Biography

Anne Brown

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Born Annie Wiggins Brown in Baltimore, Maryland, she was the daughter of a prominent physician, Dr Harry F. Brown, the grandson of a slave. Her mother was of African, Cherokee and Scottish-Irish descent. Along with her three sisters, she was taught and encouraged in music by her mother. Hopes of developing her musical talents were dashed when a local Catholic school refused her entry on the grounds of her color. She encountered similar discrimination some years later when she applied to the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, but was finally admitted to Morgan State College and Columbia University Teachers' College.

All three of her marriages ended in divorce. Brown remained in Oslo until her death. In 1999 she was elected an honorary citizen of Baltimore, the town where, 70 years earlier, she had been denied a musical education on account of her skin color. In 2000 she received the prestigious annual cultural award from Arts Council Norway. Her daughters, Vaar Schjelderup (by her third marriage) and Paula Petit (by her second marriage), survived her.
- IMDb mini biography by: Robert Sieger

Educated at Julliard School of Music in New York. This was also where she heard that George Gershwin was writing an opera on "Porgy". Ten days later she sang for Gershwin and since that she has performed the role more than 600 times around the world.
Brown starred in the original production of the folk opera "Porgy and Bess". Gershwin was so impressed with her performance that he changed the original name of the production from "Porgy" to "Porgy and Bess" so Brown would receive equal billing with baritone Todd Duncan. Gershwin even added a reprise of "Summertime" to the opera for Bess to sing (the song is first sung by Clara, wife of the fisherman Jake).
In 1999 she was elected as honorary citizen of Baltimore, the town where she 70 years earlier was refused a music education because of her color.
A native of Baltimore, Brown was rejected in her attempt to enroll at the Peabody Institute, a leading conservatory in her hometown. In 1998, she received the George Peabody Medal for Outstanding Contributions to American Music from the Peabody Institute.
Has lived in Oslo, Norway since 1948, after meeting and eventually marrying Norwegian olympic ski-jumper Thorleif Schjelderup.

If I had been born even 20 years later, I might have sung at the Metropolitan Opera. I might have marched for civil rights. I would have been here for that......my life would have been very different. Of course, I would not have met Mr. Gershwin, and that would have been a shame.

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