Leontyne Price

Every December, my mother would play her Christmas album. My own Christmas albums were by the Beach Boys and Phil Spector. When she got sick of the Ronettes and the Crystals, my mother would play Andy Williams.

Apparently, singing is a genetic trait.

I used to listen to her 'Madama Butterfly' over and over again. Her voice was perfection. Still play it on occasion. Link below for Un bel di, very beautiful.

I always enjoyed her medley from Meistersinger.

[quote]Cousin to You-Know-Who!

Vincent Price?

from 2018

Jessye Norman was the great turban queen, though. You practically never see pictures of her without one.

Beautiful voice; WORST diction of any great singer. She really doesn't "sing", she just makes vowel sounds and you cannot understand a single word, even in English.

Obligatory What's My Line clip. Can you imagine a show like this airing today?

I wonder what her physical and cognitive abilities are in 2022?

It'd be great if Ben and Erin could feature her on an upcoming episode of [italic]Home Town.[/italic] Erin could make turban displays in every room, or even create a tapestry from Miss Price's iconic headgear.

She's still alive! She recently celebrated her 96th birthday.

Larger picture of her.

R12, Whose dentures did she borrow that day?

[quote]Jessye Norman was the great turban queen, though.

Ahem.

DL fave Lena Horne in turban. Black women wear turbans because they don't want to do their hair that day. White women wear baseball caps (now), and kerchiefs then.

I'm curious how Ms. Price is connected to Miss Warwick/Cissy/Whitney (as in, what branch of their family tree).

R16 Me, too. I just heard about this from reading this through this thread.

[Quote]Legendary soprano Leontyne Price, 95, is also [a] cousin on her mother's side. "I met her for the first time when I went to see her sing Aida," says Warwick. "It was overwhelming. Oh my God, I'm related to you? We had a standing joke every time we'd see each other, 'Hey cuz.' To hear her sing, she carried that legacy, the voice, the same Whitney did."

Price's diction was just fine. Her Porgy and Bess album (where she sings all the female roles) is brilliant. Now Joan Sutherland, she was the one for diction issues!