About Shirley Verrett
Shirley Verrett (May 31, 1931 – November 5, 2010) was an American operatic mezzo-soprano who successfully transitioned into soprano roles making her a Soprano sfogato. Verrett enjoyed great fame from the late 1960s through the 1990s; she was particularly known for performing works by Giuseppe Verdi and Gaetano Donizetti. == Life and career == === Early life and education === Born into an African-American family of devout Catholics in New Orleans, Verrett was raised in Los Angeles. She recalled in her memoir that her mother went from being a strict Catholic to an even stricter Seventh-Day Adventist, and she and her siblings were educated in a Seventh Day Adventist school system. She sang in church and showed early musical abilities, but initially a singing career was frowned upon by her family. Verrett attended Oakwood University, a private historically black Seventh-Day Adventist university in Huntsville, Alabama, for a semester in 1949, but then returned to southern California and completed an associate degree in real estate at Ventura College. Though successful as a real estate agent, Verrett reconsidered her career choice and started serious voice study. In 1955, she won two California state competitions sponsored by the Young Musicians Foundation, and later that year she appeared on Talent Scouts, a national television show hosted by Arthur Godfrey. Her appearance on that program led to a scholarship at the Juilliard School New York. Verrett went on to study with Anna Fitziu and with Marion Szekely Freschl at Juilliard.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.