Dolly Parton rallies behind fellow singer’s Parkinson’s battle

You might remember the trio of magical voices that was Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt.

Now the trio have reunited but the tragic reason behind is absolutely heartbreaking.

Dolly and EmmyLou are rallying behind Linda Ronstadt as she battles Parkinson’s Disease.

Speaking on the Sunday Night program last night, Dolly revealed she is one of Linda’s biggest fans.

“Linda is such a voice she can sing anything I personally think Linda’s one of the greatest singers ever including Streisand or anybody,” she said.

“I mean Linda probably has the most stunningly beautiful voice of our generation.

“When I first heard her when I was knocking around the clubs in New York, I didn’t meet her then. But I saw her, and I was incredibly jealous.”

She also spoke about how proud she was about being part of the famed Trio.

“I have to honestly say that there are some things in your life that you pick out and think that is one of the greatest things that I was ever a part of,” she said.

“Linda Ronstadt, who’s unbelievably great, and Emmylou who’s spectacular and I’m just I just feel so proud to be part of that trio.”

Linda’s health has been in decline for several years and unfortunately, she’ll never be able to sing again.

She opened up to the program about how Parkinson’s is taking it’s toll on her life.

“There’s a lot of things I can’t do, I can still read, but it’s, sometimes hard to keep the book steady, that’s what I mostly do, I read and talk to people. I can’t walk very well, you know,” she said.

“From the minute I get up I have a hard time brushing my teeth, washing my hair, standing in the shower… I have a hard time standing or sitting, I can’t sit up straight in a chair like I can’t sit up at the table and eat.”

You might remember Linda’s big hit Blue Bayou in the ’70s?

Well, it turns out she’s critical of her biggest track.

“I never like to hear myself,” she said.

“Blue bayou is a hard song to sing as it’s too low and too high, at the same time you’ve got to pick out whether you’ve got to be too low or too high always picked out too low.”

The Trio of EmmyLou, Dolly and Linda came together in 1974 and recorded their first album in 1987 and another in 1999 – winning three Grammy’s and selling millions of albums along the way.

Like family, Dolly and EmmyLou have been supporting Linda since her health declined after their second album together.

“I knew something organic was wrong with my voice, I knew it wasn’t nerves, or, and I kept going to the doctor and he’d go, oh, I don’t see anything wrong with your vocal cords, must be in your mind, and I’m going, no, it’s not in my mind, I knew something was really major wrong,” Linda said.

“I listen to other people sing now… I can still sing in my mind.”

As their final project together, the Trio have released a digitally remastered album with some unreleased material from their original sessions.

What words of comfort would you offer Linda? Do you have friends like Dolly and EmmyLou supporting you?