I became Beverly Sills' biggest fan after I first heard her sing in the late 1960's on "The Mike Douglas Show". Not only did I love the voice, but I also loved the person. She had a phenomenal personality and a great sense of humor and God knows she had had her share of tragedy. Each week when the TV Guide was delivered, I would go through it thoroughly checking the line-up for all the talk shows and public television stations with the hopes of seeing her name. I was obsessed with her and there is not a doubt that I drove my friends crazy talking about her constantly.
I had the good fortune to have heard her live about a dozen times and actually met her in person twice at the New York City Opera (I will probably write about this in detail in a future post). Over the years I purchased EVERY commercially available recording in both vinyl and CD formats, videos, DVDs and huge amount of bootleg recordings of recitals, concerts and operas. It's probably safe to say that I have close to everything there is out there.
In March of 1975 I wrote my first (and last) fan letter to anyone. The reason for the letter was to express my admiration and to wish her the best of luck on the occasion of her Metropolitan Opera debut which was occurring April 7, 1975. A few weeks later I received the postcard below. It is one of my most cherished possessions.
No comments:
Post a Comment