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Joan Sutherland
Biography of the famous Opera Star
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1962
15 people want to read
About the author
Russell Braddon
82 books23 followersRussell Reading Braddon was an Australian writer of novels, biographies and TV scripts. His chronicle of his four years as a prisoner of war, The Naked Island, sold more than a million copies.
Braddon was born in Sydney, Australia, the son of a barrister. He served in the Malayan campaign during World War II. He was held as a prisoner of war by the Japanese in Pudu and Changi prisons and on the Thailand-Burma Railway between 1942 and 1945.
In 1949, Braddon moved to England. He described his writing career as "beginning by chance". The Naked Island, published in 1952, was one of the first accounts of a Japanese prisoner of war's experience.
Braddon went on to produce a wide range of works, including novels, biographies, histories, TV scripts and newspaper articles. He was also a broadcaster on radio and television.
Proud Australian Boy: A Biography of Russell Braddon by Nigel Starck was published in Australia in 2011.
Braddon was born in Sydney, Australia, the son of a barrister. He served in the Malayan campaign during World War II. He was held as a prisoner of war by the Japanese in Pudu and Changi prisons and on the Thailand-Burma Railway between 1942 and 1945.
In 1949, Braddon moved to England. He described his writing career as "beginning by chance". The Naked Island, published in 1952, was one of the first accounts of a Japanese prisoner of war's experience.
Braddon went on to produce a wide range of works, including novels, biographies, histories, TV scripts and newspaper articles. He was also a broadcaster on radio and television.
Proud Australian Boy: A Biography of Russell Braddon by Nigel Starck was published in Australia in 2011.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 26, 2025
Goes into detail on her early life and the trials she had to go through to get to the international stage. it feels like it gives more credit than is due to the men in her life, yes her husband steered her toward bel canto, but it feels like they downplay her drive when ambition is needed to make it on an the international operatic stage
July 5, 2024
Biography of internationally acclaimed operatic soprano Joan Sutherland
POSITIVE
1. In this book and others, Russell Braddon deserves admiration for his efforts to introduce the world to Australians with unique experiences.
2. Compared to his best-selling The Naked Island (1952), Braddon's writing style has improved significantly in Joan Sutherland (1962). No more looooooooooooong sentences. Sentences with convoluted word order almost entirely gone.
NEGATIVE
1. Needs more anecdotes, especially outside of Sutherland's opera activities.
2. As Braddon writes in the Postscript of Joan Sutherland: "Everything in her career thereafter would be repetition". In general, the book is a laundry list of rehearsal, performance, critic comments, rehearsal, performance, critic comments, ad infinitum.
OVERALL
Even though the book praises Joan Sutherland at every opportunity, it still manages to convey, perhaps unintentionally, an honest portrayal of her. Along with her husband, Richard, Sutherland was obsessed with achieving and maintaining stardom, driven by greed to accept almost every invitation to perform. Their son, Adam, gets dumped on a nanny. Sutherland's health constantly suffers.
POSITIVE
1. In this book and others, Russell Braddon deserves admiration for his efforts to introduce the world to Australians with unique experiences.
2. Compared to his best-selling The Naked Island (1952), Braddon's writing style has improved significantly in Joan Sutherland (1962). No more looooooooooooong sentences. Sentences with convoluted word order almost entirely gone.
NEGATIVE
1. Needs more anecdotes, especially outside of Sutherland's opera activities.
2. As Braddon writes in the Postscript of Joan Sutherland: "Everything in her career thereafter would be repetition". In general, the book is a laundry list of rehearsal, performance, critic comments, rehearsal, performance, critic comments, ad infinitum.
OVERALL
Even though the book praises Joan Sutherland at every opportunity, it still manages to convey, perhaps unintentionally, an honest portrayal of her. Along with her husband, Richard, Sutherland was obsessed with achieving and maintaining stardom, driven by greed to accept almost every invitation to perform. Their son, Adam, gets dumped on a nanny. Sutherland's health constantly suffers.
March 3, 2011
On Tuesday 9th November 2010, I was fortunate enough to attend the Memorial Service of the Late, Great Joan Sutherland...or as she was known to us "our Joan", to the Opera World as "La Stupenda".
I was fortunate to see her perform many times in her 'bel canto' roles at the Sydney Opera House whose white sails grace Sydney Harbour. Many of these roles had not been presented for 70 years or more at Covent Garden when, in 1959, under the singing tuition of her husband Richard Bonynge and dramatic direction of Franco Zefferelli,she stunned the opera world in Donizetti's "Lucia de Lammermoor", effortlessly reaching notes that no one had ever tried to reach, as she literally ran and sang them in the famous mad scene. The audience erupted and this
unassuming and very down-to-earth young woman was given a barrage of curtain calls.
Russell Braddon's 1962 biography, so close to those groundbreaking events, really captures the atmosphere of an awkward newcomer without dramatic ability and decidedly unglamorous,being reluctantly taken on by Covent Garden, and gradually utterly transformed.It was the voice that remained the constant.It was immediately recognised by the administrator as belonging to "the first singer we have had here since the war who is capable of becoming a star." What makes it really comically enchanting is Joan's total unpretentiousness, down-to-earth quality which she never lost and which endeared her to colleagues and fans. A Prima Donna who didn't behave like one except in the best sense. This is a first-rate 'ugly duckling' tale.
And that Memorial Service? Of course I had tears running down my face like a tap turned on, realising that astounding voice was silent, that warm, earthy person we all loved had run her course, but so grateful for being there when it all happened.
I was fortunate to see her perform many times in her 'bel canto' roles at the Sydney Opera House whose white sails grace Sydney Harbour. Many of these roles had not been presented for 70 years or more at Covent Garden when, in 1959, under the singing tuition of her husband Richard Bonynge and dramatic direction of Franco Zefferelli,she stunned the opera world in Donizetti's "Lucia de Lammermoor", effortlessly reaching notes that no one had ever tried to reach, as she literally ran and sang them in the famous mad scene. The audience erupted and this
unassuming and very down-to-earth young woman was given a barrage of curtain calls.
Russell Braddon's 1962 biography, so close to those groundbreaking events, really captures the atmosphere of an awkward newcomer without dramatic ability and decidedly unglamorous,being reluctantly taken on by Covent Garden, and gradually utterly transformed.It was the voice that remained the constant.It was immediately recognised by the administrator as belonging to "the first singer we have had here since the war who is capable of becoming a star." What makes it really comically enchanting is Joan's total unpretentiousness, down-to-earth quality which she never lost and which endeared her to colleagues and fans. A Prima Donna who didn't behave like one except in the best sense. This is a first-rate 'ugly duckling' tale.
And that Memorial Service? Of course I had tears running down my face like a tap turned on, realising that astounding voice was silent, that warm, earthy person we all loved had run her course, but so grateful for being there when it all happened.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews