Marian Anderson was known as an African-American contralto

She first developed her musical ability at the Union Baptist Church of Philadelphia where she joined the junior choir at age 6 and the senior choir at 13. In her first public appearance, she sang a solo in the hymn "Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd." By her early teens she was a natural contralto, but her range was so wide that she was often substituted for absent choir members by singing soprano, tenor, or even bass up an octave from the written part. At an early age she began singing at functions outside her church, and admirers soon called her the "baby contralto." After high school she kept concertizing in Southern schools and churches.