Eileen Farrell

Soprano, born in Willimantic, Connecticut, USA. Her rich, hearty voice made her a popular radio performer in the early 1940s, and from there she moved on to serious recitals. From 1958 she sang with the San Francisco Opera and the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and in the 1960s with the Metropolitan Opera. Later she taught at colleges in Indiana and Maine. She approved her distinction as one of the few serious opera singers who also enjoyed success singing and recording popular and jazz music. Her autobiography, Can't Help Singing appeared in 1999.

Eileen Farrell (February 13, 1920 - March 23, 2002) was a famous American opera and concert singer soprano. During her career, Farrell was greatly admired as an opera singer, but she preferred the concert hall and radio to the theater.

Farrell was born in Willimantic, Connecticut, but she moved at an early age to Woonsocket, Rhode Island, which she always publicly and affectionately called her home town.

Her parents were vaudeville singers.

In 1942 she made her concert debut on CBS radio where she soon presented her own radio program.

Farrell's song recital in New York in October 1950 was enthusiastically acclaimed and secured for her immediate recognition.

In the 1955 film Interrupted Melody, which starred Eleanor Parker as Australian soprano Marjorie Lawrence, Farrell's voice was used for the singing parts while Parker lip-synched.

In 1956 she made her stage debut as Santuzza in Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana with the San Carlo Opera in Tampa, Florida. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut on December 6, 1960, singing the title role in Gluck's Alceste. She remained on the Met roster through the 1963–64 season, singing forty-four performance in six roles, then returned in March of 1966 for two final performances as Maddalena.

Throughout the 1960s she was a frequent soloist with the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Leonard Bernstein;

From 1971 to 1980, Farrell was professor of music at the Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington.

Farrell was married to a New York City policeman.