Leontyne (Mary Violet Leontine) Price’s father was a carpenter and her mother a midwife, as well as an active singer in a church choir. When she was fourteen, she was taken to hear Marian Anderson, an experience which she described as inspirational. She soon demonstrated exceptional musical talent, singing and playing the piano at local weddings and funerals, and gave her first recital in December 1947. After studying at Wilberforce College (now Central State University) in Ohio, Price enrolled at the Juilliard School of Music in New York, aided by a benefit concert given for her by Paul Robeson and by support from a wealthy Laurel family. In New York she studied singing with Florence Page Kimball and changed the spelling of her name to Leontyne.