Opera singer Montserrat Caballé, whose duet with Freddie Mercury became the signature song of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, has died aged 85.
Caballé, who had had health problems for many years, had a decades-long professional career starting in 1956, when she debuted as Mimi in Puccini’s La Bohème in Switzerland. Her international breakthrough came in 1965 in a performance of Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia in New York’s Carnegie Hall that made her famous throughout the opera world.
In 1987, she released a recording of a duet titled ‘Barcelona’ with Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the rock band Queen and a great admirer, following this up with an album of the same name. Their collaboration led to her becoming known to audiences unfamiliar with opera as well.
