With a voice that Newsweek once described as having the "richness and cutting edge of a muted trumpet," pop star Linda Maria Ronstadt (1946-) was born on this day in Tucson, Arizona.

"I don't think you can look for love. All you can do is get yourself in a situation where you don't discourage something that may be rather nice," she reflected.

Growing up with listening to her dad's mariachi melodies, she scored her first big hit with 1967's Different Drum. Ronstadt's music career has soared, survived, and evolved in the turbulent rock music industry.

In a 1999 interview, she confessed she is shy on stage and that rock was never her favorite genre. She has certainly diversified through the years:

She belted out Gilbert and Sullivan on Broadway... Crooned pop standards with arranger Nelson Riddle... Tried Mexican mariachi music... Traded vocals with the then-unknown Aaron Neville... Sang lullabies and love songs... And cut an album of Appalachian folk music with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris.

With over 30 albums and countless awards including a ranking of #21 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, she traded fame for the joys of single motherhood, raising her two adopted children in Tucson.

She continues to record and perform... and celebrates maturity: "It's very important for me not to have my middle age be a repeat of my youth," she said. "And my old age to not be a repeat of my middle age."

Change, rise, adapt.