My Parkinson's battle: Eleven-time Grammy-winner Linda Ronstadt reveals her singing career has been ended by the debilitating disease diagnosis



She helped shape the future of folk-rock music in her heyday.



But now, Linda Ronstadt is facing an uphill battle as she loses her voice to a debilitating disease.



Struck down with Parkinson's eight months ago, the 11-time Grammy-winner has opened up about the life-changing diagnosis that has ended her career.



Devastating diagnosis: Linda Ronstadt - pictured accepting an ALMA Award in 2008 - amassed 11 Grammys during her career, though her Parkinson's disease has stripped her of her singing voice

Speaking to the AARP in an interview which will be published next week, the star, who has released more than 30 studio albums over four decades, revealed she first noticed symptoms as early as eight years ago.



She initially put her shaking hands down to the result of shoulder surgery and believed her inability to sing was due to a tick bite that ravished her system.



'My health has never recovered since then,' she says.



The 67-year-old sadly revealed during her candid chat that the disease means she 'can't sing a note' anymore.



Illustrious career: The singer released more than 30 studio albums during her career, which began at the age of 14, when she founded a folk trio with her siblings

Realising there was a serious problem when her singing voice failed her, the Parkinson's diagnosis came out of the blue and was hard to comprehend.



'I couldn’t sing and I couldn’t figure out why. I knew it was mechanical. I knew it had to do with the muscles, but I thought it might have also had something to do with the tick disease that I had,' she tells the publication. 'It didn’t occur to me to go to a neurologist. '



'Parkinson’s is very hard to diagnose, so when I finally went to a neurologist and he said, “Oh, you have Parkinson’s disease,” I was completely shocked. I wouldn’t have suspected that in a million, billion years.'



Adding that, 'No-one can sing with Parkinson’s disease, no matter how hard you try,' it soon became apparent that the star's illustrious career was over.



Hitting the big time: At nineteen, Linda's band, The Stone Poneys, was signed to Capitol Records in 1966, before she went solo in 1969

No longer fully in control of her faculties, Ronstadt is forced to walk with the assistance of poles at times and is wheelchair-bound when she travels.



Most well known for hit songs You’re No Good and When Will I Be Loved, the star was also notably engaged to Star Wars creator George Lucas in the 1980s.



While she never married, Linda adopted daughter Mary in 1990 and son Carlos in 1994 as infants.



Her new autobiography, Simple Dreams, will be released on September 17, however, it doesn't deal with her Parkinson's diagnosis and subsequent loss of voice.

'I was completely shocked': The star - pictured at the Grammys in 1990 - admits her diagnosis came out of the blue and she 'wouldn’t have suspected that in a million, billion years'



