This marvellously detailed biography is the first to tell the full story of how the stenographer from Queens New York became the queen of the Broadway musical in its golden age. Paperback
 Mining official and unofficial sources including interviews with Merman's family and her personal scrapbooks Caryl Flinn unearths new details of Merman's life and finds that behind the high-octane personality was a remarkably pragmatic woman who never lost sight of her roots."Brass Diva" takes us from Merman's working-class beginnings through the extraordinary career that was launched in 1930 when playing a secondary role in a Gershwin Brothers' show she became an overnight sensation singing "I Got Rhythm". From there we follow Merman's hits on Broadway her uneven successes in Hollywood and her afterlife as a beloved camp icon. This definitive work on the phenomenon that was Ethel Merman is also the first to thoroughly explore her robust influence on American popular culture.
 
