| Birth: | Sep. 23, 1921
New Orleans
Orleans Parish
Louisiana, USA | | Death: | Aug. 2, 2012
Memphis
Shelby County
Tennessee, USA | 
Opera Singer. A soprano, she followed her time on the operatic stage with a long career as a television and nightclub singer. Born Marguerite Luft, she was raised in New Orleans and studied music at Loyola University prior to training at Louisiana State University (LSU) with famed baritone Pasquale Amato. Marguerite made her 1944 debut at the New York City Opera as Nedda from Leoncavallo's "I Pagliacci" and while there sang several other roles including Donna Elvira in Mozart's "Don Giovanni" and Musetta of Puccini's "La Boheme" as well as the now little known title lead of Gian Carlo Menotti's "Amelia Goes to the Ball". She appeared with the New Orleans Opera Association in 1945 as Lady Harriet from Flotow's "Martha" and as Gretel of Humperdinck's "Hansel und Gretel" then in the late 1940s became a popular artist with Capitol Records and began 20 years of headlining at such major night spots The Sands in Las Vegas, Los Angeles' Coconut Grove, and both the Waldorf and the Plaza in New York. She made her 1951 Metropolitan Opera bow as Rosalinde from Johann Strauss II's "Die Fledermaus" and from 1950 thru 1954 was a regular on Sid Caesar's "Your Show of Shows" while appearing in Camel cigarette ads. A resident of Memphis from the early 1960s on, Marguerite survived melanoma in the late 1960s and uterine cancer in the early 1970s leading her to become a traveling spokeswoman for the American Cancer Society, work for which she was honored by President Nixon. A friend of Danny Thomas, she hosted the first of 35 Marguerite Piazza Galas for the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in 1975 while for 27 straight years she sang the National Anthem at the Liberty Bowl. In 2007 she published an autobiography entitled "Pagliacci Has Nothing on Me"; at her death some of her recorded legacy remained available. (bio by: Bob Hufford)
Family links:
Parents:
Albert William Luft (1897 - 1923)
Margaret Piazza Breland (1904 - 1958)
Spouses:
William J. Condon (1910 - 1968)
Francis Harrison Bergtholdt (1919 - 2003)
Children:
James Graves Condon (1951 - 1975)*
*Calculated relationship
Search Amazon for Marguerite Piazza | | | Burial:
Memorial Park Cemetery
Memphis
Shelby County
Tennessee, USA
Plot: Mausoleum |
Maintained by: Find A Grave
Originally Created by: Bob Hufford
Record added: Aug 03, 2012
Find A Grave Memorial# 94767568 |
|
|
|
God bless you on your birthday. Rest in Peace.
-
Thelma
Added: Sep. 23, 2012 |
-
Janis Coleman
Added: Sep. 23, 2012 |
Star differs from star in glory. Thus also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruptibility. 1 Cor.15 ...(Read more)
-
David Martin
Added: Sep. 14, 2012 |
| There are 23 more notes not showing...
Click here to view all notes...
| |
|
Do you have a photo to add? Click here |
(3.8 after 23 votes)
