SAN DIEGO — As her reunited band 4 Non Blondes prepares to kick off its first run of concert dates since 1994 at this weekend’s Wonderfront Music & Arts Festival in San Diego, Linda Perry has at least two messages for fans hoping to hear the group perform all the songs from its only album, 1992’s 7-million-selling “Bigger, Better, Faster, More!”

“I’m not singing all of those songs, because it doesn’t make any sense for me,” she said, speaking from her home in Los Angeles.

“Like, ‘Old Mr. Heffer.’ I won’t sing that because it doesn’t relate to who I am today. I was a young, drunk kid back then, singing about stupid stuff. But ‘Dear Mr. President,’ ‘Spaceman’ and ‘What’s Up?’ — those songs still feel emotionally accurate. People will not be disappointed. It will be a great show!”

Apart from a one-off 2014 reunion show at the Los Angeles LGBT Center, 4 Non Blondes has been dormant since Perry quit the band 31 years ago. Its reactivation Sunday at Wonderfront will be followed by other festival performances across the nation, including Napa Valley’s BottleRock in late May and Atlanta’s Shaky Knees in September.

Perry spoke with palpable enthusiasm about reactivating the band — which propelled her to stardom four decades ago — this weekend at Wonderfront. The three-day bayside music marathon’s 2025 edition will also feature Jason Mraz, Gary Clark, Jr., Janelle Monae, Khrungabin, Peggy Gou, Anderson .Paak & the Free Radicals, Freddie Gibbs and dozens more.

The festival will mark something of a homecoming for Perry, who turned 60 on April 15 and grew up in San Diego. Her upcoming new album, Perry’s first full-length solo outing since 1999, opens with the song “Balboa Park.”

The title alludes to the period she spent living in the historic San Diego park as a homeless, drug-fueled teen who had suicidal impulses and spent a lot of time in the gay-cruising area of the park known as “fruit loop.” The album reflects on her tumultuous youth and especially her Brazilian-born mother, Marluce — a former designer, model and detective — who died in late 2022. Perry’s father, Alfred — an engineer and musician — died in 2005. Perry cites her brother John’s San Diego heavy-metal band, Kaos, for motivating her to pursue music early on. She has four other brothers and one sister.

“The album is about my mother and me growing up, and it’s a lot to take in. I’m not gonna lie,” said Perry, who in 2015 was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. “When you listen to it from beginning to end, I promise you that you will smile or cry because it really is a beautiful body of work. And the song that starts it all off is ‘Balboa Park’.”

‘Kind of like Elvis’

In 2018, Perry became the first woman in 15 years to earn a Grammy Award nomination for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical category.

Her credits include writing standout songs for Pink, Adele, Gwen Stefani, Christina Aguilera, Cheap Trick, Faith Hill, Natasha Bedingfield, Celine Dion, James Blunt, Courtney Love and many more, including San Diego’s Alicia Keys and Adam Lambert. She has also collaborated with everyone from Solange Knowles, Melissa Etheridge and Ziggy Marley to Britney Spears, Kelis, Enrique Iglesias and San Diego’s Unwritten Law.

Last year saw the debut of the unflinching film documentary, “Linda Perry: Let It Die Here,” which in turn inspired her to write songs for what will be her first solo album in 26 years. She also co-wrote 10 of the 12 tracks on the 2024 debut album actress-turned-singer singer Kate Hudson, who performs her own concert her May 20 at the Belly Up. Perry is now preparing music for a new album by 4 Non Blondes, the band she co-founded in San Francisco in 1989 when she was 24.

Perry’s seemingly nonstop work ethic is a matter of record. So is her self-determination and charisma, as Dolly Parton noted after co-writing six songs with Perry for the 2018 film musical, “Dumplin’.”

“Linda has this weird magnetism,” Parton said at the time. “She’s kind of like Elvis, kind of like that to me. You can’t take your eyes off her. I realized in just a matter of minutes that we were very similar in the way we worked.”

Perry recently spoke with the San Diego Union-Tribune for nearly an hour. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Q: I guess the obvious way to start this interview is by asking you: What’s up?

A: (laughs)

Q: Do people greet you often that way, specifically because of the song?

A: Um, no, they don’t. I mean, I say it all the time and I laugh. I think it’s a common thing: ‘What’s up?’ That was one of the reasons I wanted to call the song ‘What’s Up?’ I’m obviously not saying it in the song, but I thought it was a better title and it’s relatable.

Q: What led to 4 Non Blondes disbanding, and what led to your impending reunion?

A: Whoa! You are just going right there and diving into it. Well, I was young with 4 Non Blondes. And the truth is, if I had the knowledge then that I have now, I probably could have figured out how to continue in the band. But being young, and not fully knowing who I am, I felt it was best to walk away from the situation because I wasn’t happy with the direction things were going. I also realized I still needed to go out there and experience (life) and find out who I am. And I felt I couldn’t do it in the situation I was in (with the band). So, that journey led me to where I am now and I’m super grateful I was able to make such a brave decision.

