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Anne W. Brown, Stage Singer born

Anne W. Brown

*On this date, Anne Wiggins Brown was born in 1912. She was a Black singer and entertainer.

Had it not been for Brown, George Gershwin’s folk opera 'Porgy and Bess' might be known by its original name, Porgy.  From a well-to-do family in Baltimore, Maryland, Brown was obsessed with being a star at an early age. Her mother enrolled her in private schools, including the Peabody School of Music, where she constantly ran into the barriers of racism.  Undaunted, she kept her dreams alive; they included plays and musicals where she sang everything from Bach to Blues.

Her talent came to the attention of Constance Black, the wife of the owner of the Baltimore Sun, who encouraged her to attend the Juilliard School of Music. Here, Brown won the Margaret McGill Scholarship, which attracted Gershwin's attention.  During her audition for him, she requested an unaccompanied rendition of the spiritual “City Called Heaven,” hence the emergence of Bess. They worked closely on the project, rewriting Act Three to have her sing Summertime and changing the opera title. The premiere was on October 10th, 1935, at New York’s Alvin Theater.

Brown’s first marriage was to Florid Howard, a Juilliard student; her second was to Dr. Jacob Petit. Her first child, Paula, was born during this marriage.  She declined the lead role in Oscar Hammerstein’s Carmen Jones but toured with the Robin Hood Dell Orchestra, breaking attendance records in Philadelphia.

Her most celebrated performances were between 1942 and 1948 at Carnegie Hall and with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.  Brown’s tour of Europe was well received, and her third marriage was to a Norwegian Ski Jumper. During a 1953 European tour, she developed respiratory problems diagnosed as asthma.

This condition ended her singing career. Although a Norwegian citizen, Anne Wiggins Brown never forgot her racial struggles in America.  In 1935, she led the Porgy and Bess cast in protest when they learned that the National Theater in Washington D. C. show was to be performed before a segregated audience.  She was a sought-after teacher, and students such as actress Liv Ullmann and jazz singer Karen Krog were her former students.

Anne Wiggins Brown died on March 13, 2009

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