I was born Frieda Ella van Hessen on April 24, 1915, in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. My mother had a beautiful soprano voice, which she inherited from her father. I adored her and my father too. Before the war, we loved to sing and my brothers and I gave many live home concerts together. These were "cool" events in those days; they were called "home concerts." I also made many live broadcasts. My own career started with singing the role of Mimi in the opera La boheme for Avro, Radio Holland and with concert performances. The Nazi disaster ended it. My last performance was as soloist at concert...