I mean, we were a huge band and we were in the middle of (making) our second record, and it was going to be great. The (record) label loved what we were doing, but I walked away from it. Some could say what I did was stupid and some that it was really brave. But the outcome certainly did pay off for me. I figured out who I am and became a lot of things, and I’m very grateful for that.

Now, for the second part of your question. I wasn’t planning on this (reunion), at all. This is not something I was thinking about. But I trust the universe. I trust the things that show up in my life. Because usually, if it shows up, it’s meant to be. So, I have been open about all the creative things I’m working on. And when my manager called me, and said: ‘Hey, we got an offer,’ I already knew what he was going to say. I knew it was an offer for 4 Non Blondes to play some kind of a festival, and that it was the universe coming in and saying: ‘Hey, maybe you could go and have some fun and revisit this.’

Q: Have you done any rehearsing or jammed yet with 4 Non Blondes? How quickly does muscle memory kick in to play songs that, presumably, none of you have performed together in several decades?

A: Are you a musician?

Q: To the delight of my neighbors, I’m an inactive drummer.

A: (laughs) I ask because I like the way you’re putting your questions together and word them. Yes, we jumped into it. I called up the band and told them: ‘Listen, we haven’t played in 30 years together.’ So, I went up to San Francisco, booked a rehearsal room, and said: ‘Let’s just see what happens, no guarantees, and get in a room and start out with baby steps.’

When we got in the room, it was pretty awkward. But by the second day, we jumped right in. And, yeah, it was exactly that muscle memory kicking in. We had played these songs so many times before that It was pretty effortless. But I also realized the songs I didn’t like on that (4 Non Blondes) record, which are most of them. So, when we got to those, I’d say: ‘Nah. I won’t play this. I don’t want to feel labored and go at this with a bunch of luggage and feelings that don’t feel good.’ ’So, I revised some of the old songs that were going to be on the second (4 Non Blondes) record. I also wrote a few new ones and it’s a great f—ing set list. It kicks ass.

Q: How do you sing lyrics, and make them meaningful now, that you wrote when you were in your early 20s? Do you take yourself back, emotionally, to where you were then?

A: That’s kind of what I’m saying about why I don’t do certain songs, like ‘Old Mr. Heffer.’ I won’t sing that; it doesn’t relate to who I am today… I’m going to (revamp) some of the lyrics in ‘Dear Mr. President’ to make it a little more current — not related to Trump — but some of the words in it, like (about) ‘doing crack’ and stuff like that. It just feels like, back in the ’90s, a lot of people were doing crack. And now it’s a whole other thing. So, I might adjust some lyrics here and there.

In 4 Non Blondes, I was always f—ing screaming and I hated it. I didn’t have a lot of control over my voice then, and now I do. The songs we’ll do will be in the same key (as on the record). ‘What’s Up?’ is a great song and so is ‘Spaceman’ and ‘Dear Mr. President.’ But the rest of the songs on our album were, to me, just filler. Anyway, I am confident no one will be disappointed. Thirty years have gone by and if I haven’t learned something by now, then I’m screwed.

Q: Might the second 4 Non Blondes album see the light of day now?

A: I’m revising some of those songs.

Q: Will the album come out?

A: No, that album won’t come out because it never got finished. The songs were crafted but the album itself never got finished. It was still in rough form. But if you’re asking me: ‘Will there be a second 4 Non Blondes record?’, I can say there will be. I want to bring these songs back and release it. Why the f— not? We’re going to play these shows, so we might as was give people something else to listen to.

Q: You were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015. How old were you when you wrote your first song and do you remember the name of it?

A: Weirdly enough, I do. I was 15 and the song was called ‘Pity Girls.’

Q: Where were you when you wrote it?

A: I was in San Diego. I was kind of in and out of my home living situation, and in and out of school, and I had written this song and played it at this talent show. The song is about suicide. I asked my brother’s band to back me up, so it came off pretty hardcore. It was kind of like a rock punk kind of song.

I couldn’t remember the lyrics now to save my life, but I do remember the title and the riff. At the end of the song, I got a lot of blank stares because it was a pretty deep, dark song to play in an auditorium filled with kids. At the time, I had a Mohawk and I was at University City Junior High School. We had lived all over San Diego, but my brother lived in Mira Mesa and his band were local favorites.

Q: Seemingly every decade, the San Diego music scene surges, whether it was in the ’90s with Rocket From the Crypt or in …

A: Don’t forget Ratt.

Q: Right, which was Mickey Ratt in the late 1970s before the band moved to L.A.

A: I was more into punk and death rock. I was listening to completely different stuff. My brother was hanging out with those Mickey Ratt guys. I would go to see shows at Headquarters and places like that, but that was not my vibe, that was not my sound. I was supporting my brother and would sneak into a lot of shows he played. My brother was extremely inspirational in my moving forward with music, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the style of music he played.

