Singer Jamie Barton wins the ‘Heisman Trophy’ of music

This photo provided by Rebecca Fay shows mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton. Barton was announced Sunday, April 26, 2015, as the winner of the 2015 Richard Tucker Award. The $50,000 prize goes to a major young American singer. It’s named after Tucker, the late tenor and Brooklyn native who started out as a cantor in synagogues. (Rebecca Fay via AP) This photo provided by Rebecca Fay shows mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton. Barton was announced Sunday, April 26, 2015, as the winner of the 2015 Richard Tucker Award. The $50,000 prize goes to a major young American singer. It’s named after Tucker, the late tenor and Brooklyn native who started out as a cantor in synagogues. (Rebecca Fay via AP)

By Associated Press April 27, 2015 2 min read

NEW YORK (AP) – The prize dubbed the Heisman Trophy for singers is going to a Georgia native with an earth-shattering voice – and an earthy style.

Announced Sunday, the winner of the 2015 Richard Tucker Award is mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton. The opera star recently appeared barefoot in jeans, giggling and cradling a glass of Oregon wine – offstage, chatting with a friend on YouTube.

Onstage in costume, she’s being compared to the past century’s finest vocalists.

The $50,000 prize goes to a major young American singer. It’s named after Tucker, the late tenor and Brooklyn native who started out as a cantor in synagogues.

Barton said she started out listening to bluegrass, the Grateful Dead and The Beatles “in the middle of nowhere” – a small farmhouse near Rome, Georgia, at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. “My parents were hippies.”