By RONALD BLUM

The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Shirley Verrett, an acclaimed American mezzo-soprano and soprano praised for her blazing intensity during a career that spanned four decades, died Friday in Ann Arbor, Mich. She was 79.

FILE - In this Nov. 23, 1973 file photo, Metropolitan Opera singer Shirley Verrett prepares for her performance in Hector Berlioz's opera "The Trojans" at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Acclaimed American mezzo-soprano and soprano Shirley Verrett, who was praised for her singing in Verdi repertory staples, has died, Friday, Nov. 5, 2010. She was 79. (AP Photo/File)

In this October 18, 1973 file photo, American mezzo-soprano and soprano Shirley Verrett rehearses in "Les Troyens" at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Verrett, who was praised for her blazing intensity during a career that spanned four decades, died Friday in Ann Arbor, Mich. She was 79. (AP Photo/New York Times, Jack Manning)

FILE - In this Oct. 7, 1970 file photo, opera singer Shirley Verrett makes her Metropolitan Opera debut in George Bizet's "Carmen" at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Acclaimed American mezzo-soprano and soprano Shirley Verrett, who was praised for her singing in Verdi repertory staples, has died, Friday, Nov. 5, 2010. She was 79. (AP Photo/File)

Verrett, one of the top opera singers of the 1970s and 1980s, had been suffering from heart trouble, said Jack Mastroianni of IMG Artists, who was notified of her death by the Metropolitan Opera Guild.

Born in New Orleans, she was renowned for a blazing intensity in her performances as a mezzo for much of her career and a soprano in her later years. She battled racial prejudice in a predominantly white European-centered art form during a 40-year biracial marriage, according to her autobiography.

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