Anita Darian - wikipedia Anita Darian Anita Darian ( April 26, 1927 -- February 1, 2015 ) was an American singer and actress who had an extensive career from the 1950s to the 2010s. A soprano, Darian performed roles with the New York City Opera and was a featured soloist with the New York Philharmonic. She also performed and recorded several roles from musicals, including Julie in Show Boat, a recording for Columbia Masterworks in 1962 with John Raitt, Barbara Cook, and William Warfield. She portrayed Lady Thiang in the 1960 revival of The King and I at New York City Center with Barbara Cook as Anna and Farley Granger as the King. She made a number of classical recordings with various contemporary composers as well as solo albums for Fidelio Records and Kapp Records. Born Anita Margaret Esgandarian in Detroit, Michigan of Armenian descent. She was a 1945 graduate of Cooley High School. Anita later studied opera at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and the Juilliard School in New York, but first came to popular attention as a featured singer with the short - lived Sauter - Finegan jazz band of the mid-1950s, with whom she recorded for RCA Victor. She settled in New York City and worked in everything from opera and classical recitals to television jingles and cartoon voice - overs. She appeared in several television productions of musicals and operas from the 1950s to the 1970s. Anita also sang the female soprano portion on The Tokens ' 1961 # 1 hit `` The Lion Sleeps Tonight ''. Her high counterpoint to the lead and backup singers was an astounding merging of her operatic training and the pop genre. As late as 2012, she was featured in concerts honoring the Great American Songbook. Darian died on February 1, 2015, aged 87, at South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, New York due to surgical complications. References ^ Jump up to : Daniel E. Slotnik. `` Anita Darian, a Singer With an Eclectic Range, Dies at 87 ''. The New York Times. Retrieved 13 February 2015. ^ Jump up to : `` Anita Darian Dies at Age 87 ''. Broadwayworld.com. Retrieved 13 February 2015. Jump up ^ Siegel, Robert ; Wells, Lynda ( 2015 - 02 - 12 ). `` Singer Anita Darian Remembered For Genre - Spanning Career '' ( Interview ). NPR.org ( in en_US ). CS1 maint : Unrecognized language ( link ) Jump up ^ `` Events - The City of Long Beach, New York ''. Longbeachny.gov. Retrieved 13 February 2015. External links Anita Darian on IMDb Anita Darian recording of `` Misirlou '' on Youtube.com Profile, masterworksbroadway.com ; accessed February 9, 2015. Profile, spaceagepop.com ; accessed February 9, 2015. `` A Kazoo Goes Highbrow '', archives.chicagotribune.com, March 28, 1960 ; accessed February 9, 2015. Profile on National Public Radio 's All Things Considered, February 2015 VIAF : 22339896 LCCN : no93002804 ISNI : 0000 0000 5516 5540 GND : 134825926 BNF : cb14014096r ( data ) MusicBrainz : a0cdb3b9 - dcd4 - 4e04 - 868a - c97e204a6a68 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Anita_Darian&oldid=774235367 '' Categories : American musical theatre actresses American operatic sopranos American people of Armenian descent Curtis Institute of Music alumni Juilliard School alumni 1927 births 2015 deaths Singers from Detroit Hidden categories : CS1 maint : Unrecognized language Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers Talk About Wikipedia Deutsch Polski Edit links This page was last edited on 7 April 2017, at 03 : 18. About Wikipedia

Question: who sang the high part in the lion sleeps tonight
Answer: Anita Margaret Esgandarian