Photo by Jati Lindsay, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
American Opera Singer • 1945-2019 • Opera, Western Classical Music
Fast Facts
- Jessye Norman was an American opera singer and recitalist (this means she sang recitals of Western Classical music).
- Her mother and grandmother both played the piano, her father sang in a local choir, and Jessye and her four siblings learned to play the piano at a young age.
- When she was nine years old, Jessye received a radio for her birthday and was inspired by listening to the weekly broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera.
- Jessye Norman studied music at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Northern Michigan and Howard University in Washington, D.C.
- She has performed many roles with opera companies around the world.
- Jessye Norman received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and the National Medal of Arts.
Musician of the Month Project 