Jean Madeira
Jean Madeira, née Jean Browning (November 14, 1918 – July 11, 1972) was an American contralto, particularly known for her work in late-romantic German repertoire such as the operas of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss.
Madeira was born in Christopher, Illinois. Her father was half-Cherokee coal miner.
When she was a child her family moved to East St. Louis, Illinois, where she attended high school, and she later studied with Florence Kimball at the Juilliard School in New York City. She made her debut in opera in Chatauqua, as Nancy in Martha, by Flotow. In 1955, the singer and actress successfully sang the title role in Carmen with the Vienna State Opera. She sang approximately 300 times at the Metropolitan Opera in forty-one roles, between 1948 and 1971. Her last appearance there was in Elektra, opposite Birgit Nilsson and Leonie Rysanek. Jean Madeira was a second-cousin of the composer Amy Beth Kirsten.
Madeira's television debut occurred on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 19, 1956.
She married Francis Madeira in 1947 and thereafter used her married name as her professional name. Madeira had been ill for two years when she died on July 11, 1972, at her home in Providence, Rhode Island, aged 53.
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