The African-American contralto Carol Brice led a dual career across three decades, dividing her time between classical music and theater music. Born Lovette Hawkins in Sedalia, NC, in 1918, she attended the Palmer Memorial Institute in Sedalia and Talageda College in Alabama, where she earned her Bachelor of Music degree in 1939. She subsequently studied with Francis Rogers at the Juilliard School of Music in New York, but long before she graduated she was already making something of a splash with her performing career. At the 1939 New York World's Fair, she was featured in a ...