Eileen Farrell

Eileen Farrell (February 13, 1920 – March 23, 2002) was an American soprano who had a nearly 60-year-long career performing both classical and popular music in concerts, theatres, on radio and television, and on disc.

The Daily Telegraph stated that she "was one of the finest American sopranos of the 20th century; she had a voice of magnificent proportions which she used with both acumen and artistry in a wide variety of roles."

She continued to perform and record both classical and popular music throughout her career, and is credited for releasing the first successful crossover album: I've Got a Right to Sing the Blues (1960).

After she attended first grade there, her family moved once again to Norwich, Connecticut, after her mother obtained the post of organist at St. Mary's Church in that city.

Miss Farrell's early singing career was greatly encouraged by her local pastor, Father Cornelius J. Holland, at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.

After graduating from high school, she moved to New York City in August 1939 to study with retired Metropolitan Opera contralto Merle Alcock.

While studying singing with Alcock, she received language coaching from Charlie Baker, who was the music director of Rutgers Presbyterian Church.

Farrell later was a student of vocal and opera coach Eleanor McLellan, whom she credited for giving her a solid technique.

On the program she got to sing with several notable guest artists, including Margaret Harshaw, Frank Sinatra, Martial Singher, and Risë Stevens.

In 1944 she made a special Christmas recording that was for the American soldiers stationed abroad during World War II, with Shirley Temple as mistress of ceremonies.

In the 1955 film Interrupted Melody, which starred Eleanor Parker as Australian soprano Marjorie Lawrence, Eileen Farrell supplied the singing voice.

As early as 1956 she appeared before an audience of over 13,000 under the direction of the conductor Alfredo Antonini in a performance of arias from Verdi's Ernani at the Lewisohn Stadium in New York City.

[6] In 1956, she made her stage debut as Santuzza in Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana with the San Carlo Opera in Tampa, Florida.

With Eugene Ormandy, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, she was a featured soloist in an abridged recording of Handel's Messiah.