Her father, William Alfred Swadling, was an electrical engineer and her mother was Winifred, née Howell.
[1] She left school aged 15 and went to work as an assistant in a jewellery shop, later moving to Garrard & Co, jewellers, which had its own operatic group.
Her appearances with other companies included Scottish Opera, where she sung Fricka in Wagner's Die Walküre,[2] a role she reprised in Reginald Goodall's 1973 Ring Cycle.
The following year she appeared alongside Eric Idle at the Royal Variety Performance in a rendition of Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.
[1] Howard died aged 79 at home in Surbiton, Surrey, on 26 March 2014 as a result of a pulmonary embolism and deep-vein thrombosis.