Portia White

Portia May White was the daughter of William Andrew White, a Baptist minister and the only Black chaplain in the British Army during World War I. Singing in her father's Halifax church choir, White trained at the Halifax Conservatory of Music, possessing an extraordinarily warm, opulent contralto voice with a three-octave range.

In 1944, sponsored by Nova Scotia arts patrons, White made a sensational debut at New York's Town Hall, praised by critics as one of the great voices of the century. She toured the Americas and Europe, performing both European art songs and African American spirituals, and later taught vocal coaching to stars including Robert Goulet and Dinah Christie.