When Jessye Norman´s parents were knocking on the wall of their young daughter´s room as a signal for her to stop singing and to go to sleep, little did they dream that this small child who seemed to have been born singing would grow up to be an internationally renowned opera singer.

It is not surprising that Jessye loved to sing.  Music was an integral part of her family´s lifestyle.  Although Jessye remembers her mother singing spirituals, it was her grandmother who was always singing.  Every hour of her day and every mood was highlighted with a song that fit the occasion.  As Jessye was growing up, her piano-playing mother and trumpet- and trombone-playing brothers accompanied her when the family was called upon to provide special music for church services, parent-teaching meetings, and ribbon-cutting ceremonies.

During her childhood, Jessye knew only three operatic numbers, one that she learned from a recording and two others – the only opera scores she could find at the local music store.  Although singing was in her blood, it was not until she attended Howard University that Jessye Norman took her first voice lesson, with Carolyn Grant, who recognized her talent and knew how to channel it.  It was almost immediately after leaving the university in 1968, on her first visit to Europe, that Jessye won the singing prize in the International Music Competition of German Radio.  The following year, she was invited to go to Berlin to perform at the Deutsche Opera.  Since that time, Jessye Norman has become a world superstar whose singular voice reaches audiences all over the world.

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