Trailblazing opera star Grace Bumbry dies at age 86

https://www.npr.org/2023/05/09/ [login to see] /trailblazing-opera-star-grace-bumbry-dies-at-age-86
Opera star Grace Bumbry has died at the age of 86. The celebrated singer, who led an illustrious, jet-setting career, broke the color barrier as the first Black artist to perform at Germany's Bayreuth Festival.

Bumbry died May 7 in a Vienna hospital, according to her publicist. She suffered an ischemic stroke last year and never fully recovered.

Bumbry was part of a pioneering generation of Black women opera stars that included Leontyne Price, Shirley Verrett and Jessye Norman, all of whom followed the path blazed by Marian Anderson.

As a child, Bumbry was taken by her mother to see Anderson perform in her hometown, St. Louis. It was an event that changed her life, she told NPR in 1990.

"I knew I had to be a singer," Bumbry said. "I studied piano from age 7 until I was 15 but I wanted to...seriously become a singer of classical music." At age 17, Bumbry sang for Anderson, who was impressed enough to recommended the young singer to her high-powered manager, Sol Hurok.