Linda Ronstadt Details Her Struggle With Parkinson’s Disease; Says She Can No Longer Sing

Linda Ronstadt, the 11-time Grammy winner, is suffering from Parkinson’s disease that has now made it difficult for her to sing.

The 67-year-old singer detailed her struggled with the disease in an interview with AARP magazine. Ronstadt said that although she was diagnosed with the disease only eight months ago, symptoms had been there for the past eight years.

Her hands were constantly shaking, and she found it difficult to sing. Ronstadt believed these tremors to be the side effects of a tick bite and a shoulder surgery.

“I couldn't sing and I couldn't figure out why," Ronstadt told the magazine. "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," Ronstadt said.

The singer, who is known for 1970s and '80s hits such as “You're No Good,” “Hurt So Bad” and “Don't Know Much,” added that she wasn’t expecting to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease when she finally consulted a neurologist.

“Parkinson’s is very hard to diagnose, so when I finally went to a neurologist and he said, ‘Oh, you have Parkinson’s disease,’ I was completely shocked,” the folk-rock musician told the magazine. “I wouldn’t have suspected that in a million, billion years.”

“No one can sing with Parkinson’s disease,” Ronstadt said. “No matter how hard you try.” According to reports, she now uses crutches when walking on uneven ground and a wheelchair, too, but her struggles with Parkinson’s disease were not detailed in her upcoming memoir, Simple Dreams, which will hit bookstores on Sept. 17.