Music > Singer Archives - Page 18 of 18

Ada Jemima Crossley

Contralto singer Madame Ada Crossley had her professional debut in Sydney in January 1892. Sheleft Australia in March 1894 to study in Europe, after giving farewell concerts in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide. In Europe, she studied with Sir Charles Santley in London and later in Paris with Madame Marchesi, and made her London debut at the Queen’s Hall in May 1895. In 1902 and 1903, Crossley toured the United States, recording for the Victor Gramophone Companies Red Seal Celebrity series. She thentoured Australia and New Zealand, returning to England via South Africa (1903-1904) and subsequently returned to Australia for a series of concerts in 1908-1909. During the First World War she sang at benefit concerts, then limited her professional engagements after the war.
Singing in English, German, French, Italian, Norwegian, Danish and Russian, Crossley claimed a repertoire of 500 sacred songs and ballads, ranging from Gluck and Handel to Richard Strauss.

Gwen Verdon

Gwyneth Evelyn “Gwen” Verdon was an American actor and dancer, who won four Tony Awards for her musical comedy performances, and served as an uncredited choreographer’s assistant and specialty dance coach for theater and film. Known for her bright red hair and a quaver in her voice, Verdon was a celebrated performer on Broadway from the 1950s through the 1970s. Having originated many roles in musicals she is also remembered as the dancer, collaborator and muse for whom her husband director–choreographer Bob Foss choreographed much of his work, and who guarded his legacy after his death.

Mercedes Sosa

Haydée Mercedes Sosa was an Argentine singer popular throughout Latin America and beyond. With roots in Argentine folk music, Sosa became one of the leading proponents of nueva canción, a genre that combines folk styles with social issue messages. Her repertoire including songs written by many Latin American songwriters, and she was called the “voice of the voiceless ones”.
Sosa performed in venues such as the Lincoln Center in New York City, the Théâtre Mogador in Paris and the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City, as well as selling out shows in New York’s Carnegie Hall and the Roman Colosseum during the last decade of her life. Her career spanned more than 40 years and she won six Latin Grammy awards (2000, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2011), including a Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004 and two posthumous Latin Grammy Award for Best Folk Album in 2009 and 2011. She won Argentina’s leading music award, the Premio Gardel in 2000. She also served as an ambassador for UNICEF.

Ilma de Murska

Known as “The Croatian Nightingale”, Ilma de Murska was an acclaimed 19th-century soprano opera singer. Her musical style was uninhibited and unrestrained – as she tended to depart from the score in fantastic improvisations, conductors would have to hold back the orchestra’s crescendo until she was ready. The fact that she could get away with this – to lead rather than follow – spoke to the power of her popularity and skill, further endearing her to her audiences.

Yvette Guilbert

Yvette Guilbert was a French cabaret singer and actress of the Belle Époque, who also starred in several early films, from 1919 to 1936. Onstage, she usually dressed in bright yellow with long gloves, standing almost perfectly still, gesturing with her long arms as she sang. Ahead of her time, she favored monologue-style “patter songs” and was frequently billed as a “diseuse” or “sayer”. The lyrics (often her own) were raunchy, and delved into subjects like tragedy, lost love, and the Parisian poverty of her childhood. Guilbert broke and reinvented the rules of music hall performance with her audacious lyrics, and the audiences loved her. She was acclaimed in France, England, and the United Statesin the early 1900s for her songs and imitations of France’s common people.

Mistinguett

French actress and singer Jeanne Florentine Bourgeois made her debut as Mistinguett at the Casino de Paris in 1895 and went on to appear in venues like the Folies Bergère, Moulin Rouge and Eldorado. With risqué routines that captivated Paris, she would become the most popular French entertainer of her time and the highest-paid female entertainer in the world, known for her flamboyance and flair for the theatrical. In 1919 her legs were insured for 500,000 francs.
She first recorded her signature song, “Mon Homme”, in 1916; it was subsequently popularised under its English title “My Man” by Fanny Brice and has become a standard in the repertoire of numerous pop and jazz singers.