Famous figures pay tribute to opera star Jessye Norman

Jessye Norman performs during The Dream Concert at Radio City Music Hall Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2007 in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

By Associated Press October 12, 2019 4 min read

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Jessye Norman

Opera singer Jessye Norman walks the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors, in Washington, on Sunday, Dec. 5, 2010. The 2010 honorees are Merle Haggard, Jerry Herman, Bill T. Jones, Paul McCartney, and Oprah Winfrey. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

This 1995-1996 image released by the Metropolitan Opera shows soprano Jessye Norman as Emilia Marty in Janáček's

This 1983 photo released by the Metropolitan Opera shows soprano Jessye Norman as Cassandre in Berlioz'

Deanna Brown Thomas, daughter of singer James Brown, greets Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority members outside Mt. Calvary Baptist Church before going in for the viewing of opera star Jessye Norman in Augusta, Ga., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019. (Michael Holahan/The Augusta Chronicle via AP)

Ladies from Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority line up outside Mt. Calvary Baptist Church for the viewing of opera star Jessye Norman in Augusta, Ga., Thursday evening October 10, 2019. [MICHAEL HOLAHAN/THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE]

Mourners walk into the visitation for international opera star Jessye Norman at Mt. Calvary Baptist Church in Augusta, Ga., on Friday, Oct. 11, 2019. Norman died on Sept. 30 at age 74. Norman’s passionate soprano voice won her four Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts and the Kennedy Center Honor. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

Students at the Jessye Norman School of the Arts unveil a sign naming the street outside the school in honor of the late opera star, Friday, Oct. 11, 2019, in Augusta, Ga. Norman, who won five Grammy awards including a lifetime achievement honor in her distinguished career, died on Sept. 30, at age 74. Her funeral is slated for Saturday and a benefit concert for the school follows on Sunday. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

FILE - This July 4, 2010 file photo shows American opera singer Jessye Norman performing on the Stravinski Hall stage at the 44th Montreux Jazz Festival, in Montreux, Switzerland. Norman died, Monday, Sept. 30, 2019, at Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Hospital in New York. She was 74. (AP Photo/Keystone/Dominic Favre, File)

When Laurence Fishburne needed inspiration as a struggling young actor, he looked at photos of great artists to help him focus, including international opera star Jessye Norman.

At Norman’s funeral Saturday in her hometown of Augusta, Georgia – where Fishburne too was born – he said when he was “confronted with a lot of obstacles being a young black actor” in his 20s, he put together photos of people like jazz icons Miles Davis and Duke Ellington, author Zora Neale Hurston and Norman as he meditated.

“It made me feel connected to something bigger than myself,” the Emmy- and Tony-winning actor said, adding that his black-and-white photo of Norman revealed someone energetic, whimsical and vulnerable.

“So I am here at the request of Jessye’s family to grieve with you, to say thank you to God for sharing her with us and the world, to celebrate her life, her good words, her accomplishments, and to praise her for using her talents, her gift, her compassion, her intellect to lift all of us up a little higher.”

Norman died Sept. 30 at age 74. The trailblazing performer was one of the rare black singers to attain worldwide stardom in the opera world.