Jessye Norman, the renowned international opera star whose passionate soprano voice won her four Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts and the Kennedy Center Honor, has died, according to family spokesperson Gwendolyn Quinn. She was 74.

From her humble origins in segregated August, Ga., to the world’s leading opera houses, Jessye Norman recounts her extraordinary life and career in a new memoir, "Stand up Straight and Sing!" Read an excerpt from her book.