My mother was French and had a good voice and projection for someone who was barely 5 ft. tall. She was in Paris to see Edith Piaf. She was in the audience singing along with Piaf, and Piaf heard her and invited her onto the stage. My mother was a bit shy, but my father who was her fiance at the time, coaxed her onto the stage. They did one song together, I don’t know which one and Edith Piaf gave mom a hug at the end. This was a very big deal back then.
That’s a wonderful story. Every musician’s dream! Thanks for sharing.
It’s nice when “regular people” are recognized by professionals. It happened to my mom a couple times.
One man whose name I can’t recall now grew up in the same little country school as Mom and her sisters. He went on to do professional singing — even at Carnegie Hall. He was scheduled to sing at a Buffalo venue and his accompanist got sick. He asked Mom to help, which she did. He told her she was the best he had had.
She accompanied the town’s school choirs until she was 90. the Music Director was a PhD in Music and was in awe of Mom’s abilities. If a difficult choral piece was in a key that wasn’t working out, Mom could transpose on the spot. The Director told Mom she would retire when Mom did... and she did.
Mom’s training was nothing special; she had inherent talent. We’re so glad she was recognized by professionals in Music because she sure didn’t get that at home as a lowly preacher’s wife.