Yma Sumac, 'Peruvian songbird' with multi-octave range, dies at 86

The singer with a persona matching her exotic voice became an international sensation in the 1950s.

Yma Sumac, the Peruvian-born singer whose spectacular multi-octave vocal range and exotic persona made her an international sensation in the 1950s, has died. She was 86. Sumac, who was diagnosed with colon cancer in February, died Saturday in an assisted-living facility in Silver Lake, said Damon Devine, her personal assistant and close friend.

Bursting onto the American music scene after signing with Capitol Records in 1950, the raven-haired Sumac was known as the "Nightingale of the Andes," the "Peruvian Songbird" and a "singing marvel" with a 4 1/2-octave (she said five-octave) voice. Source: Los Angeles Times by Dennis McLellan November 3, 2008.

Video Description: Yma Sumac, Suray Surita.

Yma Súmac (1922 - 2008), is a Peruvian singer with one of the most spectacular ranges and styles ever heard (an amazing four-octave range). She mixes Hollywood pizzazz with indigenous Incan songs splendidly.

Yma Sumac, from Ima Shumaq, Quechua for "beautiful flower" or "how beautiful!", was born in Cajamarca, Peru as Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chavarri del Castillo. Sumac was said to have been a descendant of Inca kings, an Incan princess that was one of the Golden Virgins.

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See also: Yma Sumac, The Castafiore Inca, Gopher Mambo, Machu Picchu, the Secret of the Incas, Tumpa, the Secret of the Incas, Chuncho, the Forest Creatures, Malambo #1, La Pampa y la Puna, Suray Surita.