Florence Foster Jenkins - "Queen of the Night"

Music history: Florence Foster Jenkins - (July 19, 1868–November 26, 1944) was an American soprano who became famous for her complete lack of rhythm, pitch, tone, and overall singing ability. Be careful with Foster's singing - it can seriously harm your mind. ;-) Here she sings Mozart's aria "Queen of the Night".

Jenkins received music lessons as a child, and expressed a desire to go abroad to study music. Her wealthy father refused to pay the bill, so she eloped to Philadelphia with Frank Thornton Jenkins, a medical doctor, who became her husband (the two divorced in 1902). She earned a living there as a teacher and pianist. Upon her father's death in 1909, Jenkins inherited a sum of money which allowed her to take up the singing career that had been discouraged by her parents and former husband.

From her recordings, it is apparent that Jenkins had little sense of pitch and rhythm and was barely capable of sustaining a note. Her accompanist can be heard making adjustments to compensate for her tempo variations and rhythmic mistakes. Her dubious diction, especially in foreign language songs, is also noteworthy. Nonetheless, she became tremendously popular in her unconventional way. Her audiences apparently loved her for the amusement she provided rather than her musical ability. After a taxicab crash in 1943 she found she could sing "a higher F than ever before." Instead of a lawsuit against the taxicab company, she sent the driver a box of expensive cigars. Critics often described her work in a backhanded way that may have served to pique public curiosity.