Maria Callas

She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 1680 Vine Street in Hollywood, California.

Born to George Kalogeropoulos and his wife Evangelia "Litsa" Dimitriadou, she had a sister, Yakinthi (born in 1917, called Jackie), and a brother, Vasilis (born in 1920, died in 1922).

After the death of their son Vassilis from meningitis in 1922, Maria's father George decided to move to the United States, when his wife got pregnant again. In 1929, George set up a pharmacy in a Greek quarter of Manhattan and the Kalogeropoulos family legally changed their name to Callas to make it more manageable. However, Maria's parents finally separated, so Maria, her sister and her mother returned to Athens in 1937.

This volatile opera diva was born Sophie Cecilia Kalos in New York City to Greek émigrés on December 2, 1923. Her father set up a pharmacy and changed the family name from Kalogeropoulos to Callas. As a child Maria studied the piano. When her parents separated (she was 14 at the time), her mother returned to Athens with Maria and her sister. The budding singer was quickly accepted into the National Conservatoire where she was taught singing lessons by Maria Trivella.

In 1934, at age 11, Maria won an amateur radio singing contest. Her prize was a Bulova watch.

She performed her first recital within the year and in 1939 won a prize for her stage debut in the Conservatoire's production of "Cavalleria Rusticana.

" In 1941, the soprano dramatico d'agilita made her professional debut in "Boccaccio" with the Lyric Theatre Company. While there she made a semi-name for herself with performances of "Tosca" and "Fidelio.

"Impending war led her back to the United States in 1944 where she reclaimed the name of Maria Callas. She was offered a contract from the Met which she turned down because among the three roles she was offered to sing there was Butterfly and she believed that she was too obese to sing the fragile 14 year-old Butterfly, her friends considered her to be crazy turning down the Met while she was so unknown. Maria performed elsewhere (Chicago, etc. ) before returning to Europe in the post-war years where she met Giovanni Battista Meneghini, a wealthy industrialist and avid opera fan.

They married in 1949 and he immediately took control of her career.

Sang 100 performances in 1950, the most she gave in a single year.

She reached her zenith at La Scala (1951-1958), also recording during that time.

Lost almost 80 pounds because she decided that she needed a thinner face and figure to perform on stage (1953).

In 1956, she finally made her debut at the Met as "Norma" with performances of "Tosca" and "Lucia" following. Within a couple of years her temperamental outbursts and excessive demands began to rise full force, resulting in a number of dismissals and walkouts. After meeting Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis through her husband, a torrid affair erupted and her marriage ended.

In 1957, after a performance in Donizetti's Anna Bolena, Maria was introduced to Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis at a party given in her honor by Elsa Maxwell. She eventually left her husband for him. Onassis would break off thier relationship to marry Jacqueline Kennedy.

Maria gave up the stage in the early 1960s for the jet-set life with Onassis, but continued with occasional concerts.

In Milan's La Scala, in 1962, became noted as Medea for delivering the last sentence, "Ho data tutto a te" (I gave everything to you), not looking at Jason as the libretto imposes, but staring at her audience.

Despite experiencing vocal problems, she made one unforgettable comeback on stage in 1964-1965 when she toured with her personal favorites ("Norma" in Paris and "Tosca" at the Met).

Weak and tired, her final curtain on stage rang down in July of 1965 in Covent Garden. With her career over, she renounced her American citizenship and expected to marry Onassis.

Expecting that Aristotle Onassis would marry her, she took Greek citizenship (1966).

But their relationship was a stormy one and it eventually tapered off with Onassis instead marrying Jacqueline Kennedy in 1968. Maria was completely devastated and those around her say she never recovered.

The following year she filmed an unsuccessful production of Medea (1969) and eventually set up master classes at Juilliard. In one last comeback, she attempted a European tour of recitals but her voice completely failed her.

From October 1971 to March 1972, Callas gave a series of master classes to 25 students at The Juilliard School in New York, who auditioned for the opportunity to be critiqued by her. They were open to the public and the sold-out crowds included opera greats Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Tito Gobbi, Plácido Domingo, Grace Bumbry, and Bidu Sayão, actors Lillian Gish and Ben Gazzara, and director Franco Zeffirelli.

In 1972, George Moore, president of the Metropolitan Opera board, offered her the job of Artistic Director. She turned it down to stage her comeback recital tour. The 1973 tour was a disaster due to Callas's almost-completely destroyed voice.

Her last public performance was on November 11, 1975.

Was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2007).