If you’re a Linda Ronstadt fan, then this Historic Everett Theatre show is for you.
The Linda Ronstadt tribute band Just One Look — featuring Holly Aprecio as Linda Ronstadt — will perform a live-stream show Aug. 28 at the Historic Everett Theatre via StageIt.
Since forming in 2012, Just One Look has booked shows all over the U.S. for fans who miss the Queen of Rock’s trademark growl.
Eight years ago, Aprecio was singing Ronstadt’s “When Will I Be Loved” and “Heat Wave” in one of her father’s bands — Arny Bailey has a total of eight tribute bands — when he got an idea. He thought she’d be perfect as the front of a Linda Ronstadt tribute band.
His daughter, then 29, needed time to think about it. When Aprecio got back to him, she told Bailey she wasn’t interested. She said Ronstadt’s stardom had been forgotten — that her friends didn’t know who Linda Ronstadt was. But she had been talking to the wrong generation.
“I got a kick out of that,” Bailey said. “I said, ‘Don’t talk to your friends. You need to talk to your friends’ parents. A couple of days went by, and she called me back up and said, ‘I’m in.’”
Now that Aprecio pays tribute to Linda Ronstadt on stage, she’s shocked there aren’t more tribute bands for her.
“If you look at her success throughout her life — all the hits she had and all the music she was behind — she was such a huge part of rock ‘n’ roll and of the female vocalists era,” she said. “I became really in love and intrigued with her legacy.”
Now retired, Ronstadt is the winner of 11 Grammy Awards, three American Music Awards, two Academy of Country Music Awards, an Emmy Award and an ALMA Award. She also is the recipient of the Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Ronstadt charted 38 US Billboard Hot 100 singles in her career, including her No. 1 hit “You’re No Good.” Other hot singles included “Different Drum,” “Get Closer,” “That’ll Be the Day,” “Just One Look” and “Blue Bayou.” Just One Look performs many of them.
Father and daughter take the stage when Just One Look does Ronstadt’s duets “Don’t Know Much” with Aaron Neville and “Somewhere Out There” with James Ingram.
“Whenever anybody wants a Linda Ronstadt tribute anywhere around the country, we get called,” Bailey said. “It’s really cool doing this with your child.”
Before tribute bands, Aprecio was performing in musical theater. The Snohomish resident has starred in several area productions, including “Annie,” “Peter Pan,” “The Sound of Music,” “Into the Woods” and “Miracle on 34th Street.” She met her husband, Matthew, when performing in “Grease” at the Auburn Avenue Dinner Theater. She was Sandy, he played Sonny. They have four children together.
For Aprecio, portraying Linda Ronstadt is her greatest role.
Aprecio, now 37, watches all the YouTube videos of Ronstadt’s performances from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s that she can find to get into character. She also likes to watch the 2019 documentary “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice.” She studies Ronstadt’s stage presence.
“Linda Ronstadt wasn’t known for her stage presence. She was known for her voice,” Aprecio said. “So picking up on those little cues — the way she moves her mouth, her shoulder bouncing — that’s important to me. It’s so little and so simple, but whatever I can do to bring people back to that time is really important to me.”
Aprecio doesn’t think she looks too much like Ronstadt, but then she’ll find a rare autographed photo listed on eBay of “Linda Ronstadt” — and it’s actually Aprecio in a wig.
“I have a hard time seeing it, but if you Google Linda Ronstadt images, there are a lot of pictures of me,” said Aprecio, who is a natural blonde. “We’re fooling somebody.”
More than whether she looks like Ronstadt, Aprecio appreciates it when fans tell her she sings just like her or that she has Ronstadt’s growl.
“Looking like her is one thing, because she’s beautiful, but sounding like her is where the real talent lies,” she said. “If I even get close to that, I feel really lucky.”
Bailey is back performing at the Historic Everett Theatre for the second time since the coronavirus hit. His band Arny Bailey’s FM 69 live-streamed a show there on June 27.
This time, Bailey is bringing DJ Todd Alan Cudaback to host the show. The DJ will talk to the band for the audience in between songs. If you have a question for the band or a song request, Cudaback will pass on your comment.
“It was so weird to play there without a live audience,” Bailey said. “You get done with a song, and then it was just dead silence. We’re hoping now with Todd as DJ talking to us and the audience will make things feel more lively.”
Sara Bruestle: 425-339-3046; sbruestle@heraldnet.com; @sarabruestle.
If you stream
Just One Look’s Linda Ronstadt tribute show featuring Holly Aprecio as Linda Ronstadt will be live-streamed at 8 p.m. Aug. 28 at the Historic Everett Theatre via StageIt. Tickets are $15. Call 425-258-6766 or go to www.yourhet.org for more information.
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