Download or read book Marvelous Melba written by Ann Blainey and published by Ivan R. Dee. This book was released on 2009-03-16 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nobody sings like Melba, and nobody ever will, proclaimed the impresario Oscar Hammerstein in 1908. Like many others of his time, he considered her the world's greatest singer. The wild acclaim showered on her by American fans led to the coining of the word Melbamania. Year after year she toured America on the Melba train, bringing opera and concerts to out-of-the-way cities and towns; thanks to the new gramophone, she could also be heard in the remotest locales. Ann Blainey's beguiling life of Nellie Melba tells the story of a woman who-in an era when no woman was prime minister, chief justice, head of a church or financial firm, or a universal film star-became perhaps the most famous woman in the world. Ms. Blainey's Marvelous Melba punctures many of the myths surrounding Melba's life and career, and offers a new portrait of the great diva.