About this item
Finally, a biography of Florence Foster Jenkins, considered the world's worst opera singer, soon to be portrayed by Meryl Streep in the forthcoming film."Probably the most complete and absolute lack of talent ever publicly displayed." -- Life MagazineMadame Jenkins couldn't carry a tune in a bucket: despite that, in 1944 at the age of 76, she played Carnegie Hall to a capacity audience and had celebrity fans by the score. Her infamous 1940s recordings are still highly-prized today. In his well-researched and thoroughly entertaining biography, Darryl W. Bullock tells of Florence Foster Jenkins meteoric rise to success and the man who stood beside her, through every sharp note. Florence was ridiculed for her poor control of timing, pitch, and tone, and terrible pronunciation of foreign lyrics, but the sheer entertainment value of her caterwauling packed out theatres around the United States, with the 'singer' firmly convinced of her own talent, partly thanks to the devoted attention for her husband and manager St Clair Bayfield. Her story is one of triumph in the face of adversity, courage, conviction and of the belief that with dedication and commitment a true artist can achieve anything. 15 b&w images
About the Author
Described as 'a veritable Bard of the bent, broken and Baroque' by Andy Partridge (XTC) , Darryl W. Bullock is a writer, publisher and editor, specialising in music and the arts. He has written for publications including The Bath Chronicle, Venue, Folio, The Spark, The Bath Magazine, Essentially Catering, My Wiltshire, We Are Family magazine, Good Bristol, B-24/7, 3Sixty, The Pink Paper and The Western Daily Press. He has been profiled in The Guardian, The Sunday Times and GT and has featured on BBC One (The Big Questions) , C4 (Come Dine With Me) and on numerous local and national radio and TV programmes. He is also the publisher of The Green Guide to Bristol and Bath, the annual guide to ethical living for the West Country. Darryl is the author of The World's Worst Records (Volumes 1 and 2) and Florence Foster Jenkins: the Life of the World's Worst Opera Singer (Duckworth-Overlook, 2016) , singled out as 'delightfully cheering' by bestselling author Alexander McCall Smith in the Guardian. His latest work, David Bowie Made Me Gay: 100 Years of LGBT Music, will be issued in September 2017. He posts weekly on his popular blog, The World's Worst Records (
