Unstoppable at every age!
In March I celebrated a milestone birthday, My seventieth, and I feel GREAT!
As anyone over the age of 40 will tell you, these occasions are accompanied by exclamations of “How did this happen, I’m still a kid at heart”. But, as we know, the truth is in the numbers. I have now lived longer than both my mother and father, who passed away at forty-eight and sixty-five, respectively. For me, the lesson is not to bemoan that I am growing older. I am grateful for being around this long and truly thriving with good work, in good health, and surrounded by fabulous friends, family, and clients.
When I was considering a career in opera, my teachers made it abundantly clear that the shelf life of a classical singer was forty. Or, if she was lucky, maybe forty-five. Opera luminaries Renee Fleming, Placido Domingo, and Bryn Terfel are exceptions to this rule. But no one (at least no one I know of) is still wowing Carnegie Hall audiences like ninety-five-year young American cabaret singer and musical theater actress Marilyn Maye.
She began singing when she was three years old and has not only survived but flourished in one of the toughest, most cutthroat businesses. How has she done it? How has she kept her spirit? How has she kept her voice so healthy and strong? The reviews of her two-hour, twelve-standing ovation performance (without sitting down once!) are the ones singers dream of: showstopping, a force of nature and truly legendary.
She deserves every accolade along with the proclamation from Mayor Adams declaring March 24, 2023, to be Marilyn Maye Day. She is one UNSTOPPABLE dame.
Do you have an UNSTOPPABLE WOMAN you’d like us to showcase in an upcoming newsletter? EMAIL ME your suggestions.
The April 2023 Vogue Philippines cover model Apo Maria “Whang-Od” Oggay, an indigenous Filipina tattoo artist, just became the oldest person to ever be featured on the cover of a Vogue magazine at 106 years old.
Check out Emmy Award-winning actress Julia Louis Dreyfus as she gets wisdom and wit from older women like Jane Fonda, Isabelle Allende, and Carol Burnett in her new podcast:
Learn how to create a supportive, inclusive culture of good bragging in these uncertain times.
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