Grammy-winner opera singer Jessye Norman dies at 74

She studied music at the historically black college Howard University in Washington before going on to the Peabody Conservatory and the University of Michigan. Norman became the youngest person in a two-decade history to earn a prestigious Kennedy Center Honor at age 52 in 1997, and president Barack Obama bestowed her with a National Medal of Arts.

She has performed at two presidential inaugurations, the opening ceremonies of the Atlanta Summer Olympics in 1996, and at the Bicentennial of the French Revolution in Paris in 1989. The superstar singer was also a Commander in France's Order of Arts and Letters, and has an orchid named after her there.

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