- 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.
- Has said she felt her singing was better received in Europe, also because she mainly sang works by European composers, such as Brahms, Schubert, Schuman and Mahler.
- In the autumn of 2001 she was awarded Norway's Council of Cultures Honorary Award.
- Had to cut her career as a singer short for health reasons, but she did work for several years as a song teacher. Among her students are actress Liv Ullmann. She has also staged several operas in France and Norway.
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