Beverly Sills

Beverly Sills (May 25, 1929 – July 2, 2007) was one of the beloved personalities in the history of opera, and one of the most important sopranos of the 20th century. Sills was born Belle Miriam Silverman, the daughter of an insurance company manager from Brooklyn. She was singing on the radio at the age of four, and, as a teenager, sang at luncheons and bar mitzvahs. By age 16, Sills was billed as “the youngest prima donna in captivity” with a touring operetta company. And, finally, at age 24, made her big-time debut with the San Francisco Opera, and two years later, after seven unsuccessful auditions, she joined the New York City Opera, where she launched one of the most dazzling singing careers in operatic history. Sills performed leading roles at the world’s great opera houses, from La Scala to Covent Gardens, while revolutionizing the opera scene and emerging as one of the biggest stars the United States has ever produced. She was hailed as “America’s Queen of Opera” and earned innumerable high honors