Can't Help Singing: The Life of Eileen Farrell

Eileen Farrell

ISBN 10: 1555534066 / ISBN 13: 9781555534066

Verlag: Northeastern University Press, 1999

Leichte Rillen / Abschurfungen / Risse / Knicke. Eileen Farrell is blessed with two voices: a classically-trained dramatic soprano and a pop singer who loves to belt out blues. In her memoir, she shares candid and humorous reminiscences of her extraordinary professional and personal life. Farrell reflects on her New England childhood, her rapid rise to fame at twenty with her CBS radio show, and her breakthrough dubbing vocals for Eleanor Parker in MGM's Interrupted Melody. She recounts her ascent as an opera star, highlighted by her acclaimed performance in Medea in 1955 and her historic debut at the Metropolitan Opera in Alceste in 1960. Farrell also shares insights into her forty-year marriage to New York police officer Robert Reagan and her experiences outside the spotlight, including her challenging tenure at Indiana University. She speaks openly about her tumultuous years at the Met, where confrontations with Sir Rudolph Bing abruptly ended her promising operatic career after five seasons. While she cherished singing Verdi, Mascagni, and Giordano, Farrell preferred the warmth of show business over the opera world's aloofness. Filled with anecdotes about luminaries like Leonard Bernstein, Maria Callas, and Ethel Merman, this engaging memoir offers a captivating glimpse into the worlds of opera and entertainment, celebrating a unique career that delighted her fans. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers b6bed307-edc6-4959-b5ad-5e66da011b84

Inhaltsangabe:

Eileen Farrell is blessed with two voices. A classically-trained dramatic soprano who also loves to belt pop songs and torch the blues, she successfully conquered the worlds of opera and popular music over the course of her whirlwind career. Now, Farrell shares reminiscences about her remarkable professional and personal life. With candor, humor, and affection, she recalls her New England childhood, her overnight success at age twenty as star of her own CBS radio show, her big break dubbing vocals for Eleanor Parker in the MGM movie Interrupted Melody, and her many guest appearances on television shows. Farrell discusses her rise to fame as an opera star, from her highly acclaimed performance in Medea in 1955, to her historic debut at the Metropolitan Opera in Alceste in 1960. She also fondly recollects her marriage of forty years to New York police officer Robert Reagan and her life outside the limelight, including her frustrating tenure as a faculty member at Indiana University. Farrell speaks frankly about her tumultuous years at the Met, where her head-to-head confrontations with Sir Rudolph Bing brought her promising operatic career to an abrupt close after five seasons. While she loved singing the music of Verdi, Mascagni, and Giordano, Farrell reveals that she never reconciled herself to the life of a diva, preferring the friendliness of show business to the aloofness of the opera world. Populated with such figures as Leonard Bernstein, Arturo Toscanini, Maria Callas, Ethel Merman, Mabel Mercer, and Carol Burnett, this engaging memoir takes the reader from backstage at the Met to behind-the-scenes of the Ed Sullivan Show, providing a fascinating view of opera and the entertainment industry. Eileen Farrell's legion of fans will delight in her inviting story of a career that was like no other singer's.

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor: Eileen Farrell was born in Willimantic, Connecticut, in 1920. She lives in New Jersey. Brian Kellow is executive editor of Opera News and has contributed to numerous magazines, including BBC Music Magazine, Stagebill, Opera, Stereophile, and Irish America. He lives in New York City and Connecticut.

Bibliografische Details

Titel: Can't Help Singing: The Life of Eileen ...
Verlag: Northeastern University Press
Erscheinungsdatum: 1999
Einband: Hardcover
Zustand: Fine