Kathleen Mary Ferrier CBE (22nd April 1912 - 8th October 1953) was an English contralto, born in Higher Walton, Lancashire. She is perhaps best remembered for her interpretations of British folk songs, including "Blow the wind southerly". Her final role was in Gluck's Orfeo et Euridice at Covent Garden in February 1953. Already seriously ill with breast cancer, which had spread to her bones, she got through the opening night of Orfeo successfully, but at the second performance her left thighbone partly disintegrated and a chip caused her great pain. Despite this, she finished the performance (without moving around), and the audience did not realise that anything unusual had happened. She had to leave the theatre on a stretcher. It was her final performance; she died on 8th October 1953, aged 41.
