SINGER

Florence Foster Jenkins

1868 - 1944

Photo of Florence Foster Jenkins

Icon of person Florence Foster Jenkins

Florence Foster Jenkins (born Narcissa Florence Foster; July 19, 1868 – November 26, 1944) was an American socialite and amateur lyric soprano who became known, and mocked, for her flamboyant performance costumes and notably poor singing ability. Stephen Pile ranked her "the world's worst opera singer ... No one, before or since, has succeeded in liberating themselves quite so completely from the shackles of musical notation." Despite – or perhaps because of – her technical incompetence, she became a prominent musical camp cult-figure in New York City during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Florence Foster Jenkins has received more than 8,236,020 page views. Her biography is available in 34 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 33 in 2019). Florence Foster Jenkins is the 67th most popular singer (up from 77th in 2019), the 404th most popular biography from United States (up from 507th in 2019) and the 28th most popular American Singer.

Florence Foster Jenkins was a New York heiress who became famous for her lack of musical talent. She was known for singing songs with a terrible voice to audiences who were too polite to tell her she was terrible.

Memorability Metrics

  • 8.2M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 72.66

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 34

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 7.19

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 2.52

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among SINGERS

Among singers, Florence Foster Jenkins ranks 67 out of 4,381. Before her are Kate Bush, George Michael, Marianne Faithfull, Kurt Cobain, Anthony Kiedis, and Rod Stewart. After her are Sarah Vaughan, Carlos Gardel, Billie Holiday, Prince, Amália Rodrigues, and Ian Gillan.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1868, Florence Foster Jenkins ranks 15. Before her are Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, Emanuel Lasker, Gichin Funakoshi, Fuad I of Egypt, and Arnold Sommerfeld. After her are Peter Behrens, Theodore William Richards, Paul Claudel, Gaston Leroux, Gustav Meyrink, and Huo Yuanjia. Among people deceased in 1944, Florence Foster Jenkins ranks 23. Before her are Alexis Carrel, Marc Bloch, Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, Ludwig Beck, Ernst Thälmann, and Chūichi Nagumo. After her are Hilma af Klint, Milena Jesenská, Galeazzo Ciano, Louis Renault, Henning von Tresckow, and Wang Jingwei.

Others Born in 1868

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Others Deceased in 1944

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Florence Foster Jenkins ranks 404 out of 20,380. Before her are Barbara McClintock (1902), Dean Martin (1917), Michelle Pfeiffer (1958), Sarah Palin (1964), James Hong (1929), and Man Ray (1890). After her are Sarah Vaughan (1924), Philip Roth (1933), Billie Holiday (1915), Frank Herbert (1920), Prince (1958), and Jack Ruby (1911).

Others born in United States

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Among SINGERS In United States

Among singers born in United States, Florence Foster Jenkins ranks 28. Before her are Eminem (1972), Ella Fitzgerald (1917), Jennifer Lopez (1969), Harry Nilsson (1941), Kurt Cobain (1967), and Anthony Kiedis (1962). After her are Sarah Vaughan (1924), Billie Holiday (1915), Prince (1958), The Notorious B.I.G. (1972), Diana Ross (1944), and Gwen Stefani (1969).

American born Singers

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