A Victorian superstar is brought to life

Superstar singer of the Victorian era, Dame Clara Butt, was brought to life in a tribute performance at the Star and Dove pub in Totterdown, a stone's throw from the street where she grew up.

Dame Clara, who lived at 3 Belle Vue, was a legend in her lifetime, performing to packed concert halls all over the world.

She was six feet two inches tall and possessed an amazing contralto voice which made her the darling of English society.

A plaque on Clara's childhood home prompted Bristol University researcher Suzanne Audrey to find out more about her and a discussion with her neighbour Alexandra Denman, who has sung with Kent Opera and English National Opera, led to An Audience with Dame Clara Butt.

Two more neighbours who live in Stevens Crescent volunteered to help. John Bowen, 45, accompanied Alexandra 'Dame Clara' on piano and John Bowen, 39, a producer and director, played five people who the singer met, including Queen Victoria.

As journalist Neville Cardus, Ian Bouncer interviewed Dame Clara in between songs to tell the audience the story of her extraordinary life.

She was known as the "Voice of the Empire" and the appreciative audience joined in with the patriotic Land of Hope and Glory and Rule Britannia.

Alexandra, 56, said: "Originally we were just going to do a recital but somehow it grew."

Born in Southwick in West Sussex in 1873, Clara moved to Bristol with her family at the age of seven.

Her headmistress at South Bristol High School spotted her talent and persuaded the leading singing teacher in Bristol of the time, Dan Rootham, to listen to her.

He famously proclaimed: "You have gold in your throat, my child."

Clara sang all over Bristol to supplement the family income and, in 1887, Rootham entered her for a scholarship at the Royal College of Music in London.

The professors were stunned by her voice and Bristolians collected £600 to see her through her training and then basked in her reflected glory when she made her debut in the Royal Albert Hall.

Clara became famous and very wealthy. She sang all over the world but never forgot Bristol and often came back for recitals at the Colston Hall.

When she married bass baritone Kennerley Rumford in 1900, she turned down the chance to wed in St Paul's Cathedral in favour of Bristol Cathedral.

It was like a royal wedding and factories and shops closed for the afternoon. Queen Victoria sent a gift and Sir Arthur Sullivan, of Gilbert and Sullivan, wrote a special anthem. The city gave Dame Clara a diamond brooch with CB and City of Bristol engraved on it.

She was made a Dame for raising thousands of pounds for the Red Cross during World War I.

Her final concert was in Sydney in 1934. She died of spinal cancer two years later.