I found my own niche and then I started writing songs around the time I was 16 and 17. I didn’t listen to a lot of music. I tried to stay away from (listening to) stuff. I did a folk thing, a folk-punk thing. And then when (the English duo) Everything but the Girl showed up, I loved them. I also loved Siouxsie & The Banshees — they were one of my biggest inspirations — and then Fleetwood Mac and the Beach Boys.

Honestly, the San Diego local music didn’t inspire me. I wasn’t really listening to it. I was more into developing my own little thing. I much preferred being at Balboa Park, dropping acid, and listening to Siouxsie & the Banshees at the ‘fruit loop’ part of the park. That’s where I hung out.

Back in those days in the early ’80s, I hung out there, I slept there, I did drugs there. I had the greatest f—ing time hanging out there. The parties we had there! We’d sneak in the zoo and play hide-and-seek, on acid.

Q: Was writing ‘Pity Girl’ an epiphany for you?

A: No. Strangely, I was just kind of waiting. It wasn’t like it was labored. I just did it. My brother’s band would play in the garage and I would just listen. He would come out and say: ‘Don’t you dare touch my stuff.’ And then, of course, I would go in there and try, by ear, to play the songs they were doing. I was able to pick it up pretty quick. It was just natural and I didn’t think anything of it. Then, I thought it would be fun to be in a band.

I’d answer ads in the paper. One band wanted to do songs by the Motels and Missing Persons, and needed a keyboard player. They provided the keyboard and I learned everything on the fly, like songs by A Flock of Seagulls, and I thought I was pretty good for 16. I was in the band for a week and they kicked me out because they said I couldn’t sing.

Then, I answered an ad for an all-girls band that was into the Go-Go’s and the Motels and needed a guitar player who could sing. I learned the songs real fast and I remember singing (Lulu’s 1967 hit) ‘To Sir, With Love.’ I had a lot of passion for that song. Their bass player quit and I said: ‘Well, I can play bass,’ which I’d never done before. I picked up the bass and learned those songs — bam! — just like that.

Two weeks later the band came to me and said: ‘Hey, this won’t work out. We need a singer and you can’t sing. Plus, you’re young and you can’t play in clubs.’ I honestly didn’t think music would be my destiny. I’d been fired by two bands because they didn’t think I was good, so I didn’t think that this would be my career. I thought I would be somebody, but I didn’t know who or what I would be. I’d always walk into a room and introduce myself as Linda Perry, and people would laugh at me. When I walked in, I was famous in my mind.

Q: Why would people laugh?

A: They thought it was so strange that I’d introduce myself as ‘Linda Perry,’ not ‘Linda.’

Q: Were you a busker in San Diego?

A: I wouldn’t say that. I would definitely beg, borrow or steal in San Diego, and I got into a lot of trouble. But I wasn’t playing (music) for my peeps.

Q: Who, or what, pulled you out of homelessness and drugs?

A: Just me. You know that tower in Presidio Park? I fell off that when I was on acid, coke and drinking. There were no rails on it. I was standing on the tiptop of it, having a conversation, and then I fell off it and broke my collarbone. My lip was torn off and dangling on the corner of my mouth. I was laughing. The emergency crew took me to the hospital; I couldn’t walk. I wasn’t living with my mom and she had to come pick me up. I believe I was 18. I kind of went cold turkey — my whole body was f—ed up — and I was in my mom’s house, going through (recovery).

After a month and a half, I was able to move around and I said: ‘OK, I’m going to go.’ I saw the look in my mom’s eyes; she was tearing up. I said: ‘Thank you for taking care of me.’ A friend picked me up and I went to Presidio Park, where I fell, because I’d had five earrings in each ear and most of them fell out from the impact of my fall. I found maybe four of them in the dirt and one was extremely important to me. I went over to ‘fruit loop’ in Balboa Park, hung out, walked around and then asked my friend to drive me back to my mom’s house. And that was it. I stopped doing drugs.

Q: Did surviving all that make you confident you could get through anything?

A: I don’t mean to be melodramatic, but I was born into surviving. I started surviving the day I was born, so I was no stranger to survival. And getting through things is probably why I (became) a drug addict. By my teens I was already tired of living. I was done. ‘This is f—ing life? I don’t want to go one step farther.’ But I managed to get through that. So, after the fall, you could say it knocked my head into play. Then, I got very ambitious and started seeing things a lot clearer.

I was 20 or 21 when I moved to San Francisco, and that changed everything. Now, I feel like my job as a human being is trying to be the best I can be and to give as much as I can of myself, emotionally. I feel the need to be honest and to be who I am.

4 Non Blondes

When: 5:20 p.m. Sunday

Where: Wonderfront Music & Arts Festival, Cypress Ascendant Stage, Embarcadero Marina Park North, 200 Marina Park Way, downtown

Tickets: $165

Online: wonderfrontfestival.com

©2025 The San Diego Union-Tribune. Visit sandiegouniontribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.