Marilyn Horne

Marilyn Horne (born January 16, 1934) is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages. She is a recipient of the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors, and has won four Grammy Awards.

Marilyn Horne was born in Bradford, Pennsylvania, to Berneice and Bentz Horne. Her parents were both politicians, with her mother serving as city assessor of the Fifth Ward and her father appointed as McKean County assessor. Bentz was also a semi-professional singer and, noticing Marilyn's talent, sought to move the family to a place where she could have access to professional vocal training and more opportunities to perform. Along with her older brother Richard and sister Gloria, the family moved to Long Beach, California when Marilyn was 11.

At age 13, Horne became part of the newly formed Roger Wagner Chorale. She is an alumna of Long Beach Polytechnic High School. As a high school student, she was part of the St. Luke's Episcopal Church Choir of Long Beach under the direction of William Ripley Dorr. The choir often worked for the movie studios and recorded with Capitol Records. Marilyn and her sister Gloria were part of the St. Luke's Episcopal Church Quartet.

Horne won a scholarship for the University of Southern California where she was a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority. She studied voice under William Vennard and Gwendolyn Koldofsky at the University of Southern California School of Music and participated in Lotte Lehmann's vocal master classes at Music Academy of the West.

Horne's first major professional engagement was in 1954, when she dubbed the singing voice of Dorothy Dandridge in the film Carmen Jones. Until that point, she had worked as a background singer for several TV sitcoms, as well as recorded covers of popular songs of the early 1950s, which were sold in dimestores around the country for $1.98. She made an appearance on The Odd Couple as a character named "Jackie", her own nickname, a meek and nervous would-be singer who develops a crush on character Oscar Madison (Jack Klugman) and into a full-blown diva as well, playing the role of Carmen in Felix Unger's (Tony Randall) opera group production. She also sang on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and The Carol Burnett Show. She made her Los Angeles debut the same year when she performed the role of Hata in The Bartered Bride with the Los Angeles Guild Opera.