Adopted name of Belle Silverman (1929-) US operatic soprano. Her high-ranging coloratura is allied to a subtle emotional control in French and Italian roles, notably as principal in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor and Puccini’s Manon Lescaut.
She was a child radio star who became one of the world’s most dramatically gifted opera singers, making her debut at 17 in Philadelphia. She joined the New York City Opera 1955. She appeared at such European opera houses as La Scala, Milan, 1969, and Covent Garden, London, 1970. Her Metropolitan Opera debut was in 1975; in 1979 she became director of the New York City Opera, announcing her retirement 1988. She wrote an autobiography, Bubbles, 1976.

Singular of sills is sill.