Karla Bonoff

Karla Bonoff, a singer and songwriter, spent her childhood in Los Angeles and spent a short time at UCLA. She surfaced through the weekly Monday night hootenannies at the Troubadour, where she joined Bryndle, the folk-rock ensemble that also included Wendy Waldman, Andrew Gold, and Kenny Edwards. The group came together in 1969, landed a deal with A&M, and recorded an album that remained unreleased. Edwards, who had played in the Stone Poneys alongside Linda Ronstadt, and Gold both later joined Ronstadt’s backing band; through that connection they introduced Bonoff to the singer. Ronstadt included three of Bonoff’s compositions on her 1976 release Hasten Down the Wind, which secured Bonoff a contract and resulted in three albums for Columbia Records; the final one, Wild Heart of the Young (1982), contained the Top 40 single “Personally.” Throughout the 1980s Bonoff contributed to film soundtracks, among them Footloose (1984) and About Last Night (1986). Her fourth album, New World, appeared in 1988.