Seventies folk legend Linda Perhacs has been located after being reported missing in California.
The 82-year-old’s former manager, Laurel Stearns, said earlier this week that Perhacs had not been in touch with her loved ones since she was discharged from an assisted living facility by her legal guardian eight months ago.
On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the LAPD Missing Persons Unit told the Daily Mail that Perhacs had been located and was alive and safe.
“She was found today. She’s safe,” they shared in a statement.
“We can’t share where as it involves her HIPAA [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act],” the spokesperson added. They were also unable to share the singer’s health status, in line with U.S. federal law.
A post has since been shared on Perhacs’s Instagram account, reading: “Linda Perhacs is safe and in a new care facility.
“Thank you all for your messages and thoughts. The community really came together to ensure Linda’s well-being!”
The news comes after Stearns shared a public plea with The Independent to help locate Perhacs.
“Linda Perhacs our dear friend and legendary singer-songwriter was discharged from a residential care facility approximately eight months ago under the supervision of her legal guardian,” Stearns’s statement said.
“Since then, friends and longtime collaborators have been unable to reach her and repeated attempts to contact her guardian have reportedly gone unanswered. Please help us locate Linda to ensure her wellbeing.”
A missing persons report for Perhacs had been filed June 6 with the LAPD.
Perhacs gained recognition decades after the release of her 1970 debut, Parallelograms. At first, the album was poorly received and had low sales, leading Perhacs to return to her job as a dental hygienist.
In the late Nineties, the album was rediscovered and became recognized as a lost folk classic in the age of the internet, leading it to be reissued several times. Perhacs released her second album, The Soul of All Natural Things, in 2014 and her third, I’m a Harmony, three years later.
In a rare 2014 interview with Pitchfork, Perhacs opened up about why she stepped away from the music industry for decades. “Unfortunately, I did not feel ready at 27. I felt that that world was too big for me and I might make some total mistakes,” she said.
“I was a little afraid of going on the road. When you’re that age, there are so many handsome men around, and for me, love is first. That shallowness had already knocked me really bad, and I didn’t need any more of that.”
