Linda Ronstadt’s musical career has spanned multiple decades and genres, with the 11-time Grammy winner dabbling in rock, country, folk, pop, and soul. While she has written some of her own material, Ronstadt is particularly deft at taking other artists’ songs and transforming them into something entirely her own. That was certainly the case with “You’re No Good,” which topped the U.S. singles chart on this day (Feb. 15) in 1975.
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Soul singer Dee Dee Warrick—sister of Dionne—first recorded “You’re No Good,” written by Clint Ballard Jr., in 1963. At the suggestion of band member Kenny Edwards, Linda Ronstadt began closing out her live shows with the ballad in early 1973.
“We would be jamming during rehearsal, and Kenny said, ‘Why don’t we do this, it would be fun?’” Ronstadt recalled in 2014. “I’m a ballad singer, and in a lot of the venues we were playing, the air conditioning was louder than we were. So we had to have a couple of up-tempo songs to open and close with. And that was a really good closer.”
Why Linda Ronstadt Was Hesitant to Record Her Only No. 1 Hit
During recording sessions for her 1974 album Heart Like a Wheel, Linda Ronstadt and producer Peter Asher decided to include “You’re No Good” at the last minute. However, the two-time ACM Award winner wasn’t immediately confident in her ability to take on the song in the studio.
“That was an afterthought,” recalled Ronstadt, now 79, in a 2015 interview with the Library of Congress. “I still had a club act and you always want to start with something up-tempo when you go on stage and something up-tempo when you come off stage. Then, in between, I would do ballads. I’m basically a ballad singer. It’s a good song. But not good for my voice. Like I said, I like ballads, something with a big melodic reach.”
Wanting a different arrangement from the stage version, Asher and guitarist Andrew Gold tried multiple variations before settling on the one that landed on the album. And even Ronstadt had to admit she’d been wrong.
“The first time I heard it on the radio, I said, ‘That sucker’s a hit.’ I just knew it,” she said. “It’s really a well-constructed record. I have to give Peter and Andrew credit.”
Although she had many Top 40 hits, “You’re No Good” is Ronstadt’s only song to reach No. 1. Heart Like a Wheel did the same, eventually topping the U.S. albums chart.
Featured image by Robin Platzer/Getty Images
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