'When Will I Be Loved?': Linda Ronstadt Gets an Answer

Legendary singer Linda Ronstadt, 68, undoubtedly has had plenty of secret admirers over the years, though perhaps none quite as famous as the president of the United States.

Ronstadt, who's won numerous accolades over the years for her "one-of-a-kind voice," was at a White House ceremony on July 28 to receive the National Medal of Arts.

As President Barack Obama prepared to hang the medal around Ronstadt's neck, he confessed, "I had a little crush on her back in the day."

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Obama was just shy of 13 when Ronstadt's cover of the 1960 Everly Brothers hit "When Will I Be Loved" soared to the top of the Cash Box singles chart in 1975.

Ronstadt, who disclosed that she has Parkinson's disease in an interview with AARP last year, was unable to attend her induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April. A military aide helped her navigate her wheelchair into the East Room, but Ronstadt made her way to the stage on her own to greet Obama and receive a presidential kiss on her right cheek.

 

Photo: Amy Sussman/Invision/AP

 

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