By Meena Kar
Dec 30, (THAINDIAN NEWS) The great American opera crooner Grace Bumbry had a terrific musical career where she exhibited her immense talent for singing. She is known for her great voice range and modulation and is one of the renowned singers in the generation, which has a number of big names in the musical sphere. Grace Bumbry was felicitated by the Kennedy Center on the first week of December in 2009, in a high profile ceremony which was aired on CBS on December 29. The list of people who were also honored at the event consisted of some big names like Dave Bruebeck [whose forte is jazz music] and the ever mind blowing rockstar Bruce Springsteen. The star power strengthened with some renowned names like Mel Brooks and Robert De Niro adding on to the occasion.

In the ceremony, the opera singer was introduced by Aretha Franklin who lovingly called Grace Bumbry “Black Venus”, the sobriquet by which she is known. The snippet of information by which Grace Bumbry was made more familiar to the people by Aretha Franklin, was recounting of a brilliant performance by Grace Bumbry in ‘The Dance Of The Seven Veils’ and the talk gradually came down to her penchant for jewelery and varied fragrances. Then a casual chat followed, which renewed many trivial yet sweet memories.

Grace Bumbry, who is now seventy-two years old, is honored for her great contribution in the entertainment world. She is the only singer who juggled with great ease the genres mezzo-sopranos in her different phases of life. Her stage presence truly made everyone feel that she is truly the diva that she is said to be.