In 1972, shortly after she married former Fairport Convention guitarist Richard Thompson and became pregnant, the sometime folk and commercial jingle singer Linda Peters began suffering from a rare psychological disorder called hysterical dysphonia. "You open your mouth and nothing comes out," is how Linda described it in the liner notes of her greatest hits collection. Nevertheless, Linda and Richard Thompson went on to become arguably the most musically important married couple in the history of pop, and one can't help but wonder if Linda's ailment had something to do with it.
The forced coolness of her singing, the feeling that she was giving all she had emotionally to even the quietest ballad, may have been a byproduct of the physical effort necessary to produce a sound. At the service of Richard's bitter wit and breezy cynicism, Linda's was the most heartbreaking vocal instrument of the '70s.
Following the divorce that coincided with the release of the Thompsons' dark masterpiece, "Shoot Out the Lights," in 1982, Linda recorded one mediocre solo album of art and pop songs and was in the midst of making a semi-country record when her condition became too much. She retired from music and settled down with a new family and a partnership in a London antique shop. Fifteen years down the road, she now delivers "Fashionably Late," a return to the kind of acoustic folk balladry that made her reputation.