Opera star Grace Bumbry has died at the age of 86. The celebrated singer, who led an illustrious, jet-setting career, broke the color barrier as the first Black artist to perform at Germany’s Bayreuth Festival.
Bumbry died May 7 in a Vienna hospital, according to her publicist. She suffered an ischemic stroke last year and never fully recovered.
Bumbry was part of a pioneering generation of Black women opera stars that included Leontyne Price, Shirley Verrett and Jessye Norman, all of whom followed the path blazed by Marian Anderson.
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