singer
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Éva Marton *VI 18 1943 — The Life You Give
Hungarian soprano Eva Marton has enjoyed a highly successful career on the world’s leading operatic stages since the late ’60s. With her powerful, attractive voice she has managed to score numerous successes in the Italian spinto roles of Verdi and Puccini, the heftier roles of Wagner and Richard Strauss, and the more delicate but equally…
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Hugh Laurie *VI 11 1959 — The Life You Give
Hugh Laurie, born James Hugh Calum Laurie, June 11, 1959, in Oxford, England, is the comic actor perhaps best known for his role on the television series House (2004–12). Laurie was educated at Eton College and Selwyn College, Cambridge. His father won a gold medal at the 1948 London Olympics as a member of the…
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Barbara *VI 9 1930 — The Life You Give
Although Barbara certainly didn’t like the thought of it, she actually was part of the legendary club formed by her friend Jacques Brel, Georges Brassens, Léo Ferré, and Edith Piaf. A truly generous and humble woman, Barbara insisted on living up to her audience’s expectations and was constantly questioning her success. As an artist, she…
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Tom Jones *VI 7 1940 — The Life You Give
Tom Jones, born Thomas John Woodward, June 7, 1940, in Pontypridd, Wales, is the singer with broad musical appeal who first came to fame as a sex symbol with a fantastic voice and raucous stage presence. He was known best for his songs “It’s Not Unusual,” “What’s New, Pussycat?,” “Green, Green Grass of Home,” and…
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Cecilia Bartoli *VI 4 1966 — The Life You Give
Cecilia Bartoli, born June 4, 1966, in Rome, Italy), is an operatic mezzo-soprano who achieved global stardom with her outstanding vocal skills and captivating stage presence. Both of Bartoli’s parents were members of the Rome Opera chorus, and she joked that when she was a child, her babysitters were the likes of Rossini and Verdi.…
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Josephine Baker *VI 3 1906 — The Life You Give
Josephine Baker, born Freda Josephine McDonald, June 3, 1906, in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A., is the dancer and singer who symbolized the beauty and vitality of Black American culture, which took Paris by storm in the 1920s. Baker grew up fatherless and in poverty. Between the ages of 8 and 10 she was out of…
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Shirley Verrett *V 31 1931 — The Life You Give
Shirley Verrett was one of America’s finest opera stars and recital singers, and was one of the remarkable generation of great African-American singers who came to international prominence in the 1950s and 1960s. She studied voice in Los Angeles with Anna Fitziu and Hall Johnson. In 1955, she won the nationally broadcast CBS program Arthur…
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Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau *V 28 1925 — The Life You Give
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, born May 28, 1925, in Berlin, Germany, is the operatic baritone and preeminent singer of lieder, distinguished for his lyrical voice, commanding presence, and superb artistry. Fischer-Dieskau studied with Georg Walter before serving in World War II and with Hermann Weissenborn afterward. In 1947 he made his concert debut in Johannes Brahms’s Ein…
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Teresa Stratas *V 26 1938 — The Life You Give
Stratas was one of the controversial stars of the latter half of the twentieth century, and one whose personality and life, like that of Callas, another great soprano of Greek descent, are inextricably linked with her performances in the minds of many members of the public. Also like Callas, she had a special magnetism as…
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Ella Fitzgerald *IV 25 1917 — The Life You Give
Ella Fitzgerald, born Ella Jane Fitzgerald, on April 25 1917 in Newport News, Virginia, U.S.A., is the jazz singer who became world famous for the wide range and rare sweetness of her voice. She became an international legend during a career that spanned some six decades. As a child, Fitzgerald wanted to be a dancer,…
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Billie Holiday *IV 7 1915 — The Life You Give
Billie Holiday, born Elinore Harris, on April 7, 1915, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., is the jazz singer considered to have been one of the greatest from the 1930s to the ’50s. Eleanora (her preferred spelling) Harris was the daughter of Clarence Holiday, a professional musician who for a time played guitar with the Fletcher Henderson band.…
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Aretha Franklin *March 25 1942 — The Life You Give
Aretha Franklin, born Aretha Louise Franklin, on March 25 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.A., is the singer who defined the golden age of soul music of the 1960s. Franklin’s mother, Barbara, was a gospel singer and pianist. Her father, C.L. Franklin, presided over the New Bethel Baptist Church of Detroit, Michigan, and was a minister…
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Dolora Zajick *III 24 1952 — The Life You Give
Dolora Zajick (ZAH-chik) is among the world’s leading dramatic mezzo-sopranos, unsurpassed in Verdi’s mezzo roles. Birgit Nilsson in 1991 stated that “Zajick’s voice is the only one existing today without any competition in the world.” She comes from a large family of Czech descent. As a pre-medical student at the University of Nevada, she took…
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Rosalind Elias *III 13 1931 — The Life You Give
Mezzo-soprano Rosalind Elias had a long, leading career in opera on the international scene. She was most often heard at the Metropolitan Opera, where she spent more than 40 years as part of its company. There, and elsewhere, she performed in many American and world premieres. Elias was born on March 13, 1931, in Lowell,…
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Simon Estes *III 2 1938 — The Life You Give
One of just a few African-American male singers who has had a top-rank international operatic career, bass-baritone Simon Estes grew up in Iowa in a house without heat or indoor plumbing. He sang in church as a youth, but when he enrolled at the University of Iowa in the late ’50s he had never heard…
Sila Blume 