soprano

Beverly Sills

Bill Thompson

Any list of the greatest operatic singers of modern times will include, somewhere near the top, the name Beverly Sills.

The statuesque soprano was an audience favorite for decades. Time Magazine once dubbed her :America’s Queen of Opera.”

By the late ‘60s the singer whose nickname was Bubbles had also become a very popular TV talk show guests.

But she also struggled with personal crises.

Her daughter Muffy was deaf and suffered from multiple sclerosis. Her son Bucky, born two years later, was severely mentally disabled.

In 1988 Sills wrote her autobiography. And that’s when I met Bubbles.

So here now, from 1987, Beverly Sills.

Beverly Sills died in 2007. She was 78. Her daughter Muffy died in 2016, at age 57.

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Kitty Carlisle HartCharlotte Church

Charlotte Church

Bill Thompson

A lot of people say that is the voice of an

It’s actually the voice of young Welsh soprano Charlotte Church. And when I say young, I mean Young. Charlotte got a record contract when she was just 11. By age 13 she was, literally, world-famous.

I met her when she was a grizzled old veteran of 15, in 2001. She had written a book called voice of an angel, with the subtitle, my life so far.

So here now, from 2001, Charlotte Church.

Charlotte Church is 35 now, married, and has three children.

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Naomi Judd		Ronnie Spector