Florence Foster Jenkins: The Life of the World's Worst Opera Singer

Florence Foster Jenkins might not be the worst opera singer the world has ever applauded, but she certainly is the most and best publicized. In "Florence! Foster!! Jenkins!!!," Darryl W. Bullock paints the star as a human woman with fantastic dreams and a bottomless pocketbook. This biography is vivid without being melodramatic; colorful without being obscene. Opera fans and hobbyists will greatly appreciate (if not love) Bullock's book.

The title of this book comes from Foster Jenkins' most famous concert of the same title. She was born Nascina Florence Foster. Jenkins was the last name of her first husband, Dr. Frank Thornton Jenkins. Despite sounding, as one critic related, like Thanksgiving poultry being violently assaulted, she enjoyed an exemplary career. She was a child piano prodigy and an adult concert accompanist to the creme de la creme of classical musicians in NYC. She rose to middle-aged infamy via her immensely popular, invitation-only vocal recitals. Of particular note to Edge readership: she was lauded by the 1920's LGBT community for her campy performances, and ostentatious set and costumes. Foster Jenkins was queenly fabulous even by today's standards.

The writing is at times dry. For his part, Bullock doesn't present historical hearsay as fact; nor does he gloss over fact by being unkind. He presents Foster Jenkins' life as found in reliable resources. The only person blind to her particular vocal inabilities was Foster Jenkins.

Grammar Nazis take note: the printed text has punctuation mark typos. While easy to point fingers at the author, the source of the typos appears to be the Overlook editing staff. This shouldn't detract from the reading experience. Reader beware, the missing marks do mean rescanning the text in order to better understand Bullock's intent.

Her infamy lives on through her recordings. The back of the book has a discography listing available audio resources from RCA, Naxos, and others. The rear of the biography's book jacket includes particularly juicy quotes from Enrico Caruso to David Bowie. A timeline and index are included as helpful tools for students and other devotees.

Darryl W. Bullock is also the author of "The World's Worst Records" volumes 1 and 2. He is the publisher of "The Green Guide to Bristol and Bath," a guide to ethical living in the West Country. Bullock helped launch the UK magazine "We Are Family," a resource for LGBT family and their allies. He can be found on his blog The World's Worst Records where he posts weekly.

"Florence! Foster!! Jenkins!!! The Life of the World's Worst Opera Singer"
By Darryl Bullock
The Overlook Press
$24.95
http://www.overlookpress.com/