Vintage style icon: Yma Sumac
After Sumac performed at the Shrine Auditorium with a company of dancers, drummers and musicians in 1955, a Los Angeles Times writer observed: “She warbles like a bird in the uppermost regions, hoots like an owl in the lowest registers, produces bell-like coloratura passages one minute, and exotic, dusky contralto tones the next.”
Sumac’s career slowed in the Sixties and she didn’t release another album until 1971 when she made a psychedelic rock album. It wasn’t very successful. She did however return to stage and performed until the late Nineties. She died of cancer in 2008.
Pages: 1 2
Category: 1950s, Vintage news, Vintage Style Icons
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
Great article! Yma Sumac is one of my favorites.
Yma Sumac literally blew my mind as a young lad watching SECRET OF THE INCAS at my local cinema. Her amazing vocals combined with her exotic Andean allure made it a most unforgettable cinematic experience. We will never see her like again.