[To Terry Gross on FRESH AIR]"When I'm standing in the wings, waiting to go on, I kind of plant my feet and feel a kind of strength coming up from the ground into me. And then I think about giving back this gift that I have been given. And when I do that, then I get out of ego so much. And then I don't worry so much about what people think about how I sing or how I look. And I just try to sing more deeply and more personally. And I really enjoy that. I love singing. I do. I get rid of so much stuff by singing. It's a wonderful thing to be able to do."
And here's a recording of her at nearly 80 (picture below to the contrary). The voice stayed fresh (one may quibble about certain closed vowels sounding reedy, but my contention is that those vowels sounded reedy back in the 1950s and that's a whole 'nother thing).
She never learned to read music (to which I always say, "and why not?"), which makes her learning the role of Cunegonde in Candide even more mind-boggling. Her career stalled due to alcoholism and obesity, but she reinvented herself and gave back as both a performer and a clinician.
I've always said I want to be Barbara Cook when I grow up. Maybe I still have a shot.
Barbara Cook, 1927-2017
She never learned to read music (to which I always say, "and why not?"), which makes her learning the role of Cunegonde in Candide even more mind-boggling. Her career stalled due to alcoholism and obesity, but she reinvented herself and gave back as both a performer and a clinician.
I've always said I want to be Barbara Cook when I grow up. Maybe I still have a shot.
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