Perseverance of a singer

Lifestyle/Technology: Uncertainties of a career on stage lead New York actress to "calm down and rely on God—a lot" | Susan Olasky

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Rachel Black stands six feet tall. She's got a big voice, which she planned to use as an opera singer. That's why she majored in voice performance at Vanderbilt and went on to get her masters from the University of Kentucky. But a strange thing happened when she was waiting to audition for a Ph.D. program in opera. A diva was singing, and Rachel blurted to her mother who was waiting with her, "I wish she would shut up. I just hate opera."

Rachel followed the outburst with "a lot of prayer and soul searching." She realized she wanted to sing, but not that kind of music: "So on a whim I up and moved to New York, knowing nothing about musical theater." That was in October 2004. She was 25.