The great mezzo soprano and soprano Shirley Verrett died on Friday morning at the age of 79 of heart failure after several months of illness. She was a singer who was well known for the intensity of her performances and a voice of striking beauty and flexibility. She was part of a second generation of black opera singers who followed Marian Anderson's breakthrough at the Met in 1955. May she rest in peace.
New York Times obituary here
Go here for some examples of her singing from an earlier post.
