About Maria Ewing
Maria Louise Ewing, Lady Hall (March 27, 1950 – January 9, 2022) was an American opera singer. In the early part of her career she performed solely as a lyric mezzo-soprano; she later assumed full soprano parts as well. Her signature roles were Blanche, Carmen, Dorabella, Rosina and Salome. Some critics regarded her as one of the most compelling singing actresses of her generation. == Early life and education == Maria Louise Ewing was born in Detroit, Michigan, on March 27, 1950. She was the youngest of four daughters of Hermina Ewing, née Veraar, a Dutch-born homemaker, and Norman Isaac Ewing, an electrical engineer at a steel company. Her father claimed to be of Sioux descent, but he was the son of parents who were each mixed-race, part European and part African. An episode of the genealogical television show Finding Your Roots devoted to Ewing's daughter, the actress Rebecca Hall, revealed that Norman was the son of John William Ewing, born into slavery, and as an adult a prominent figure in the African-American community of Washington, DC. He was a descendant of Bazabeel Norman, a notable Black veteran of the American Revolutionary War. (Rebecca Hall's interest in her mother's ethnicity inspired her to make a film, Passing, adapted from a 1920s novel by Nella Larsen. The two African-American women protagonists are each of mixed race, but one has chosen to pass as white and has a white husband who does not know of her African ancestry.) According to Ewing's former husband, her father's African roots caused her family so much anxiety that a particularly dark-skinned relative of theirs was forbidden from visiting their home during the hours of daylight.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.