things about Chicanos in front of her because they did not realize Ronstadt was Mexican in “Linda Ronstadt: 'I had to sing those songs or I was going to die'” in The Guardian (2020 Oct 20)
Source quality: Precise citation Points to a specific work with a page, chapter, date or similar locator, so you can look it up.

More by Linda Ronstadt

I was bored with rock’n’roll…And I was tired of singing fast songs. I’m a ballad singer. And I like drama and nuance. This music has richer poetic images and more interesting rhythms.

There is a lot of German and French influence there…The music uses accordions and German-style brass bands, reinterpreted in a Mexican style. I like to say that Mexicans took German and French music and made it sexy.

All Linda Ronstadt quotes →

More quotes by Linda Ronstadt

For all families, participation in music and the arts, can help people reclaim and achieve the American dream.

You gave us Rupert Murdoch ,thanks a lot you guys, take him back.

She was trying to soften the blow of the word Mexican…That’s typical of what happens. Mexican Americans are always made to feel invisible.

I feel if I were to organize it correctly I would try to sing like a Mexican and think like a German. You know what I mean? I get it mixed up.

Back in 1967,Tiger Beat magazine asked me what my ambition was for my career. I said I want to become a really good Mexican singer. But it wasn’t noticed or validated

All Linda Ronstadt quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Linda Ronstadt (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.