ANTOINETTE

STERLING (d. 1904)  , Anglo-American vocalist, was born at Sterlingville, New York state . She studied with Mme Marchesi, with Mme Viardot Garcia and with Manuel Garcia, and after singing for two years in America came in 1873 to England, where she made her first appearance at Covent Garden under Sir Julius Benedict and rapidly became a popular favourite among the contraltos of the day . She gained her greatest successes as a ballad-singer, especially in such songs as " Caller Herrin'," " The Three Fishers " and " The Lost Chord." She was a woman of deep religious feeling and many enthusiasms, and her name was constantly associated with philanthropic enterprise . She died on the loth of January 1904 . In 1875 she had married Mr John Mackinlay, and her life was written by her son, Mr Sterling Mackinlay, in 1906 .