Linda Ronstadt had the voice and the look but not the label. From 1969 to ’72, Capitol promoted her as a folk-country singer, much to her frustration. Eager to diversify, she wanted to record Anna McGarrigle’s mournful ballad “Heart Like a Wheel,” but Capitol repeatedly passed. When Ms. Ronstadt’s first three solo albums did poorly, she asked the label to release her. Capitol agreed, and David Geffen signed her to his new label, Asylum. Her fourth album did moderately better, but due to contractual obligations she still owed Capitol one more. Mr. Geffen had a plan: Record what you wish but let Capitol put it out. Ms. Ronstadt agreed, and in her 2013 memoir, “Simple Dreams,” she called the decision “one of the luckiest breaks of my career.”
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