Early years
Rea was born in March 1897 in Louisville, Kentucky, the daughter of wholesale businessman J.R. Murphy and his wife, Kitty Rea. The family moved to Des Moines, Iowa, when Rea was 12 or 13, and she began taking music lessons at Drake University's conservatory and singing solos at the University Church of Christ. She also studied in France.Career
Rea gained her first professional role via a telephone call. After learning about a plan to produce 20 opera revivals in New York, she called the producer, who told her that no roles were available. She offered, however, to sing for him over the phone; when she had finished, he told her to take the first available train to New York. Still singing as Virginia Murphy, she performed in operas and had a national concert tour. Soon after those accomplishments, she began to use her mother's family name and became Virginia Rea.Stage
In the summer of 1921, Rea sang with an Italian opera company in Boston. In October 1923, she performed in her first New York recital.Radio
Rea began singing on radio in 1925. From 1927 to 1931, she co-starred with Frank Munn on ''The Palmolive Hour'', but they were billed as Olive Palmer and Paul Oliver as part of "a strategy that upheld the doctrines of indirect advertising". Within the program's first two years on the air, she became one of the 10 best-known radio personalities. After that show went off the air, she and Munn sang on ''Recording
Rea recorded for the Brunswick, Columbia, Edison, andPersonal life
Rea was first married to Bertram Bailey 918-1921 Rea later married cellist Edgar H. Sittig 1936References
External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rea, Virginia American operatic sopranos 20th-century American women singers Singers from Kentucky Year of birth missing Year of death missing 20th-century American singers American radio personalities