In 1948, at her father’s encouragement, Verrett entered and won a preliminary round of the Atwater Kent Vocal Competition. In an effort to escape the overt racism in the south, Leon Verrett packed his family and moved to Oxnard, California in 1943. As her first voice teacher, Leon Verrett had the dream of his daughter becoming a recitalist in the tradition of Marian Anderson or Dorothy Maynor. Prior to Shirley Verrett’s birth, the parents had converted to Seventh-Day Adventism and the Verrett children were raised in a somewhat restrictive religious environment in New Orleans. Shirley Verrett was the second of six children born to Leon and Elvira Verrett. Her performances and recordings marked her as one the leading singers in the post-Marian Anderson generation of African American classical musicians. Shirley Verrett was an internationally renowned opera singer and concert recitalist.
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