Shirley Verrett, the veteran opera singer "who overcame racial prejudice to bring fearless power, scrupulous musicianship and keen dramatic instincts to opera stages throughout the world, has died" at the age of 79. Opera Chic

Shirley Verrett, the vocally lustrous and dramatically compelling American opera singer who began as a mezzo-soprano and went on to sing soprano roles to international acclaim, died Friday morning at her home in Ann Arbor, Mich. She was 79. NYTimes

She was renowned for intense performances as a mezzo for much of her career and a soprano in her later years. She was part of the second generation of black opera singers who followed Marian Anderson's breakthrough at the Met in 1955. LA Times