Can't Help Singing: The Life of Eileen Farrell

Can't Help Singing: The Life of Eileen Farrell
by Eileen Farrell, Brian Kellow

Can't Help Singing: The Life of Eileen Farrell
List Price: $29.95
Our Price: $15.85
You Save: $14.10 (47%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.14 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Brian Kellow, Eileen Farrell
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1999-11-09
ISBN: 1555534066
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Northeastern

Book Reviews of Can't Help Singing: The Life of Eileen Farrell

Book Review: A marvelous biography of an outstanding performer.
Summary: 5 Stars

Eileen Farrell is one of the most gifted and celebrated American singers of the twentieth century. She is both a classically trained dramatic soprano and a talented songstress of pop songs and the blues. Can't Help Singing: The Life Of Eileen Farrell is a superbly crafted memoir in which she shares candid reminiscences about her professional career and her personal life. With humor and affection she surveys her New England childhood, her sudden success at the age of twenty starring in her own CBS radio show, dubbing for Eleanor Parker in the MGM movie "Interrupted Melody", her many guest appearances on television, and her operatic work, including an historic debut at the Metropolitan Opera in Alceste in 1960. Eileen also recollects her sometimes troubled marriage of forty years to New York police officer Robert Reagan and her frustrating tenure as a faculty member at Indiana University. In this wonderful memoir we meet the famous figures of music who were her contemporaries, fellow performers, and associates from Leonard Bernstein to Maria Callas, from Ethel Merman to Carol Burnett. Can't Help Singing is a marvelous biography that will hold great interest and appeal for her many fans and for students of 20th Century American music.

Summary of Can't Help Singing: The Life of Eileen Farrell

Eileen Farrell is blessed with two voices. A classically-trained dramatic soprano who also loves to belt pop songs and torch the blues, she successfully conquered the worlds of opera and popular music over the course of her whirlwind career. Now, Farrell shares reminiscences about her remarkable professional and personal life.

With candor, humor, and affection, she recalls her New England childhood, her overnight success at age twenty as star of her own CBS radio show, her big break dubbing vocals for Eleanor Parker in the MGM movie Interrupted Melody, and her many guest appearances on television shows. Farrell discusses her rise to fame as an opera star, from her highly acclaimed performance in Medea in 1955, to her historic debut at the Metropolitan Opera in Alceste in 1960. She also fondly recollects her marriage of forty years to New York police officer Robert Reagan and her life outside the limelight, including her frustrating tenure as a faculty member at Indiana University.

Farrell speaks frankly about her tumultuous years at the Met, where her head-to-head confrontations with Sir Rudolph Bing brought her promising operatic career to an abrupt close after five seasons. While she loved singing the music of Verdi, Mascagni, and Giordano, Farrell reveals that she never reconciled herself to the life of a diva, preferring the friendliness of show business to the aloofness of the opera world.

Populated with such figures as Leonard Bernstein, Arturo Toscanini, Maria Callas, Ethel Merman, Mabel Mercer, and Carol Burnett, this engaging memoir takes the reader from backstage at the Met to behind-the-scenes of the Ed Sullivan Show, providing a fascinating view of opera and the entertainment industry. Eileen Farrell's legion of fans will delight in her inviting story of a career that was like no other singer's.

Music Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Music Books
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain ImageMusicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain
by Oliver Sacks
Knopf Publishing Group; Published: 2008; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.13
Listen ImageListen
by Joseph Kerman, Gary Tomlinson
Bedford/St. Martin's; Published: 2007-02-21; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $23.00
The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century ImageThe Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century
by Alex Ross
Picador; Published: 2008-10-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.25
Price in other shops: $19.00
Forever Young: Photographs of Bob Dylan ImageForever Young: Photographs of Bob Dylan
by Douglas R. Gilbert, Dave Marsh
Da Capo Press; Published: 2006-10-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.55
Price in other shops: $18.95
Heroes And Villains: The True Story Of The Beach Boys ImageHeroes And Villains: The True Story Of The Beach Boys
by Steven Gaines
Da Capo Press; Published: 1995-08-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.15
Price in other shops: $17.95
Handbook for Sound Engineers, Third Edition ImageHandbook for Sound Engineers, Third Edition
by Glen Ballou
Focal Press; Published: 2002-01-21; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops: $125.95
Jazz Anecdotes ImageJazz Anecdotes
by Bill Crow
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1990-05-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $24.18
Lovesick Blues: The Life of Hank Williams ImageLovesick Blues: The Life of Hank Williams
by Paul Hemphill
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2006-08-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.94
Price in other shops: $16.00
How to Train Singers/Book and Tape ImageHow to Train Singers/ Book and Tape
by Larra Browning Henderson
Parker; Published: 1991-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $29.95
Price in other shops: $44.95
I, Tina: My Life Story (icon!t) ImageI, Tina: My Life Story (icon!t)
by Tina Turner, Kurt Loder
It Books; Published: 2010-06-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.05
Price in other shops: $13.99
Similar Books and other products
Interrupted Melody ImageInterrupted Melody
Release date: 2009-06-22; DVD
Best price: $15.87
Price in other shops: $26.99
Verismo Arias ImageJonas Kaufmann - Verismo Arias
Release date: 2011-04-19; Music CD
Best price: $9.86
Price in other shops: $18.98
Love is Letting Go ImageLove is Letting Go
Release date: 1995-09-19; Music CD
Best price: $5.93
Price in other shops: $9.98
Eileen Farrell sings Rodgers & Hart ImageEileen Farrell - Eileen Farrell sings Rodgers & Hart
Release date: 1993-12-17; Music CD
Best price: $47.04
With Much Love ImageEileen Farrell - With Much Love
Release date: 1994-08-11; Music CD
Best price: $12.49
Price in other shops: $15.99
Eileen Farrell Sings Opera Arias & Songs ImageEileen Farrell Sings Opera Arias & Songs
Release date: 1996-05-09; Music CD
Best price: $17.21
Price in other shops: $25.98
My Very Best ImageEileen, Farrell - My Very Best
Release date: 1994-10-03; Music CD
Best price: $7.76
Price in other shops: $13.98
Puccini Arias ImagePuccini Arias
Release date: 2006-08-01; Music CD
Best price: $4.52
Price in other shops: $7.99
I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues ImageLuther Henderson & His Orchestra Eileen Farrell - I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues
Release date: 2011-03-11; Music CD
Best price: $10.10
Price in other shops: $11.98
Carols For Christmas Eve ImageEileen Farrell, Luther Henderson & His Orchestra - Carols For Christmas Eve
Release date: 2009-12-29; Music CD
Best price: $10.33
Price in other shops: $11.98
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories