Beverly Sills Quote

You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try.

-Beverly Sills

Who is Beverly Sills

Beverly Sills, world-renowned opera singer, died from lung cancer at the age of 78. She was considered one of the best-known opera singers of the 1960s and 1970s, was called “America’s Queen of Opera” by Time Magazine and known as “Bubbles” to her fans singing career of more than four decades. She was renowned for her roles in operas worldwide and more popular with the American public than any opera singer since Enrico Caruso, even among people who never set foot in an opera house.

In early years, Beverly Sills was born Belle Miriam Silverman in Brooklyn, New York, on May 25, 1929, during the era of Shirley Temple (1928–) and other child stars of the movies. Her father was an insurance salesman who wanted his daughter to become a teacher. Her mother had different plans, however. Sills was singing on the radio by age three. At the age of four she was a regular on a children's Saturday morning radio program. At seven she sang in a movie and had already memorized twenty-two opera arias (solos). She continued to perform on radio shows and did laundry soap commercials, which got her the nickname "Bubbles." She left radio work at age twelve to pursue her love of opera.

After retiring from the stage in 1980 at age 51, Beverly became one of the best arts advocate and fund-raiser. She began a new life as an executive and leader of New York’s performing arts community. First, she became the New York City opera’s general director during one of its most troubled eras, taking it out of debt and into an adventurous repertoire.

From 1994 to 2002, Sills was chairwoman of Lincoln Center. In October 2002, she agreed to serve as chairwoman of the Metropolitan Opera, for which she had been a board member since 1991. She resigned as Met chairwoman in January 2005, citing family as the main reason (she had to place her husband, whom she had cared for over eight years, in a nursing home). She stayed long enough to supervise the appointment of Peter Gelb, formerly head of Sony Classical Records, as the Met's general manager, to succeed Joseph Volpe in August 2006.

Opera lovers everywhere maintained a love affair with Beverly Sills to the end. Although Beverly overcame cancer in 1974, she died of lung cancer in New York City on July 2, 2007. She left the bulk of her estate for the care of her disabled adult children. Beverly was buried alongside Peter at Sharon Gardens Cemetery, in Westchester County, New York.

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