Kathleen Ferrier and Gracie Fields

Arguably the most influential female 'voice' in the early twentieth century was legendary lyric contralto, Kathleen Ferrier, who tragically died from breast cancer in 1953, aged just 41. 'A voice is a person,' said the tenor Sir Peter Pears in tribute to her. Today so much musical personality seems to be facelessly manufactured, but no singer in this country has been more deeply loved, as much for the person as for the voice she uttered. Her untimely and tragic death literally shattered the euphoria of the Coronation when, according to one biography, she ranked as 'probably the most celebrated woman in Britain after the Queen'. An exaggeration, perhaps, but her English-rose beauty was as familiar as that of any film star of the day, and her record sales were phenomenal – her version of 'What is life?' from Gluck's 'Orfeo ed Euridice' outsold Frank Sinatra and Vera Lynn.

Ferrier's contralto effortlessly transcended all barriers – she was a daily staple of Housewives' Choice and Forces' Favourites on the Light Programme, and Benjamin Britten wrote 'The Rape of Lucretia' and 'Abraham and Isaac' for her. Even the heartless Herbert von Karajan was seen to weep as he conducted her in Bach's 'St Matthew Passion'

'Ferrier is one of those in whom we feel singing to be an expression of the spirit,' wrote the critic JB Steane. Ferrier must be judged as a singer of, and for, her time – a time of grief and weariness, national self-respect and a belief in human nobility. She didn't command the emotional variety, dramatic intensity of her successor from across the Pennines, Janet Baker, and it is the latter's example, not Ferrier's, that is influential on younger singers such as Alice Coote and Sarah Connolly.

But while Ferrier was universally adored throughout her own lifetime, the same cannot be said of Gracie Fields, the only other British diva of the time to rival her crown. The superb soprano appeared in a total of 16 films, beginning with her best known, 'Sally in Our Alley', in 1931. At her height, she was pulling in more money per film than any other actress of the day. Films, however, were not something she enjoyed, even though Hollywood beckoned in the form of a lucrative Twentieth Century Fox contract. By the end of the decade she was a popular recording star and had toured several continents. Despite being diagnosed with cervical cancer during the Second World War, she continued singing. But her flight to North America, resulted in a deluge of negative publicity back home, where she was perceived as fleeing her country in its time of need. She eventually returned to England appearing many times on radio before suffering a fatal heart attack in 1979.