Linda burst onto the Southern California music scene in the late 1960s, blazing a trail for the next generations of female artists to follow. She was a successful woman in a male-dominated world. From 1975 to 1978, she scored no fewer than six top five albums in the US, success that opened the pathway to record-breaking arena tours, taking her onto stages with Jackson Browne, the Eagles and the Rolling Stones and earning her the title of the ‘Queen of Rock’.

Linda was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014, has received 11 Grammys and two Academy of Country Music Awards, among many other honours that acknowledge the beautiful, interpretive brilliance she brings to locating the emotional heart of a song. She has always loved to craft reinterpretations of numbers from the past, having topped the US charts with songs previously recorded by Betty Everett, the Everly Brothers and Roy Orbison, but she is particularly passionate about the work of Buddy Holly, a massive influence on her music. 

She released ‘That’ll Be the Day’ in 1976, ‘It’s So Easy’ a year later, ‘Rave On’ in 1980, ‘Oh, Boy!’ in 1989, ‘Well … All Right’ in 1995 and ‘Maybe Baby’ in 2011, all of them proud interpretations of the music she adores. Linda’s musical interpretations underscore her beautiful connection to Buddy. Her ground-breaking covers of some of his most famous songs stand, to this day, as glorious endorsements, not only of his lasting impact on the music industry, but also of our enduring love of the woman who has brought new life to a catalogue of timeless classics. 

Bob Harris