In Loverboy’s new series Tragic Divas, Fallon Gold tells us why opera singer Maria Callas is a diva in every sense of the word.

Despite being one of the most famous opera singers there has ever been, in her time Maria Callas was then (and still is?) probably more well known for being a scandalous diva. So, no wonder we love her, right?

Here are just some of the reasons why you should worship this tragic chanteuse.

The ultimate diva
She was truly a diva in every sense of the word. As in a woman who sings lead in opera. A larger than life star for us to worship. She had rivalries with other opera singers. She was demanding and would throw a shitfit if things weren’t how she wanted them. Callas walked out of roles and was fired from operas. Watch this marvellous interview where she is confronted with the rumour that after a firing she ‘hit a gentleman on the head with a bottle of brandy’.

She was known as The Great Ugly Voice
This is perhaps my favourite thing about Maria Callas. Although one of her nicknames was The Voice of the Century, this moniker was controversial. Controversial because people couldn’t agree on whether she was a great singer or a terrible singer. Or a combination of both. In Italian, her best nickname is Una Grande Vociaccia which means The Great Ugly Voice, a voice that is at once wonderful and ugly. She didn’t sing conventionally as an opera singer and so it threw the critics. She would strain sometimes and was said to have ruined her voice by performing too hard or because of weight loss (see below for more on that). Whatever, we fucking love her voice. And I would go out on a limb to bet that anyone who thinks that they don’t ‘like opera’ (eyeroll) will feel moved and flip their wig when they listen to any of her performances.

She was the opera star of the 20^th century
No, really. Both within her craft and outside it she was a superstar. She would do concerts where it was just her doing the arias (i.e. the best bits) and bring down the house. She showcased the great opera roles for women. She was a scandal queen who was known as much for that as for her voice and so is one of the great celebrities of all time.

So, what was the scandal?
Apart from her scandalous voice, Callas was tangled up in an uber scandalous love triangle. She had an affair with billionaire shipping magnet Aristotle Onassis and left her husband for him. He in turn married Jackie Kennedy. Maria was heartbroken because she’d assumed he would marry her and she never got over it. She continued to shag him when he was married to Jackie O, though.

She was gorgeous. Gorgeous
She really was one of the most beautiful women. She was a luscious, chubby young woman when she became an opera star in Greece, Italy and France. But her horrible mother had always treated her as the ugly one of her daughters and Callas’ husband pressured her to lose weight for her career (more on that below, I promise). When she did she had a complete makeover and became an international sensation because the world is shallow. But she mainly looked good because the makeover gave her an extreme look – big hair, big makeup, big gowns. It all matched her very big personality. She was tall (over five foot eight) and that, along with her tall wigs and headdresses, would make for an extremely commanding presence both on and off the stage. Once she got too close to a candle on stage and her wig caught fire. She didn’t miss a note.

OK. That weight loss
One of those probably true actually myths is that Callas was supposed to have lost all that weight by swallowing a tape worm. This is often portrayed as ludicrous and she herself said she just ate ‘properly’. But the fact is that tape worm pills were actually a terrifyingly popular diet method last century. Some say she ate steak tartare to get the worm, others that she popped a pill containing the larvae. Whatever, she was one of the rare ones who lost weight and never regained it, so perhaps wormy was always in residence in La Callas? On the more serious side it is speculated that this weight loss was the reason why she strained her voice – her smaller body wasn’t built for such a big, belting sound and her career was over prematurely at 40. It might also have contributed to her heart problems as rapid weight loss can devastate the heart. Pretty sodding tragic, huh? Don’t do tapeworms, kids.

Why is Maria Callas a tragic diva?
Because she suffered the ultimate in tragic diva suffering – she died, literally, of a broken heart at the early age of 53. Fabulous fact: she died on the same day as another camp icon – Marc Bolan. Callas’ ashes were stolen (then recovered). Even in death, she had drama.