Legendary singer Linda Ronstadt, 67, told AARP today that she “can’t sing a note” because she suffers from Parkinson’s disease. Diagnosed eight months ago, Ronstadt began to show symptoms as long as eight years ago. But she ascribed her inability to sing to a tick bite (“my health has never recovered since then”), and believed the shaking in her hands resulted from shoulder surgery.

Parkinson’s is a devastating disease for anyone to suffer from, and it’s certainly afflicted other celebrities – Michael J. Fox and Muhammad Ali come to mind immediately. Regardless, it’s a huge tragedy for the music world to lose such a beautiful voice.

(Via Gawker)